Current spreading effects in fully printed p-channel organic thin film transistors with Schottky source–drain contacts

Contact effects have been analyzed, by using numerical simulations, in fully printed p-channel OTFTs based on a pentacene derivative as organic semiconductor and with Au source/drain contacts. Considering source–drain Schottky contacts, with a barrier height of 0.46 eV, device characteristics can be perfectly reproduced. From the detailed analysis of the current density we have shown that current spreading occurs at the source contact, thus influencing the effective contact resistance. At low V_ds and for a given V_gs, the current is mainly injected from an extended source contact region and current spreading remains basically constant for increasing V_ds. However, by increasing V_ds the depletion layer of the Schottky contact expands and reaches the insulator–semiconductor interface, causing the pinch-off of the channel at the source end (V_dsat1). For V_ds > V_dsat1 the current injected from the edge of the source contact rapidly increases while the current injected from the remaining part of the source contact basically saturates. Current spreading shows a V_gs-dependence, since the contact injection area depends on the channel resistance and also barrier lowering of the Schottky source contact depends upon V_gs. The injected current from the edge of the source contact can be reproduced using the conventional diode current expression, assuming a constant value for the zero barrier lowering saturation current and considering a V_gs-dependent barrier lowering. The presented analysis clarifies the V_gs-dependence of the contact current–voltage characteristics and points out that the I–V contact characteristics cannot directly be related to a single diode characteristics. Indeed, the contact characteristics result from the combination of two rather different regimes: at low V_ds the current is injected from an extended source contact region with a current spreading related to V_gs, while for V_ds above the pinch-off of the channel at source end, the current is injected primarily from the edge of the source contact and is strongly enhanced by the barrier lowering.     

THE effect of Srandom DOPANT fluctuation on threshold voltage and drain current variation in junctionless nanotransistors

We investigate the effect of dopant random fluctuation on threshold voltage and drain current variation in a two-gate nanoscale transistor. We used a quantum-corrected technology computer aided design simulation to run the simulation (10000 randomizations). With this simulation, we could study the effects of varying the dimensions (length and width), and thicknesses of oxide and dopant factors of a transistor on the threshold voltage and drain current in subthreshold region (off) and overthreshold (on). It was found that in the subthreshold region the variability of the drain current and threshold voltage is relatively fixed while in the overthreshold region the variability of the threshold voltage and drain current decreases remarkably, despite the slight reduction of gate voltage diffusion (compared with that of the subthreshold). These results have been interpreted by using previously reported models for threshold current variability, load displacement, and simple analytical calculations. Scaling analysis shows that the variability of the characteristics of this semiconductor increases as the effects of the short channel increases. Therefore, with a slight increase of length and a reduction of width, oxide thickness, and dopant factor, we could correct the effect of the short channel.     

Crystal growth in Bi–Sr–Ca–Cu–O system

We report growth of Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ single crystals with dimensions of 6×2×0.03 mm³ using a melt and growth technique. The oxygen content is determined to be δ≈0.13 by iodometric titration. The crystal is shown to be homogeneous and close to stoichiometric cation ratio. The superconducting temperature with a sharp transition width (10–90% level) of 6–8 K was determined to be T_c=92 K from resistivity and dc susceptibility measurements. The predominant impurity phase is a Cu-free crystal, whose composition is identified as Bi₁₀Sr₁₁Ca₅O_x. The crystal structure of Bi₁₀Sr₁₁Ca₅O_x is monoclinic with a=11.108(1) Å, b=5.9487(1) Å; c=19.838 (3) Åand β=101.5° (P2_1/c space group).     

Facile modification of Cu source–drain (S/D) electrodes for high-performance,low-voltage n-channel organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) based on C60

Exploring suitable electrode materials with sufficiently low work function, ambient stability and low-cost is of great technological importance to the development of n-channel OTFTs. Here, we show that the work function of Cu can be effectively reduced from 4.65 eV to 4.28 eV through surface modification via simply spin-coating a thin layer of branched polyethylenimine (PEI). By exploiting a high-capacitance density gate dielectric (200 nF/cm²), low-voltage (3 V) C₆₀ TFTs with electron mobility (μ_e) of 3.2 cm²/V s are demonstrated with PEI modified Cu as source–drain (S/D) electrodes. In contrast, the device with Cu S/D electrodes possesses μ_e of only 1.0 cm²/V s. The improvement in electrical performance of the PEI modified device is attributed to the efficient electron injection at the Cu/C₆₀ interface which resulted from the reduction in work function of Cu. Moreover, upon PEI modification, the bias stability of the device can be obviously enhanced as compared to the unmodified one, and the resultant device exhibits an excellent thermal stability up to 200 °C without appreciable degradation in mobility. The facile modification of low-cost Cu as S/D electrodes for high-performance n-channel OTFTs as well as the low-voltage operation will pave the way for large scale manufacturing of organic electronics.     

