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At least 595 records · Page 33

Investigation of channel width-dependent threshold voltage variation in a-InGaZnO thin-film transistors

This Letter investigates abnormal channel width-dependent threshold voltage variation in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors. Unlike drain-induced source barrier lowering effect, threshold voltage increases with increasing drain voltage. Furthermore, the wider the channel, the larger the threshold voltage observed. Because of the surrounding oxide and other thermal insulating material and the low thermal conductivity of the IGZO layer, the self-heating effect will be pronounced in wider channel devices and those with a larger operating drain bias. To further clarify the physical mechanism, fast IV measurement is utilized to demonstrate the self-heating induced anomalous channel width-dependent threshold voltage variation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fixed interface charges between AlGaN barrier and gate stack composed of in situ grown SiN and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors with normally off capability

Using a generalized extraction method, the fixed charge density N{sub int} at the interface between in situ deposited SiN and 5 nm thick AlGaN barrier is evaluated by measurements of threshold voltage V{sub th} of an AlGaN/GaN metal insulator semiconductor high electron mobility transistor as a function of SiN thickness. The thickness of the originally deposited 50 nm thick SiN layer is reduced by dry etching. The extracted N{sub int} is in the order of the AlGaN polarization charge density. The total removal of the in situ SiN cap leads to a complete depletion of the channel region resulting in V{sub th} = +1 V. Fabrication of a gate stack with Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} as a second cap layer, deposited on top of the in situ SiN, is not introducing additional fixed charges at the SiN/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Investigation of abnormal negative threshold voltage shift under positive bias stress in input/output n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with TiN/HfO{sub 2} structure using fast I-V measurement

This letter investigates abnormal negative threshold voltage shifts under positive bias stress in input/output (I/O) TiN/HfO{sub 2} n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors using fast I-V measurement. This phenomenon is attributed to a reversible charge/discharge effect in pre-existing bulk traps. Moreover, in standard performance devices, threshold-voltage (V{sub t}) shifts positively during fast I-V double sweep measurement. However, in I/O devices, V{sub t} shifts negatively since electrons escape from bulk traps to metal gate rather than channel electrons injecting to bulk traps. Consequently, decreasing pre-existing bulk traps in I/O devices, which can be achieved by adopting Hf{sub x}Zr{sub 1−x}O{sub 2} as gate oxide, can reduce the charge/discharge effect.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

On the mobility and contact resistance evaluation for transistors based on MoS{sub 2} or two-dimensional semiconducting atomic crystals

Contact resistance (R{sub c}) can substantially obscure the extracted mobility based on standard transconductance or two-point conductance measurements of field-effect devices especially for low density of states materials such as MoS{sub 2} or similar atomic crystals. Currently, there exists a pressing need for a routine technique that can decouple mobility extraction from R{sub c}. By combining experiments and analysis, we show that the Y-function method offers a robust route for evaluating the low-field mobility, threshold voltage and R{sub c} even when the contact is a Schottky-barrier as is common in two-dimensional transistors. In addition, an independent modified transfer length method evaluation corroborates the Y-function analysis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Plasma treatment effect on charge carrier concentrations and surface traps in a-InGaZnO thin-film transistors

Various plasma treatment effects such as oxygen (O{sub 2}), nitrogen (N{sub 2}), and argon (Ar) on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) are investigated. To study oxygen stoichiometry in a-IGZO TFTs with respect to various plasma environments, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed. The results showed that oxygen vacancies were reduced by O{sub 2} and N{sub 2} plasmas while they were increased after Ar plasma treatment. Additionally, the effects of plasma treatment on trap distribution in bulk and surface channels were explored by means of low-frequency noise analysis. Details of the mechanisms used for generating and restoring traps on the surface and bulk channel are presented.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Investigation of trap states in high Al content AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors by frequency dependent capacitance and conductance analysis

Trap states in Al{sub 0.55}Ga{sub 0.45}N/GaN Schottky-gate high-electron-mobility transistors (S-HEMTs) and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Al{sub 0.55}Ga{sub 0.45}N/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor HEMTs (MOS-HEMTs) were investigated with conductance method in this paper. Surface states with time constant of (0.09–0.12) μs were found in S-HEMTs, and electron tunneling rather than emission was deemed to be the dominant de-trapping mechanism due to the high electric field in high Al content barrier. The density of surface states evaluated in S-HEMTs was (1.02–4.67)×10{sup 13} eV{sup −1}·cm{sup −2}. Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} gate insulator slightly reduced the surface states, but introduced low density of new traps with time constant of (0.65–1.29) μs into MOS-HEMTs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

