Double S-Shaped Polarization – Voltage Curve and Negative Capacitance from Al2O3-Hf0.5Zr0.5O2-Al2O3 Triple-Layer Structure

The negative capacitance (NC) effect, recently discovered in a fluorite-based ferroelectric thin film, has attracted great attention as a rescue to overcome the scaling limitations of the conventional memory and logic devices of highly integrated circuits. The NC effect manifesting an S-shaped polarization–voltage (P–V) curve is initially interpreted by a 1-dimensional Landau Ginzburg Devonshire (LGD) model. However, a series of recent studies have found that this effect can also be explained by the inhomogeneous stray field energy (ISE) model. In this study, by extending the ISE model in the ferroelectric (FE)-dielectric (DE) layered structure, an analytical model that considers the influence of the interfacial screening charge distribution is presented. This model showed that the NC effect in the FE-DE heterostructure can be manifested in various forms other than a single S-shaped P–V curve. In particular, a double S-shaped P–V curve is expected from the fully compensated anti-parallel domain structure, confirmed experimentally in the actual Al₂O₃/(Hf_0.5Zr_0.5)O₂/Al₂O₃ triple-layer structure. Furthermore, to reveal the origin of the double S-shaped P–V curve, a multidomain LGD model is presented. It is confirmed that this phenomenon is attributed to the evolution of inhomogeneous stray field energy.     

Epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite films and pastes for high dielectric constant and low-tolerance embedded capacitors fabrication in organic substrates

Epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite embedded capacitor films (ECFs) were newly designed for high dielectric constant and low-tolerance (less than /spl plusmn/5%) embedded capacitor fabrication for organic substrates. In terms of material formulation, ECFs are composed of a specially formulated epoxy resin and latent curing agent, and in terms of a coating process, a comma roll coating method is used for uniform film thickness in large area. The dielectric constant of ECF in high frequency range (0.5/spl sim/3 GHz) is measured using the cavity resonance method. In order to estimate dielectric constant, the reflection coefficient is measured with a network analyzer. The dielectric constant is calculated by observing the frequencies of the resonant cavity modes. Calculated dielectric constants in this frequency range are about 3/4 of the dielectric constants at 1 MHz. This difference is due to the decrease of the dielectric constant of the epoxy matrix. The dielectric relaxation of barium titanate (BaTiO/sub 3/: BT) powder is not observed within measured frequency. An alternative material for embedded capacitor fabrication is epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite embedded capacitor paste (ECP). It uses similar materials formulation like ECF and a screen printing method for film coating. The screen printing method has the advantage of forming a capacitor partially in the desired part. However, the screen printing makes surface irregularities during mask peel-off. Surface flatness is significantly improved by adding some additives and by applying pressure during curing. As a result, a dielectric layer with improved thickness uniformity is successfully demonstrated. Using epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite ECP, a dielectric constant of 63 and specific capacitance of 5.1 nF/cm/sup 2/ were achieved.     

Small molecule interlayer for solution processed phosphorescent organic light emitting device

Using a 4,4′,4′′-tris(N-carbazolyl)-triphenylamine (TCTA) small molecule interlayer, we have fabricated efficient green phosphorescent organic light emitting devices by solution process. Significantly a low driving voltage of 3.0 V to reach a luminance of 1000 cd/m² is reported in this device. The maximum current and power efficiency values of 27.2 cd/A and 17.8 lm/W with TCTA interlayer (thickness 30 nm) and 33.7 cd/A and 19.6 lm/W with 40 nm thick interlayer are demonstrated, respectively. Results reveal a way to fabricate the phosphorescent organic light emitting device using TCTA small molecule interlayer by solution process, promising for efficient and simple manufacturing.     

Effective Polysulfide Rejection by Dipole‐Aligned BaTiO3 Coated Separator in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Although the exceptional theoretical specific capacity (1672 mAh g^?1) of elemental sulfur makes lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries attractive for upcoming rechargeable battery applications (e.g., electrical vehicles, drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.), insufficient cycle lives of Li–S cells leave a substantial gap before their wide penetration into commercial markets. Among the key features that affect the cyclability, the shuttling process involving polysulfides (PS) dissolution is most fatal. In an effort to suppress this chronic PS shuttling, herein, a separator coated with poled BaTiO₃ or BTO particles is introduced. Permanent dipoles that are formed in the BTO particles upon the application of an electric field can effectively reject PS from passing through the separator via electrostatic repulsion, resulting in significantly improved cyclability, even when a simple mixture of elemental sulfur and conductive carbon is used as a sulfur cathode. The coating of BTO particles also considerably suppresses thermal shrinkage of the poly(ethylene) separator at high temperatures and thus enhances the safety of the cell adopting the given separator. The incorporation of poled particles can be universally applied to a wide range of rechargeable batteries (i.e., metal‐air batteries) that suffer from cross‐contamination of charged species between both electrodes.     

