Field ion source development for neutron generators

An ion source based on the principles of electrostatic field desorption is being developed to improve the performance of existing compact neutron generators. The ion source is an array of gated metal tips derived from field electron emitter array microfabrication technology. A comprehensive summary of development and experimental activities is presented. Many structural modifications to the arrays have been incorporated to achieve higher tip operating fields, while lowering fields at the gate electrode to prevent gate field electron emission which initiates electrical breakdown in the array. The latest focus of fabrication activities has been on rounding the gate electrode edge and surrounding the gate electrode with dielectric material. Array testing results have indicated a steady progression of increased array tip operating fields with each new design tested. The latest arrays have consistently achieved fields beyond those required for the onset of deuterium desorption (∼20 V/nm), and have demonstrated the desorption of deuterium at fields up to 36 V/nm. The number of ions desorbed from an array has been quantified, and field desorption of metal tip substrate material from array tips has been observed for the first time. Gas-phase field ionization studies with ∼10,000 tip arrays have achieved deuterium ion currents of ∼50 nA. Neutron production by field ionization has yielded ∼10² n/s from ∼1 mm² of array area using the deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction at 90 kV.     

Enhanced field-emission from a mixture of carbon nanotubes, ZnO tetrapods and conductive particles

We report the enhancement of field-emission current from a mixture of carbon nanotubes, ZnO tetrapod-like nano structures, and conductive particles. Carbon nanotubes are deposited on the electrode as the field emitters. A MgO layer is printed around the cathode electrode, and ZnO tetrapod-like nano structures are deposited on this layer for the generation of secondary emission electrons. A few conductive particles are also distributed on the MgO layer by spraying or screen-printing. These conductive particles enhance the transverse electric field around the cathode electrode. Consequently, more primary electrons emitted from the carbon nanotubes bombard on the ZnO tetrapods, and secondary emission electrons and scattered electrons are yielded. Finally, the field-emission current is enhanced obviously. As experimental results shown, a high field-emission current about 32 mA in a direct current emission mode has been obtained from a 0.5 cm2 emission site when an electric field of 9 V/microm is applied between cathode and anode. Compared with a conventional carbon nanotube cathode, the field-emission current has been improved about 80%.     

Field-emission triode of low-temperature synthesized ZnO nanowires

A field-emission triode based on the low-temperature (75/spl deg/C) and hydrothermally synthesized single-crystalline zinc-oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) grown on Si substrate with a silicon dioxide (SiO/sub 2/) insulator was fabricated for the controllable field-emission device application. Field-emission measurement reveals that the ZnO NWs fabricated on the Si substrate exhibit a good emission property with the turn-on electric field and threshold electric field (current density of 1 mA/cm/sup 2/) of 1.6 and 2.1 V//spl mu/m, respectively, with a field enhancement factor /spl beta/ of 3340. The field-emission properties of the ZnO NW-based triode exhibit the controllable characteristics. The well-controlled field-emission characteristics can be divided into three parts: gate leakage region, linear region, and saturation region. Therefore, this study provides a low-temperature field-emission triode fabrication process that is compatible with the Si-based microelectronic integration, and the field-emission measurements also reveal that the emission behavior can be well controlled by adopting the triode structure.     

Formation of polycrystalline thin-film transistors with stacked poly-SiGe/poly-Si channel layer for low-voltage applications

A thin-film transistor (TFT) with polycrystalline SiGe/Si stacked channel layer has been proposed for low-voltage applications. For the stacked poly-SiGe/poly-Si channel layer, the resultant 1-μm TFT device can achieve an on/off current ratio above 7 orders and a relatively large on-state current at a low operating voltage, and also cause better transfer characteristics than both the conventional poly-Si and poly-SiGe channel layers. As compared to the poly-Si channel layer, the poly-SiGe channel layer may cause a larger on-state current at a small gate bias of 3 V, due to smaller difference between conduction band and intrinsic level. However, even at a small drain bias of 3 V, the poly-SiGe channel layer leads to an off-state leakage current of about 2 order larger than the poly-Si channel layer, since a smaller energy bandgap may cause more carrier field emission via trap states. As a result, when a poly-SiGe/poly-Si stacked channel layer is employed, the leakage current may be suppressed to a low level as that for the poly-Si channel layer, and the resultant on-state current at a low gate bias voltage can be close to a relatively high level as that for the poly-SiGe channel layer.     