An efficient atomistic quantum mechanical simulation on InAs band-to-band tunneling field-effect transistors

We have presented a fully atomistic quantum mechanical simulation method on band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) field-effect transistors (FETs). Our simulation approach is based on the linear combination of bulk band method with empirical pseudopotentials, which is an atomist method beyond the effective-mass approximation or k.p perturbation method, and can be used to simulate real-size devices (∼10{sup 5} atoms) efficiently (∼5 h on a few computational cores). Using this approach, we studied the InAs dual-gate BTBT FETs. The I-V characteristics from our approach agree very well with the tight-binding non-equilibrium Green's function results, yet our method costs much less computationally. In addition, we have studied ways to increase the tunneling current and analyzed the effects of different mechanisms for that purpose.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Investigating the impact of source/drain doping dependent effective masses on the transport characteristics of ballistic Si-nanowire field-effect-transistors

This article studies the impact of doping dependent carrier effective masses of the source/drain regions on transport properties of Si-nanowire field effect transistors within ballistic limit. The difference of carrier effective mass in channel and that in the source/drain regions leads to a misalignment of respective sub-bands and forms non-ideal contacts. Such non-idealities are incorporated by modifying the relevant self-energies which control the effective electronic transport from source to drain through the channel. Non-ideality also arises in the nature of local density of states in the channel due to sub-band misalignment, resulting to a reduction of drain current by almost 50%. The highest values of drain current, leakage current, and their ratio are obtained for the S/D doping concentrations of 3 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup −3}, 8 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup −3}, and 2 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup −3}, respectively, for the nanowire of length 10 nm and diameter of 3 nm. Interestingly, the maximum of sub-threshold swing, minimum of threshold voltage, and the maximum of leakage current are observed to be apparent at the same doping concentration.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Trapping in GaN-based metal-insulator-semiconductor transistors: Role of high drain bias and hot electrons

This paper describes an extensive analysis of the role of off-state and semi-on state bias in inducing the trapping in GaN-based power High Electron Mobility Transistors. The study is based on combined pulsed characterization and on-resistance transient measurements. We demonstrate that—by changing the quiescent bias point from the off-state to the semi-on state—it is possible to separately analyze two relevant trapping mechanisms: (i) the trapping of electrons in the gate-drain access region, activated by the exposure to high drain bias in the off-state; (ii) the trapping of hot-electrons within the AlGaN barrier or the gate insulator, which occurs when the devices are operated in the semi-on state. The dependence of these two mechanisms on the bias conditions and on temperature, and the properties (activation energy and cross section) of the related traps are described in the text.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

On the redox origin of surface trapping in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Water-related redox couples in ambient air are identified as an important source of the surface trapping states, dynamic on-resistance, and drain current collapse in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). Through in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), direct signature of the water-related species—hydroxyl groups (OH) was found at the AlGaN surface at room temperature. It was also found that these species, as well as the current collapse, can be thermally removed above 200 °C in vacuum conditions. An electron trapping mechanism based on the H{sub 2}O/H{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O/O{sub 2} redox couples is proposed to explain the 0.5 eV energy level commonly attributed to the surface trapping states. Finally, the role of silicon nitride passivation in successfully removing current collapse in these devices is explained by blocking the water molecules away from the AlGaN surface.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Transient and persistent current induced conductivity changes in GaAs/AlGaAs high-electron-mobility transistors

We report the observation of a current induced change of the low temperature conductivity of two-dimensional electron gases in GaAs/AlGaAs-high-electron-mobility transistors. By applying voltage pulses on the ohmic contacts of a Hall bar-mesa-structure, both sheet-carrier-density n{sub 2D} and electron mobility μ are decreased. At temperatures below 50 K, a persistent change combined with a partial transient recovery of n{sub 2D} has been observed. The transient behaviour and the lateral spreading of the effect are studied. Moreover, a temperature dependent investigation has been done in order to get insight into the addressed defect energy levels. A model based on the phenomenology of the effect is proposed. The observed effect is not a permanent degradation as the original carrier concentration can be restored by warming up the sample to room temperature and recooling it.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Defect generation in amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors by positive bias stress at elevated temperature

