AlGaN/GaN C-HEMT structures for dynamic stress detection

In our work, we investigated the possibility of dynamic stress detection based on the piezoelectric polarization using AlGaN/GaN circular high electron mobility transistors (C-HEMTs). In our knowledge, stress sensors in that account are introduced for the first time. The sensor structures exhibit good linearity in the piezoelectric response under dynamic stress conditions. The measurements reveal excellent stress detection sensitivity that is independent on the measured frequency range. The sensitivity of the devices can be easily increased by increase of the area of the Schottky gate ring electrode. The further increase of the sensitivity can be tuned by an optimal selection of the DC drain and gate bias.     

Enhancement of Johnson figure of merit in III‐V HEMT combined with discrete field plate and AlGaN blocking layer

The performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMT is enhanced by using discrete field plate (DFP) and AlGaN blocking layer. The AlGaN blocking layer provides an excellent confinement of electrons toward the GaN channel, resulting very low subthreshold drain current of 10^?8 A/mm. It reveals very high off state breakdown voltage (BV) of 342 V for 250 nm gate technology HEMT. The breakdown voltage achieved for the proposed HEMT is 23% higher when compared to the breakdown voltage of conventional field plate HEMT device. In addition, the DFP reduces the gate capacitance (C_G) from 12.04 × 10^?13 to 10.48 × 10^?13 F/mm. Furthermore, the drain current and transconductance (g_m) reported for the proposed HEMT device are 0.82 A/mm and 314 mS/mm, respectively. Besides, the cut‐off frequency (f_T) exhibited for the proposed HEMT is 28 GHz. Moreover, the proposed HEMT records the highest Johnson figure of merit (JFOM) of 9.57 THz‐V for 250 nm gate technology without incorporating T‐gate.     

Evaluation of photoresponse in solution-processable ZnO thin film transistor for radiative sensor applications

Thin film transistor based on the spin-cast ZnO channel layer was fabricated with SiO₂ dielectric layer on Si substrate. The ZnO active layer grown by sol-gel spin-cast caused an increase in the field-effect mobility compared to those of the ZnO TFTs with the channel layer grown by zinc acetate precursor. Under light illumination, the ZnO-TFT in turn-off state exhibited a high drain current, which is 12.82 times higher than dark drain current, whereas in turn-on state is 9.43 times. The photosensing behavior of thin film transistor based on the spin-cast ZnO channel layer indicated more pronounced under a depletion region of 0 V gate bias. The obtained results indicate that the ZnO layer spin coated on SiO₂ gate layer can be an effective and promising way to increase factor for improving the device performance and for light detecting of ZnO thin film transistor and the studied thin film phototransistor can be used in optoelectronic applications.     

微型硅基弯曲板波器件

介绍了基于ZnO压电薄膜的微型弯曲板波(FPW)器件的设计与制作。为减小薄膜的应力,器件采用LTO/ZnO/LTO/Si3N4多层复合板结构,并采用直流磁控溅射工艺制备ZnO压电薄膜,在压电复合板结构上沉积两对叉指电极,分别用于Lamb波的激发和接收。X射线衍射分析表明,沉积的ZnO薄膜C轴高度择优;扫描电子显微镜分析表明,制备的ZnO薄膜平整、致密,晶粒生长呈现明显的柱状结构;通过分析制备的高次谐波体声波谐振器(HBAR)器件性能来间接检验ZnO压电薄膜的电学性能,HBAR器件的品质因子较高,表明薄膜有较好的压电性能。利用安捷伦E5071C网络分析仪检测FPW器件的频率响应,结果表明反对称A0模式Lamb波的实测中心频率与理论计算的频率结果基本一致。     

Breakdown voltage analysis for the new RESURF AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

This paper demonstrates that the depletion process for AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility tran-sistors(HEMTs)is different than that for silicon power devices by analyzing active region depletion.Based on the special breakdown principle that occurs in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs,we propose a new reduced surface field AlGaN/GaN HEMT with a double low-density drain(LDD)and a positively charged region near the drain to optimize the surface electric field and increase the breakdown voltage.In this structure,two negative charge regions with different doses are introduced into the polarization AlGaN layer to form a double LDD and decrease the high electric field near the gate by depleting two-dimensional electron gas.A positively charged region is added to the electrode near the drain to decrease the high electric field peak at the drain edge.By applying ISE(integrated systems engineering)simulation software,we verify that the virtual gate effect occurs in the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.The breakdown voltage is improved from 257 V in the conventional structure to 550 V in the proposed structure.     