新型前栅场发射器件的研究

采用刻蚀型介质制作前栅场发射器件。该器件中阴栅结构的形成是利用刻蚀工艺刻蚀介质层,一次性实现栅孔和阴极电极的连通,最后利用电泳沉积工艺转移碳纳米管制备成阴极发射点阵。该工艺避免了对准或套印,使前栅场发射器件制作工艺更简单,降低了成本,更容易实现大面积制作。场发射测试表明当阳压在1500和2000 V时,栅压都能够有效地控制阴极的电子发射。     

金属/绝缘体/金属(Al/Al2O3/Au)隧道结的发光衰减机制

结合Al/Al2 O3 /Au结构MIM(metal/insulator/metal)隧道结I U特性、深度Auger谱及结发光后结面透明度的测试与观察 ,对其发光衰减机制进行了研究。结果表明 ,由于MIM结工作时 ,通过隧道电流等产生的大量焦耳热引起底电极Al膜不断氧化 ,中间栅Al2 O3 的厚度不断增加 ,从而使得隧穿电子激发表面等离极化激元 (surfaceplasmonpolariton ,SPP)的强度不断变弱 ,引起SPP耦合发光的强度不断衰减     

Switches from pi- to sigma-bonding complexes controlled by gate voltages

A conjugated polymer/metal ion/liquid-crystal molecular system was set between source and drain electrodes with a 100 nm gap. When gate voltage (Vg) increases, the current between source and drain electrodes increases. Infrared spectra show this system to be composed of pi and sigma complexes. At Vg = 0, the pi complex dominates the sigma complex, whereas the sigma complex becomes dominant when Vg is switched on. Calculations found that the pi complex has lower conductivity than the sigma complex.     

Vertical single-crystal ZnO nanowires grown on ZnO:Ga/glass templates

Vertical single-crystal ZnO nanowires with uniform diameter and uniform length were selectively grown on ZnO:Ga/glass templates at 600/spl deg/C by a self-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid process without any metal catalyst. It was found that the ZnO nanowires are grown preferred oriented in the [002] direction with a small X-ray diffraction full-width half-maximum. Photoluminescence, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements also confirmed good crystal quality of our ZnO nanowires. Field emitters using these ZnO nanowires were also fabricated. It was found that threshold field of the fabricated field emitters was 14 V//spl mu/m. With an applied electric field of 24 V//spl mu/m, it was found that the emission current density was around 0.1 mA/cm/sup 2/.     

Silicon rice-straw array emitters and their superior electron field emission

Free standing and vertically aligned silicon rice-straw- like array emitters were fabricated by modified electroless metal deposition (EMD), using HF-H(2)O(2) as an etching solution to reduce the emitter density and to make the emitter end of the formed silicon rice-straw arrays shaper than those formed by conventional EMD. These silicon rice-straw array emitters can be turned on at E(0) = 4.7 V/μm, yielding an EFE (electron field emission) current density of J(e) = 139 μA/cm(2) in an applied field of 12.8 V/μm. According to a simple simulation, the excellent EFE performance of the silicon rice-straw array emitters originates in not only the favorable distribution of emitter arrays, but also the shape of the emitter apexes. The modified-EMD method is easily scaled up without expensive equipment, so silicon rice-straw array emitters are a promising alternative to silicon-based field emitters.     

Influence of gate thermal oxide layer on InGaP/InGaAs doping-channel field-effect transistors

In this article, the significant effect of a thin gate thermal oxide layer on InGaP/InGaAs doping-channel field-effect transistors (DCFETs) is first demonstrated. When compared to the conventional InGaP/InGaAs DCFET, the device with the gate thermal oxide layer exhibits a higher gate turn-on voltage and nearly voltage-independent transconductances as the gate-to-source is biased form −0.75 V to 0 V, while the maximum transconductance is lower. Experimentally, the transconductance within 90% of its maximum value for gate voltage swing is 1.63 V in the gate-oxide device, which is greater than that of 1.35 V in the device without the gate thermal oxide layer. Furthermore, it maintains a high drain current level at negative gate bias in the gate-oxide device, which can be attributed that the thermal oxide layer with a considerably large energy gap absorbs more of gate negative voltage and the influence of negative voltage on the gate depleted thickness is relatively slight.     