We report on the generation and characterization of a hump in the transfer characteristics of amorphous indium gallium zinc-oxide thin-film transistors by positive bias temperature stress. The hump depends strongly on the gate bias stress at 100 °C. Due to the hump, the positive shift of the transfer characteristic in deep depletion is always smaller that in accumulation. Since, the latter shift is twice the former, with very good correlation, we conclude that the effect is due to creation of a double acceptor, likely to be a cation vacancy. Our results indicate that these defects are located near the gate insulator/active layer interface, rather than in the bulk. Migration of donor defects from the interface towards the bulk may also occur under PBST at 100 °C.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Current-voltage spectroscopy of dopant-induced quantum-dots in heavily n-doped junctionless nanowire transistors

We demonstrate current-voltage spectroscopy of dopant-induced quantum dots in heavily n-doped junctionless nanowire transistors (JNTs) at low temperatures. The similar multiple-split current peak features for both single-channel and multiple-channel JNTs are found at the initial stage of conduction below the temperature of 75 K. The temperature stability of the pinch-off voltage, affected by activated electrons from defects and donor ionization, has been effectively improved by the 20 nm-width nanowires. The transition temperature for single electron tunneling to thermal activated transport is dependent on the ionization energy of dopants.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Ultralow-light-level all-optical transistor in rubidium vapor

An all-optical transistor (AOT) is a device in which one light beam can efficiently manipulate another. It is the foundational component of an all-optical communication network. An AOT that can operate at ultralow light levels is especially attractive for its potential application in the quantum information field. Here, we demonstrate an AOT driven by a weak light beam with an energy density of 2.5 × 10{sup −5} photons/(λ{sup 2}/2π) (corresponding to 6 yJ/(λ{sup 2}/2π) and about 800 total photons) using the double-Λ four-wave mixing process in hot rubidium vapor. This makes it a promising candidate for ultralow-light-level optical communication and quantum information science.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Nanowire-based ternary transistor by threshold-voltage manipulation

We report on a ternary device consisting of two nanowire channels that have different threshold voltage (V{sub th}) values and show that three current stages can be produced. A microscale laser-beam shot was utilized to selectively anneal the nanowire channel area to be processed, and the amount of V{sub th} shift could be controlled by adjusting the laser wavelength. Microscale laser annealing process could control V{sub th} of the individual nanowire transistors while maintaining the other parameters the constant, such as the subthreshold slope, on–off current ratio, and mobility. This result could provide a potential for highly integrated and high-speed ternary circuits.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Mobilities in ambipolar field effect transistors based on single-walled carbon nanotube network and formed on a gold nanoparticle template

Ambipolar field effect transistors based on a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) network formed on a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) template with polyvinyl alcohol as a gate insulator were studied by measuring the current–gate voltage characteristics. It was found that the mobilities of holes and electrons increased with increasing AuNP number density. The disturbances in the flow pattern of the carbon feedstock in the chemical vapor deposition growth that were produced by the AuNP geometry, resulted in the differences in the crystallinity and the diameter, as well as the changes in the degree of the semiconductor behavior of the SWNTs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Low-temperature processable amorphous In-W-O thin-film transistors with high mobility and stability

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a high stability and a high field-effect mobility have been achieved using W-doped indium oxide semiconductors in a low-temperature process (∼150 °C). By incorporating WO{sub 3} into indium oxide, TFTs that were highly stable under a negative bias stress were reproducibly achieved without high-temperature annealing, and the degradation of the field-effect mobility was not pronounced. This may be due to the efficient suppression of the excess oxygen vacancies in the film by the high dissociation energy of the bond between oxygen and W atoms and to the different charge states of W ions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Scanning photocurrent microscopy reveals electron-hole asymmetry in ionic liquid-gated WS{sub 2} transistors

We perform scanning photocurrent microscopy on WS{sub 2} ionic liquid-gated field effect transistors exhibiting high-quality ambipolar transport. By properly biasing the gate electrode, we can invert the sign of the photocurrent showing that the minority photocarriers are either electrons or holes. Both in the electron- and hole-doping regimes the photocurrent decays exponentially as a function of the distance between the illumination spot and the nearest contact, in agreement with a two-terminal Schottky-barrier device model. This allows us to compare the value and the doping dependence of the diffusion length of the minority electrons and holes on a same sample. Interestingly, the diffusion length of the minority carriers is several times larger in the hole accumulation regime than in the electron accumulation regime, pointing out an electron-hole asymmetry in WS{sub 2}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