Optically-induced effects in Y–ba–cu–O Josephson junctions

We report our studies on light-induced changes in electrical properties of YBa₂Cu₃O_x (YBCO) grain-boundary Josephson weak links. We discuss the erasable process (photodoping), in which light-induced enhancement of junctions properties at low temperatures relaxes back above 250 K. Our studies are focused on the junction critical current versus time, light intensity, and magnetic field measurements. In tested few-μm-wide step-edge junctions, photodoping manifested itself as above 50% increase of the critical current and the decrease of the junction magnetic penetration depth, leading to reduction of the effective junction width. Contrary to the photodoping effect, the high-intensity laser modification of junctions led to permanent modification of their electrical characteristics that remained unchanged after subsequent room-temperature/helium thermal cycling of the sample. The laser-modified junctions exhibited up to 25% increase of the critical current times normal-state resistance product.     

The forward bias current density–voltage–temperature (J–V–T) characteristics of Al–SiO2–pSi (MIS) Schottky diodes

Metal–insulator–semiconductor Schottky diodes were fabricated to investigate the tunnel effect and the dominant carrier transport mechanism by using current density–voltage (J–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements in the temperature range of 295–370?K. The slope of the ln?J–V curves was almost constant value over the nearly four decades of current and the forward bias current density J is found to be proportional to J_o (T) exp(AV). The values of N_ss estimated from J–V and C–V measurements decreased with increasing temperature. The temperature dependence of the barrier heights obtained from forward bias J–V was found to be entirely different than that from the reverse bias C–V characteristics. All these behaviours confirmed that the prepared samples have a tunnel effect and the current transport mechanism in the temperature range of 295–370?K was predominated by a trap-assisted multi-step tunnelling, although the Si wafer has low doping concentration and the measurements were made at moderate temperature.     

Photon-assisted capacitance–voltage study of organic metal–insulator–semiconductor capacitors

The results are reported of a detailed investigation into the photoinduced changes that occur in the capacitance–voltage (C–V) response of an organic metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) capacitor based on the organic semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT. During the forward voltage sweep, the device is driven into deep depletion but stabilizes at a voltage-independent minimum capacitance, C_min, whose value depends on photon energy, light intensity and voltage ramp rate. On reversing the voltage sweep, strong hysteresis is observed owing to a positive shift in the flatband voltage, V_FB, of the device. A theoretical quasi-static model is developed in which it is assumed that electrons photogenerated in the semiconductor depletion region escape geminate recombination following the Onsager model. These electrons then drift to the P3HT/insulator interface where they become deeply trapped thus effecting a positive shift in V_FB. By choosing appropriate values for the only disposable parameter in the model, an excellent fit is obtained to the experimental C_min, from which we extract values for the zero-field quantum yield of photoelectrons in P3HT that are of similar magnitude, 10^?5 to 10^?3, to those previously deduced for π-conjugated polymers from photoconduction measurements. From the observed hysteresis we deduce that the interfacial electron trap density probably exceeds 10¹⁶ m^?2. Evidence is presented suggesting that the ratio of free to trapped electrons at the interface depends on the insulator used for fabricating the device.     

Four-Dimensional Gallant–Lambert–Vanstone Scalar Multiplication

The GLV method of Gallant, Lambert, and Vanstone (CRYPTO 2001) computes any multiple kP of a point P of prime order n lying on an elliptic curve with a low-degree endomorphism Φ (called GLV curve) over $\mathbb{F}_{p}$ as $$kP = k_1P + k_2\varPhi(P) \quad\text{with } \max \bigl\{ |k_1|,|k_2| \bigr\} \leq C_1\sqrt{n} $$ for some explicit constant C ₁>0. Recently, Galbraith, Lin, and Scott (EUROCRYPT 2009) extended this method to all curves over $\mathbb{F}_{p^{2}}$ which are twists of curves defined over $\mathbb{F}_{p}$ . We show in this work how to merge the two approaches in order to get, for twists of any GLV curve over $\mathbb{F}_{p^{2}}$ , a four-dimensional decomposition together with fast endomorphisms Φ,Ψ over $\mathbb{F}_{p^{2}}$ acting on the group generated by a point P of prime order n, resulting in a proven decomposition for any scalar k∈[1,n] given by $$kP=k_1P+ k_2\varPhi(P)+ k_3\varPsi(P) + k_4\varPsi\varPhi(P) \quad \text{with } \max_i \bigl(|k_i| \bigr)< C_2\, n^{1/4} $$ for some explicit C ₂>0. Remarkably, taking the best C ₁,C ₂, we obtain C ₂/C ₁<412, independently of the curve, ensuring in theory an almost constant relative speedup. In practice, our experiments reveal that the use of the merged GLV–GLS approach supports a scalar multiplication that runs up to 1.5 times faster than the original GLV method. We then improve this performance even further by exploiting the Twisted Edwards model and show that curves originally slower may become extremely efficient on this model. In addition, we analyze the performance of the method on a multicore setting and describe how to efficiently protect GLV-based scalar multiplication against several side-channel attacks. Our implementations improve the state-of-the-art performance of scalar multiplication on elliptic curves over large prime characteristic fields for a variety of scenarios including side-channel protected and unprotected cases with sequential and multicore execution.     