Novel top‐gate zinc oxide thin‐film transistors (ZnO TFTs) for AMLCDs

Abstract— High‐performance top‐gate thin‐film transistors (TFTs) with a transparent zinc oxide (ZnO) channel have been developed. ZnO thin films used as active channels were deposited by rf magnetron sputtering. The electrical properties and thermal stability of the ZnO films are controlled by the deposition conditions. A gate insulator made of silicon nitride (SiN_x) was deposited on the ZnO films by conventional P‐CVD. A novel ZnO‐TFT process based on photolithography is proposed for AMLCDs. AMLCDs having an aperture ratio and pixel density comparable to those of a‐Si:H TFT‐LCDs are driven by ZnO TFTs using the same driving scheme of conventional AMLCDs.     

Growth and characterization of 0.8-μm gate length AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on sapphire substrates

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structures were grown on 2 inch sapphire substrates by MOCVD, and 0.8-μm gate length devices were fabricated and measured. It is shown by resistance mapping that the HEMT structures have an average sheet resistance of approximately 380 Θ/sq with a uniformity of more than 96%. The 1-mm gate width devices using the materials yielded a pulsed drain current of 784 mA/mm atV _gs=0.5 V andV _ds=7 V with an extrinsic transconductance of 200 mS/mm. A 20-GHz unity current gain cutoff frequency (f _T) and a 28-GHz maximum oscillation frequency (f _max) were obtained. The device with a 0.6-mm gate width yielded a total output power of 2.0 W/mm (power density of 3.33 W/mm) with 41% power added efficiency (PAE) at 4 GHz.     

Piezoelectrically actuated tunable capacitor

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of the first MEMS piezoelectric tunable capacitors employing zinc oxide (ZnO) actuation. Relatively simple design rules for the device-structure optimization for largest deflection are shown from simulation results based on theoretical equations. The ZnO-actuated tunable capacitors are accordingly designed and fabricated with both surface and bulk micromachining techniques. Through the surface micromachining process, sacrificial silicon is removed with XeF/sub 2/, and parylene is successfully used as a supporting layer for a piezoelectric unimorph cantilever. For comparison, other two different structures using plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD) SiN and SU-8 as supporting layers are also fabricated. Deflection analyses are performed for three specific structures, among which the parylene-supported one is demonstrated to have the largest displacement and most suitable for tunable capacitor application. For bulk-micromachined tunable capacitor, we have implemented a novel design of a large structure driven by a ZnO unimorph, and obtained a tuning ratio of more than 21:1 (0.46 pF-10.02 pF). This is the highest tuning ratio reported to date for parallel-plate tunable capacitors while requiring an applied voltage of only 35 V.     

Memory effects of all‐solution‐processed oxide thin‐film transistors using ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract— Non‐volatile memory effects of an all‐solution‐processed oxide thin‐film transistor (TFT) with ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) as the charge‐trapping layer are reported. The device was fabricated by using a soluble MgInZnO active channel on a ZrHfO^x gate dielectric. ZnO NPs were used as the charge‐trapping site at the gate‐insulator—channel interface, and Al was used for source and drain electrodes. Transfer characteristics of the device showed a large clockwise hysteresis, which can be used to demonstrate its memory function due to electron trapping in the ZnO NP charge‐trapping layer. This memory effect has the potential to be utilized as a memory application on displays and disposable electronics.     

A physics‐based model of DC and microwave characteristics of GaN/AlGaN HEMTs

A physics‐based model of AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) is developed for the analysis of DC and microwave characteristics. Large‐ and small‐signal parameters are calculated for a given device dimensions and operating conditions. Spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations at the heterointerface and finite effective width of the 2DEG gas have been incorporated in the analysis. The model predicts a maximum drain current of 523 mA/mm and transconductance of 138 mS/mm for a 1 μm × 75 μm device, which are in agreement with the experimental data. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2007.     

Piezoelectric microphone with on-chip CMOS circuits

An IC-processed piezoelectric microphone with on-chip, large-scale integrated (LSI) CMOS circuits has been designed, fabricated, and tested in a joint, interactive process between a commercial CMOS foundry and a university micromachining facility. The 2500×2500×3.5 μm ³ microphone has a piezoelectric ZnO layer on a supporting low-pressure chemical-vapor-deposited (LPCVD), silicon-rich, silicon nitride layer. The optimum residual-stress-compensation scheme for maximizing microphone sensitivity produces a slightly buckled microphone diaphragm. A model for the sensitivity dependence of device operation to residual stress is confirmed by applying external strain. The packaged microphone has a resonant frequency of 18 kHz, a quality factor Q≈40, and an unamplified sensitivity of 0.92 mV/Pa. Differential amplifiers provide 49 dB gain with 13 μV A-weighted noise at the input     

Analysis of response mechanism of a proton-pumping gate FET hydrogen gas sensor in air

Two different types of hydrogen response signals (DC and AC) of a proton-pumping gate FET with triple layer gate structure (Pd/proton conducting polymer/Pt) were obtained. The proton-pumping gate FET showed good selectivity against other gases (CH₄, C₂H₆, NH₃, and O₂). For practical use, the hydrogen response characteristics of the proton-pumping gate FET were investigated in air (a gaseous mixture of oxygen and nitrogen). The proton-pumping gate FET showed different hydrogen response characteristics in nitrogen as well as in air, despite the lack of oxygen interference independently. To clarify the response mechanism of the proton-pumping gate FET, a hydrogen response measurement was performed, using a gas flow system and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Consequently, the difference in response between nitrogen and air was found to be due to the hydrogen dissociation reaction and the interference with the proton transfer caused by the adsorbed oxygen on the upper Pd gate electrode.     