Direct comparison of the electrical properties in metal/oxide/nitride/oxide/silicon and metal/aluminum oxide/nitride/oxide/silicon capacitors with equivalent oxide thicknesses

We examine the electrical properties of metal/oxide/nitride/oxide/silicon (MONOS) capacitors with two different blocking oxides, SiO₂ and Al₂O₃, under the influence of the same electric field. The thickness of the Al₂O₃ layer is set to 150 Å, which is electrically equivalent to a thickness of the SiO₂ layer of 65 Å, in the MONOS structure for this purpose. The capacitor with the Al₂O₃ blocking layer shows a larger capacitance-voltage memory window of 8.6 V, lower program voltage of 7 V, faster program/erase speeds of 10 ms/1 μs, lower leakage current of 100 pA and longer data retention than the one with the SiO₂ blocking layer does. These improvements are attributed to the suppression of the carrier transport to the gate electrode afforded by the use of an Al₂O₃ blocking layer physically thicker than the SiO₂ one, as well as the effective charge-trapping by Al₂O₃ at the deep energy levels in the nitride layer.     

Field-emission diode with tangential current takeoff from thin-film nanodiamond/graphite emitter

Dependence on the performance characteristics of a field-emission diode with tangential current takeoff from thin-film nanodiamond/graphite (NDG) emitter on the design parameters has been studied. Thin-film NDG emitter structures were formed in the plasma of microwave low-pressure gas discharge. Field-emission current densities up to 20 A/cm² at a voltage of 300 V were obtained. For the optimum diode design parameters, the tangential current takeoff scheme allows the threshold electric field strength for the onset of field emission to be decreased to less than half of the value typical of the planar field emission from the same NDG structures.     

Controlled deposition of new organic ultrathin film as a gate dielectric layer for advanced flexible capacitor devices

This letter describes a new organic (1-bromoadamantane) ultrathin film as gate dielectric, which was successfully deposited by sol–gel spin-coating process on a flexible polyimide substrate at room temperature. The metal–insulator-metal (MIM) device with organic (1-bromoadamantane) ultrathin (10 nm) film as gate dielectric layer operated at gate voltage of 5.0 V, showing a low leakage current density (5.63 × 10^?10 A cm^?2 at 5 V) and good capacitance (2.01 fF μm^?2 at 1 MHz). The chemical structure of the 1-bromoadamantane layer was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The excellent leakage current density and better capacitance, probably due to the presence of polar, non-polar, low-polar groups, and bromine atoms in ultrathin film. Practical properties of the film in MIM capacitor such as dielectric constant as well as bending result of leakage current density and breakdown voltage have been better related to such fundamental adhesion nature over flexible substrate. This permits estimation of the properties of new dielectric in thin film form and short lists of the best materials for low loss and good capacitance flexible capacitors could be drawn up in future.     

A direct metal transfer method for cross-bar type polymer non-volatile memory applications

Polymer non-volatile memory devices in 8 × 8 array cross-bar architecture were fabricated by a non-aqueous direct metal transfer (DMT) method using a two-step thermal treatment. Top electrodes with a linewidth of 2?μm were transferred onto the polymer layer by the DMT method. The switching behaviour of memory devices fabricated by the DMT method was very similar to that of devices fabricated by the conventional shadow mask method. The devices fabricated using the DMT method showed three orders of magnitude of on/off ratio with stable resistance switching, demonstrating that the DMT method can be a simple process to fabricate organic memory array devices.     

Characteristics of high-k gate oxide prepared by oxidation of multi-layered Hf/Zr/Hf/Zr/Hf metal films

We investigated the physical and electrical properties of Hf-Zr mixed high-k oxide films obtained by the oxidation and annealing of multi-layered metal films (i.e., Hf/Zr/Hf/Zr/Hf, ∼ 5 nm). We demonstrated that the oxidation of multi-layered metal films results in two distinctive amorphous layers: That is, Hf-Zr mixed oxide film was formed on the top of silicate film due to inter-diffusion between Hf and Zr layer. This film shows the improved dielectric constant (k) and the raised crystallization temperature. Compared with HfO₂ and ZrO₂ gate dielectric, the crystallization temperature of Hf-Zr mixed oxides was raised by more than 200 °C. Using AES and XPS, we observed that Zr oxide has more fully oxidized stoichiometry than Hf oxide, irrespective of annealing temperatures. We also found that the thickness of an interfacial layer located between Hf-Zr mixed oxide and Si substrate also increases as annealing temperature increases. Especially, the thin SiO_x interfacial layer starts to form if annealing temperature increases over 700 °C, deteriorating the equivalent oxide thickness.     