Lifetime of excess electrons in Cu–Zn–Sn–Se powders

The method of time-resolved microwave photoconductivity at a frequency of 36 GHz in the range of temperatures of 200–300 K is used to study the kinetics of the annihilation of charge carriers in Cu–Zn–Sn–Se powders obtained by the solid-phase method of synthesis in cells. The lifetime of excess electrons at room temperature is found to be shorter than 5 ns. The activation energy for the process of recombination amounted to E _a ~ 0.054 eV.     

Electron Microscopy Study of Ferroelectric Memory Based on Si–SiO2–Ti–Pt–PZT Multilayer Structure

Model Si–SiO₂–Ti–Pt–PZT multilayer structures obtained by chemical solution deposition at excessive (relative to the stoichiometric composition) amounts of lead in the starting film-forming solution (x= 0–30 mol %) were studied by TEM and X-ray microanalysis techniques. In the absence of excessive lead, the films crystallize largely into the metastable phase of pyrochlore, which does not have ferroelectric properties. With an excessive amount of lead added, PZT ceramic crystallizes into the ferroelectric phase of perovskite and has columnar grains 0.2 m in size. The thermal stability of the metallization system during the formation of the ferroelectric film was investigated. A 180-nm-thick transition layer between the Pt electrode and the adhesive titanium film was discovered. This layer, resulting from high-temperature synthesis, consists of fine-grain platinum, as well as metal oxides and silicides.     

Phase Formation during the Surface-Diffusion Growth of Ti–Co–Si–N and Ti–Co–N Thin Films on Si and SiO2

The kinetics of phase formation in Ti–Co–Si–N and Ti–Co–N thin films on Si and SiO₂is investigated experimentally. With the deposition on Si, rapid thermal annealing (T 900°C) is shown to cause phase separation that ends in a TiN/CoSi₂/Si structure. If SiO₂is used, the alloy reacts with the substrate to produce compounds that are difficult to remove with selective etchants. This limits the potential uses of this process in the fabrication of contact systems for CMOS devices. It is shown that structure- and phase-dissimilar films can be formed on Si and SiO₂by means of the surface-diffusion reactions between a Ti–Co–Si–N or Ti–Co–N alloy and the substrate at 650–700°C. The effect of a TiN, Ti, or CoSi₂thin layer at the alloy–substrate interface on the phase separation is investigated.     

Waveguide Bandstop Filters Based on Microwave Photonic Crystals with Parameters Controlled by n–i–p–i–n Diodes

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - A feasible design of a system with an allowed band with near-unity frequency-independent transmission utilizing the reflective properties of...     

Donor–acceptor–acceptor–donor small molecules for solution processed bulk heterojunction solar cells

We report on the optical and electrochemical characterization (experimental and theoretical) of two donor substituted benzothiadiazole with different cyano based acceptor π-linkers, tetracyanobutadiene (TCBD) SM1 and dicyanoquinomethane (DCNQ) SM2, and explore them as the donor component for solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, along with PC₇₁BM as the electron acceptor. The solution bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells based on dichloromethane (DCM) processed active layer with SM1 and SM2 as donor and PC₇₁BM as acceptor achieve power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.76% and 3.61%, respectively. The solar cells based on these two small molecules exhibit good Voc, which is attributed to their deep HOMO energy level. The higher PCE of the device based on SM2 compared to SM1 is attributed to the its small bandgap, broader absorption profile and enhanced hole mobility. Additionally, the PCE of the SM2:PC₇₁BM based solar cells processed with 1-chloronaphthalene CN (3 v%)/DCM is further improved reaching upto 4.86%. This increase in PCE has been attributed to the improved nanoscale morphology and more balanced charge transport in the device, due to the solvent additive.     