The mobility of two-dimensional electron gas in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with varied Al content

The mobility of the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） in AIGaN/GaN hetero-structures changes significantly with AI content in the AIGaN barrier layer, while few mechanism analyses focus on it. Theoretical calculation and analysis of the 2DEG mobility in AIGaN/GaN heterostructures with varied AI content are carried out based on the recently reported experimental data. The 2DEG mobility is modeled analytically as the total effects of the scattering mechanisms including acoustic deformation-potential, piezoelectric, polar optic phonon, alloy disorder, interface roughness, dislocation and remote modulation doping scattering. We show that the increase of the 2DEG density, caused by the ascension of the AI content in the barrier layer, is a dominant factor that leads to the changes of the individual scat- tering processes. The change of the 2DEG mobility with AI content are mainly determined by the interface roughness scattering and the alloy disorder scattering at 77 K, and the polar optic phonon scattering and the interface roughness scattering at the room temperature. The calculated function of the interface roughness pa- rameters on the AI content shows that the stress caused AIGaN/GaN interface degradation at higher AI content is an important factor in the limitation of the in- terface roughness scattering on the 2DEG mobility in AIGaN/GaN heterostructures with high AI content.     

Fabrication of aluminium doped zinc oxide piezoelectric thin film on a silicon substrate for piezoelectric MEMS energy harvesters

Thin film piezoelectric materials play an essential role in micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) energy harvesting due to its low power requirement and high available energy densities. Non-ferroelectric piezoelectric materials such as ZnO and AlN are highly silicon compatible making it suitable for MEMS energy harvesters in self-powered microsystems. This work primarily describe the design, simulation and fabrication of aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO) cantilever beam deposited on <100> silicon substrate. AZO was chosen due its high piezoelectric coupling coefficient, ease of deposition and excellent bonding with silicon substrate. Doping of ZnO with Al has improved the electrical properties, conductivity and thermal stability. The proposed design operates in transversal mode (d ₃₁ mode) which was structured as a parallel plated capacitor using Si/Al/AZO/Al layers. The highlight of this work is the successful design and fabrication of Al/AZO/Al on <100> silicon as the substrate to make the device CMOS compatible for electronic functionality integration. Design and finite element modeling was conducted using COMSOL? software to estimate the resonance frequency. RF Magnetron sputtering was chosen as the deposition method for aluminium and AZO. Material characterization was performed using X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy to evaluate the piezoelectric qualities, surface morphology and the cross section. The fabricated energy harvester generated 1.61?V open circuit output voltage at 7.77?MHz resonance frequency. The experimental results agreed with the simulation results. The measured output voltage is sufficient for low power wireless sensor nodes as an alternative power sources to traditional chemical batteries.     

Efficiency enhancement of InP‐based inverted QD‐LEDs by incorporation of a polyethylenimine modified Al:ZnO layer

We report efficiency enhancement of indium phosphide (InP) quantum dot‐based light‐emitting diodes (QD‐LEDs) by using an polyethylenimine (PEI) surface modifier. By adapting a solution processed PEI layer on top of a aluminum doped zinc oxide (Al:ZnO) nanoparticle (NP) film, the leakage current of the inverted device was substantially suppressed. In addition, the electron injection into the conduction band edge (CBE) of InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDs was also facilitated by the low work function (WF) of the Al:ZnO film which was realized by the strong interfacial dipoles of the thin film of PEI. As a result, the charge balance in the inverted devices was controlled by the change of surface roughness, the WF and the thickness of neighboring layers via spin‐coating the PEI dissolved in alcohol mixture on the Al:ZnO layer such that the current efficiency was dramatically increased from 0.07 cd/A to 3.17 cd/A. The performance of our device is not comparable to Cd‐based devices; however, it shows the great potential for using an interfacial dipole layer to develop highly efficient InP‐based inverted QD‐LEDs.     

