Morphology transformations of pentacene on an UV-patternable polymer insulator and their effect on performance of flexible organic thin-film transistors

This work presents a low temperature with high resolution capability UV-patternable polymer, i.e. mr-UVCur06, for use as a gate insulator in OTFTs, by investigating the morphology transformation of pentacene deposited on the mr-UVCur06. The device structure is polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/indium-tin oxide (ITO)/mr-UVCur06/pentacene/Au (source/drain). In addition to its solution-processable capability, mr-UVCur06 is directly patterned by UV light in a low-temperature process. UV/ozone post-treatment of the patternable mr-UVCur06 can illuminate organic contaminants from its surface and increases surface energy. Experimental results indicate that a high surface energy existing at the mr-UVCur06 surface has produced in a larger ratio of I_{thin film phase}/I_{triclinic bulk phase} in pentacene. Then, the distance of pentacene molecular crystal structure, which is arranged in the thin film phase, is shorter than that in triclinic bulk phase. The performance of pentacene-based OTFTs can be enhanced with few contaminants and a high surface energy on the UV-patternable gate insulator. By performing UV/ozone post-treatment on the mr-UVCur06 insulator surface for 60 s, the OTFTs demonstrate a mobility, on/off drain current ratio, and V_T of 0.34 cm²/V s, 5.5 × 10⁴, and 2.5 V, respectively. Furthermore, the low-temperature photopatternable polymer dielectric paves the way for a relatively easy and low-cost fabrication of an OTFT array without expensive and complicated photolithography and dry etching.     

The relation between luminous properties and oxygen content inZnS:TbOF thin-film electroluminescent devices fabricated byradio-frequency magnetron sputtering method

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the oxygen concentration and brightness degradation in ZnS:TbOF green thin-film electroluminescent (EL) devices. The characteristics including crystallinity, optical, and electrical properties were discussed. The brightness-voltage (B-V) measurement results shelved that with higher oxygen-content in ZnS:TbOF phosphor layer, lower brightness was measured. It was consistent with the poor crystallinity, worse photoluminescent intensity, and easier to get moisture in the oxygen-rich (O/Tb>1) phosphor film. Furthermore, deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements identified that when the O/Tb ratio was greater than 1, the oxygen-related deep hole traps E_H1 and/or E_H2 could be detected in the ZnS:TbOF phosphor layer. These E _H1 and/or E_H2 traps were believed to be the main killers for the brightness of the device since they capture most of the holes from the generated electron-hole pairs. This evidence strongly supports that the modified energy transfer model is more dominant than direct impact excitation during the luminescent process     

Optimized offset to eliminate first-order mode excitation at thejunction of straight and curved multimode waveguides

Applications to equip semiconductor phased-array wavelength demultiplexers with nonbirefringent waveguides are increasing. In several applications, the waveguides are multimodal and elimination of first-order mode excitation is required for their design. The optimized offset for eliminating the first-order mode excitation at the junction of straight and curved waveguides with a two-dimensional (2-D) structure is analyzed theoretically. We assume that the waveguide has a laterally symmetric index profile. By the perturbation method, the offset is obtained to the first order in the inverse of the bending radius. The offset is simply expressed by the effective refractive indices of the straight waveguide     

Uniformity of deep levels in semi-insulating InP obtained by multiple-step wafer annealing

The uniformity of deep levels in semi-insulating InP wafers, which have been obtained by multiple-step wafer annealing under phosphorus vapor pressure, was studied using the thermally stimulated current (TSC) and photoluminescence (PL) methods. Only three traps related to Fe, T₀ (ionization energy E_i=0.19 eV), T₁ (0.25 eV), and T₂ (0.33 eV), probably forming complex defects, were observed in the wafer and they exhibited a relatively uniform distribution. PL spectra relating to phosphorus vacancies observed in some regions of the wafer are correlated with a small TSC signal having an ionization energy of 0.43 eV.     

Robust parameter-estimation using the bootstrap method for the2-parameter Weibull distribution

This paper proposes bootstrap robust estimation methods for the Weibull parameters; it applies bootstrap estimators of order statistics to the parametric estimation procedure. Estimates of the Weibull parameters are equivalent to the estimates using the extreme value distribution. Therefore, the bootstrap estimators of order statistics for the parameters of the extreme value distribution are examined. Accuracy and robustness for outliers are examined by Monte Carlo experiments which indicate adequate efficiency of the proposed reliability estimators for data with some outliers     

High-speed demonstration of an output interface driver forsingle-flux quantum systems

The high-speed operation of a one-channel output interface for a single-flux quantum (SFQ) system has been demonstrated. The interface consisted of a Josephson latching driver, a room-temperature semiconductor amplifier, and a decision circuit module. The Josephson latching driver was fabricated by using a 2.5-kA/cm² standard Nb junction process and used to amplify an SFQ pulse into a 5.5-mV level signal at 10 Gb/s. The interface converted the SFQ pulse signal into a nonreturn-to-zero signal having an amplitude of 1 V at 10 Gb/s     

Bias-stress-induced increase in parasitic resistance of InP-based InAlAs/InGaAs HEMTs

The reliability of InP-based HEMTs is studied, focussing on how it is affected by the doped layer material and gate recess structure. Bias-and-temperature stress tests reveal that fluorine-induced donor passivation in the recess region, formed adjacent to the gate electrode, causes the source resistance (R_s) to increase at large drain bias voltages. The increase in R_s can be prevented by using InP or InAlP as the carrier supply layer material instead of InAlAs. On the other hand, the increase in the drain resistance (R_d) does not depend on the material of the carrier supply layer, which suggests that a mechanism different from that in the case of R_s should be considered. It is also found that a deep gate recess suppresses the increase in R_d after long-term stressing.     

Electrochemically induced asymmetrical etching in InAlAs/InGaAs heterostructures for MODFET gate-groove fabrication

We have achieved a self-controlled asymmetrical etching in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition-grown InAlAs/InGaAs heterostructures, which can be suitable for fabricating modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) with gate-groove profiles for improved performance. The technology is based on electrochemical etching phenomena, which can be effectively controlled by using different surface metals for ohmic electrodes. When surface metals of Pt and Ni are deposited on the source and the drain, respectively, the higher electrode potential of Pt results in slower etching on the source side than on the drain side. Thus, asymmetry of gate grooves can be formed by wet-chemical etching with citric-acid-based etchant. This represents a new possibility to conduct “recess engineering” for InAlAs/InGaAs MODFETs.     

Parasitic effects and long term stability of InP-based HEMTs

A study of InP based HEMTs implemented with different process options will be reported. It will be demonstrated that devices with an InP etch stopper layer or with a narrow lateral gate recess region do not present any kink effect, neither any transconductance frequency dispersion, g_m(f) and a stable behavior with respect to hot electron aging is observed. The opposite occurs in devices without the InP etch stopper layer and a wide lateral gate recess region. The data presented confirm the effectiveness of an InP passivating layer in improving the reliability of advanced InP-HEMTs, and point out at the free InAlAs surface as responsible for the observed instabilities (kink effects, g_m(f) dispersion).     

Numerical simulation of ultra-compact electro-optic modulator based on nanoscale plasmon metal gap waveguides

An ultra-compact Mach-Zehnder (MZ) electro-optic (EO) modulator composed of nanoscale metal gap waveguides is numerically demonstrated. Propagation of surface plasmon polaritons in nano-size channels and their EO modulations is investigated by the finite-difference time-domain method considering the Lorentz-Drude model. The half-wave voltage (V _pi) of the resulting MZ modulator for push-pull operation is 1.73 V using the interference arm with a sub-micron length (500-nm).