New hybrid organic–inorganic sol–gel positive resist

The direct nanopatterning of a novel hybrid organic–inorganic sol–gel film based on bridged polysilsesquioxanes (BPS) using X-ray synchrotron radiation is reported. The main advantages of a direct fabrication technique with respect to conventional photolithography are represented by the possibility to bypass some typical post-exposure lithographic steps and to avoid the use of a sacrificial layer. The distinctive features rendering hybrid BPS-based material innovative for photolithographic applications are: the patternability as resist, the positive tone behaviour exhibited under X-ray irradiation, the porous structure demonstrated at low temperature, and the possibility to widely tailor material electro-optical and structural properties to experimental needs. A systematic investigation of the interactions between sol–gel BPS films based on the bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene precursor and soft X-rays is conducted. Under X-ray exposure, BPS-based films suffer structural changes attributed to the organic bridge breaking, and become soluble in suitable acidic aqueous solutions, producing final lithographies of sub-micron resolution, high contrast and good edge definition.     

Nanowires for UV–vis–IR Optoelectronic Synaptic Devices

Simulating biological synaptic functionalities through artificial synaptic devices opens up an innovative way to overcome the von Neumann bottleneck at the device level. Artificial optoelectronic synapses provide a non-contact method to operate the devices and overcome the shortcomings of electrical synaptic devices. With the advantages of high photoelectric conversion efficiency, adjustable light absorption coefficient, and broad spectral range, nanowires (NWs)-based optoelectronic synapses have attracted wide attention. Herein, to better promote the applications of nanowires-based optoelectronic synapses for future neuromorphic systems, the functionalities of optoelectronic synaptic devices and the current progress of NWs optoelectronic synaptic devices in UV–vis–IR spectral range are introduced. Furthermore, a bridge between NWs-based optoelectronic synaptic device and the neuromorphic system is established. Challenges for the forthcoming development of NWs optoelectronic synapses are also discussed. This review may offer a vision into the design and neuromorphic applications of NWs-based optoelectronic synaptic devices.     

Nanostructured metal–insulator–metal capacitor with anodic titania

This paper presents fabrication and electrical characterization of barrier type TiO₂ metal–insulator–metal (MIM) capacitor using anodization. Polarization process, conduction mechanisms, and structural properties are studied in detail. We found that the anodization voltage played a major role in electrical and structural properties of the thin film. The barrier type anodic TiO₂ is suggested as a dielectric material for high-performance MIM capacitors.     

Optical-beam profiling by field-controlled metal–semiconductor–metal structures

Optical-beam profiling properties of Schottky-barrier metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) structures have been investigated experimentally. Making use of a planar molybdenum/n-type silicon/molybdenum (Mo/n-Si/Mo) MSM structure with a wide electrode separation, one-dimensional (1-D) profiling of optical-beam intensity distribution from a helium–neon (He–Ne) laser was carried out. It was confirmed that, in addition to the existing photosensing function, the sensitivity (output photocurrent) of such a structure could be controlled by applying a bias via lateral spreading of the surface space-charge-region (SCR) at the side of the reverse-biased Schottky-junction.     

Porphyrinic Metal–Organic Framework Quantum Dots for Stable n–i–p Perovskite Solar Cells

As the power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic–inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is approaching the theoretical maximum, the most crucial issue concerns long-term ambient stability. Here, the application of PCN-224 quantum dots (QDs) is reported, a typical Zr-based porphyrinic metal–organic framework (MOF), to enhance the ambient stability of PSCs. PCN-224 QDs with abundant Lewis-base groups (e.g., CO, C−N, CN) contribute to high-quality perovskite films with enlarged grain size and reduced defect density by interaction with under-coordinated Pb²⁺. Meanwhile, PCN-224 QDs enable the well-matched energy level at the perovskite/hole transport layer (HTL) interface, thereby facilitating hole extraction and transport. More importantly, PCN-224 QDs-treated HTL can capture Li⁺ from bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide additive, leading to the reduced aggregation and less direct contact with moisture for hygroscopic Li-TFSI. Moreover, PCN-224 QDs mitigated Li⁺ ion migration into the perovskite layer, thus avoiding the formation of deleterious defects. The resultant devices yield a champion PCE of 22.51%, along with substantially improved durability, including humidity, thermal and light soaking stabilities. The findings provide a new approach toward efficient and stable PSCs by applying MOF QDs.     

Ring–mesh topology design in a SONET–WDM network

This article deals with a ring–mesh network design problem arising from the deployment of an optical transport network. The problem seeks to partition the set of demand pairs to a number of rings and a mesh cluster, and to determine the location of the optical cross-connect system (OXC), while minimizing the total cost of optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs), OXCs, and fiber links. We formulate this problem as a zero-one integer programming problem. In strengthening the formulation, we develop some valid inequalities for the zero-one quadratic (knapsack) polytope and a column generation formulation that eliminates the symmetry of ring configurations. Also, we prescribe an effective tabu search procedure for finding a good quality feasible solution, which is also used as a starting column for the column generation procedure. Computational results show that the proposed solution procedure provides tight lower and upper bounds within a reasonable time bound.