新型RESURF AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件耐压分析

本文首先从器件有源区耗尽过程分析表明AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件具有与传统Si功率器件不同的耗尽过程,针对AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件特殊的耐压机理,提出了一种降低表面电场,提高击穿电压的新型RESURF AlGaN/GaN HEMTs结构.新结构通过在极化的AlGaN层中引入分区负电荷,辅助耗尽二维电子气,有效降低了引起器件击穿的栅极边缘高电场,并首次在漏极附近引入正电荷使漏端高电场峰降低.利用仿真软件ISE分析验证了AlGaN/GaN HEMTs器件具有的"虚栅"效应,通过电场和击穿特性分析获得,新结构使器件击穿电压从传统结构的257V提高到550V.     

Novel high voltage RESURF AlGaN/GaN HEMT with charged buffer layer

A novel reduced surface field (RESURF) Al GaN /GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)with charged buffer layer is proposed. Its breakdown mechanism and on-state characteristics are investigated.The HEMT features buried Fluorine ions in the GaN buffer layer both under the Drift and the Gate region (FDG). The section of FDG under the drift region (FD) not only reduces the electric field (E-field) peak at the gate edge but also enhances the E-field in the drift region by the assisted depletion, leading to a significant improvement in breakdown voltage (BV). Moreover, the section of FDG under the gate (FG) enhances the back barrier and effectively prevents electron injecting from the source to form leakage current, thus a higher BV is achieved. The BV of the proposed HEMT sharply increases to 750 V from 230 V of conventional AlGaN /GaN HEMT with the same dimensional parameters, and the specific on-resistance (Ron,sp) just increases to1.21 m?·cm~2from 1.01 m?·cm~2.     

Gas response dependence on gate metal morphology of field-effect devices

The dependence of the gas response on the gate metal morphology of field-effect gas sensors has been investigated in a new systematic way by using a scanning light pulse technique (SLPT) together with fabrication of metal gates where the metal morphology is continuously varied over the gate area. With the SLPT the local gas response at different points of the gate area can be measured. Furthermore, a mass spectrometric local gas sampling technique has been applied in combination with the local gas response measurements, which gives complementary information about the surface chemistry and how it changes with the morphology of the metal gate.

Three different gate metals, Pd, Pt and Ir, have been studied by analysing the morphology and the gas response to five different gases, H₂, NH₃, C₂H₅OH, C₂H₄ and CH₃CHO. Morphological aspects such as crack coverage, concentration of cracks and the length of the crack boundary, have been calculated from acquired scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Different possible response mechanisms are discussed in order to explain the observed responses and to understand the role of the morphology and the choice of the catalytic metal.

Only in the case of ammonia a direct correlation between the morphological aspects, e.g. crack coverage, and the response was found. For Pd large changes in the local water pressure close to the metal gate surface have been measured at different parts of the metal gate by using the local gas sampling technique and a correlation is observed with the simultaneously measured gas response. Of the response mechanisms discussed in this contribution only a dissociative mechanism, where hydrogen atoms trapped at the interface between the metal gate and the insulator gives the response of the device, is consistent with all obtained results.     

Surface micromachined piezoelectric accelerometers (PiXLs)

The design, fabrication, and characterization of surface micromachined piezoelectric accelerometers are presented in this paper. The thin-film accelerometers employ zinc oxide (ZnO) as the active piezoelectric material, with different designs using either polysilicon or ZnO bimorph substrates. Sensitivity analyses are presented for two specific sensor designs. Guidelines for design optimization are derived by combining expressions for device sensitivity and resonant frequency. Two microfabrication techniques based on SiO₂ and Si sacrificial etching are outlined. Techniques for residual stress compensation in both fabrication processes are discussed. Accelerometers based on both processes have been fabricated and characterized. A sensitivity of 0.95 fC/g and resonant frequency of 3.3 kHz has been realized for a simple cantilever accelerometer fabricated using the sacrificial SiO₂ process. Sensors fabricated in the sacrificial Si process with discrete proof masses have exhibited sensitivities of 13.3 fC/g and 44.7 fC/g at resonant frequencies of 2.23 kHz and 1.02 kHz, respectively     

Comparison of floating gate neural network memory cells in standardVLSI CMOS technology

Several floating gate MOSFET structures, for potential use as analog memory elements in neural networks, have been fabricated in a standard 2 mum double-polysilicon CMOS process. Their physical and programming characteristics are compared with each other and with similar structures reported in the literature. None of the circuits under consideration require special fabrication techniques. The criteria used to determine the structure most suitable for neural network memory applications include the symmetry of charging and discharging characteristics, programming voltage magnitudes, the area required, and the effectiveness of geometric field enhancement techniques. This work provides a layout for an analog neural network memory based on previously unexplored criteria and results. The authors have found that the best designs (a) use the poly1 to poly2 oxide for injection; (b) need not utilize ;field enhancement' techniques; (c) use poly1 to diffusion oxide for a coupling capacitor; and (d) size capacitor ratios to provide a wide range of possible programming voltages.