Effect of oxygen on tuning the TiNx metal gate work function on LaLuO3

This paper presents experimental evidence on effective work function tuning due to the presence of oxygen at the TiNx/LaLuO₃ interface. Two complementary techniques, internal photoemission and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, show good agreement on the position of the metal gate Fermi level to conduction (2.79 ± 0.25 eV) and valence (2.65 ± 0.08 eV) band edge for TiNx/bulk LaLuO₃ gate stacks. The chemical shifts of Ti2p and N1s core levels and different degree in ionicity of TiNx metal gates correlate with the observed valence band offset shifts. The results have significance for setting the band edge work function and resulting low threshold voltage for ultimately scaled LaLuO₃-based p-metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor devices.     

Enhanced field-emission from SnO2:WO(2.72) nanowire heterostructures

The field-emission properties of SnO(2):WO(2.72) hierarchical nanowire heterostructure have been investigated. Nanoheterostructure consisting of SnO(2) nanowires as stem and WO(2.72) nanothorns as branches are synthesized in two steps by physical vapor deposition technique. Their field emission properties were recorded. A low turn-on field of ~0.82 V/μm (to draw an emission current density ~10 μA/cm(2)) is achieved along with stable emission for 4 h duration. The emission characteristic shows the SnO(2):WO(2.72) nanoheterostructures are extremely suitable for field-emission applications.     

High sensitivity SPR sensor for Liquid phase sample with Ag/PbS/Graphene hybrid nanostructure

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure has been proposed for the diagnostics of liquid phase samples. Here Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure is designed as an asymmetric MIM waveguide for surface plasmon. Due to the guided wave SPR (GWSPR) modes, the index of the liquid phase samples can be measured more accurately than the conventional SPR sensors. Numerical simulation results show that the sensitivity of the sensor is about 5 times higher than the conventional SPR sensors. The origin of the enhancement mechanism is the combination of GWSPR in the Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure which enables the surface plasmon to spread along the PbS layer. In Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure, the electric field is concentrated mostly in the PbS layer, and the enhancement of the field intensity is nearly 30%.     

Electrochemical growth of ordered nickel nano-rods within a composite structure of anodic-alumina-membrane/metal/silicon substrate

Electrochemical growth of highly oriented Ni nano-rods within the arrays of anodic alumina pores has various important applications including magnetic, sensor and field-emission displays. Applicability of ordered nano-rods in practical devices requires proper designing of the structure with high stability and robustness. Anodic alumina membrane grown on Si substrate offers less fragile, stable, compact and robust structure as a host for nano-rod growth through the nanopores. We have fabricated highly ordered Ni-nanorods via cost-effective electrochemical deposition process within a porous alumina matrix. The device structure composed of Ni nano-rod/porous-alumina/tantalum/silicon-substrate. Metallic Ta is used as the electrode for Ni electrodeposition. Electron Microscopic images depict the highly uniform growth of Ni nano-rods through the alumina pores with nano-rod length around 100 nm. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis verifies the presence of Ni within the sample. One of the important applications of Ni nano-rods is the field emission devices. The host alumina template in the alumina/nano-rod/Si structure is believed to provide necessary stability of the proposed device for practical applications. Ni nano-rods encapsulated within the alumina pores with a top metallic layer can be used as a field-emission device for potential low power panel applications.     

A novel NO/sub 2/ gas sensor based on Bis[phthalocyaninato] samarium complex/silicon hybrid charge-flow transistor

A new kind of sandwich-like bis[2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis(octyloxy)phthalocyaninato] samarium complex Sm[Pc/sup */]/sub 2/(Pc/sup */=Pc(OC/sub 8/H/sub 17/)/sub 8/) is used as film-forming material. Pure Sm[Pc/sup */]/sub 2/ and mixture of Sm[Pc/sup */]/sub 2/ and octadecanol(OA) deposited from both pure water and 10/sup -4/M Cd/sup 2+/ subphases are investigated. It is found that a mixture of 1:3 Sm[Pc/sup */]/sub 2/:OA forms an excellent material for the fabrication of the gas-sensing Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film by studying the film-forming characteristics. A new gas sensor has been fabricated by incorporating the multilayer LB film into the gate electrode of a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, forming an array of charge-flow transistor. On the application of a gate voltage (V/sub GS/), greater than the threshold voltage (V/sub TH/), a delay was observed in the response of the drain current. This is due to the time taken for the resistive gas-sensing film to charge up to V/sub GS/. This delay characteristic was found to depend on the concentration of NO/sub 2/. Results are presented showing that the device can detect reversibly the concentration of NO/sub 2/ gas down to 5 ppm at room temperature.