Fabrication of Sub‐10 nm Metallic Lines of Low Line‐Width Roughness by Hydrogen Reduction of Patterned Metal–Organic Materials

The fabrication of very narrow metal lines by the lift‐off technique, especially below sub‐10 nm, is challenging due to thinner resist requirements in order to achieve the lithographic resolution. At such small length scales, when the grain size becomes comparable with the line‐width, the built‐in stress in the metal film can cause a break to occur at a grain boundary. Moreover, the line‐width roughness (LWR) from the patterned resist can result in deposited metal lines with a very high LWR, leading to an adverse change in device characteristics. Here a new approach that is not based on the lift‐off technique but rather on low temperature hydrogen reduction of electron‐beam patterned metal naphthenates is demonstrated. This not only enables the fabrication of sub‐10 nm metal lines of good integrity, but also of low LWR, below the limit of 3.2 nm discussed in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. Using this method, sub‐10 nm nickel wires are obtained by reducing patterned nickel naphthenate lines in a hydrogen‐rich atmosphere at 500 °C for 1 h. The LWR (i.e., 3 σ_LWR) of these nickel nanolines was found to be 2.9 nm. The technique is general and is likely to be suitable for fabrication of nanostructures of most commonly used metals (and their alloys), such as iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, tungsten, molybdenum, and so on, from their respective metal–organic compounds.     

Simple Synthesis of Hollow Tin Dioxide Microspheres and Their Application to Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

Hollow tin dioxide (SnO₂) microspheres were synthesized by the simple heat treatment of a mixture composed of tin(IV ) tetrachloride pentahydrate (SnCl₄·5H₂O) and resorcinol–formaldehyde gel (RF gel). Because hollow structures were formed during the heat treatment, the pre‐formation of template and the adsorption of target precursor on template are unnecessary in the current method, leading to simplified synthetic procedures and facilitating mass production. Field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) images showed 1.7–2.5 μm sized hollow spherical particles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed that the produced spherical particles are composed of a hollow inner cavity and thin outer shell. When the hollow SnO₂ microspheres were used as a lithium‐battery anode, they exhibited extraordinarily high discharge capacities and coulombic efficiency. The reported synthetic procedure is straightforward and inexpensive, and consequently can be readily adopted to produce large quantities of hollow SnO₂ microspheres. This straightforward approach can be extended for the synthesis of other hollow microspheres including those obtained from ZrO₂ and ZrO₂/CeO₂ solid solutions.     

Laterally Coupled DFB Lasers With Self-Aligned Metal Surface Grating by Holographic Lithography

A laterally coupled InGaAsP-InP distributed-feedback (DFB) laser operating around 1.55 mum was fabricated through a novel technique for the formation of metal surface gratings by holographic lithography. The self-aligned Cr DFB gratings were formed on the sidewalls as well as on both sides of the laser ridge by means of angled e-beam evaporation of Ti mask and metal-SiO₂ lift-off on the top of ridges. For an uncoated 3-mum-wide and 300-mum-long cavity, the device emitted an output power of ~9.7 mW/facet at an injection current of 100 mA with a threshold current of 29 mA and a slope efficiency of 0.14 mW/mA per facet at 20 degC under continuous-wave mode. A stable single-mode emission near 1.54 mum with a sidemode suppression ratio of nearly 28 dB was observed and a tuning coefficient of 0.21 nm/K was obtained in the temperature range of 15 degC -55 degC.     

DART: Fast and Efficient Distributed Stream Processing Framework for Internet of Things

With the advent of the Internet‐of‐Things paradigm, the amount of data production has grown exponentially and the user demand for responsive consumption of data has increased significantly. Herein, we present DART, a fast and lightweight stream processing framework for the IoT environment. Because the DART framework targets a geospatially distributed environment of heterogeneous devices, the framework provides (1) an end‐user tool for device registration and application authoring, (2) automatic worker node monitoring and task allocations, and (3) runtime management of user applications with fault tolerance. To maximize performance, the DART framework adopts an actor model in which applications are segmented into microtasks and assigned to an actor following a single responsibility. To prove the feasibility of the proposed framework, we implemented the DART system. We also conducted experiments to show that the system can significantly reduce computing burdens and alleviate network load by utilizing the idle resources of intermediate edge devices.     

InGaAsP microdisk lasers on AlxOy

InGaAsP microdisk lasers are fabricated on Al_xO_y by wafer fusion. Room-temperature continuous-wave operation with threshold pump power of 1.13 mW has been achieved from a 2.2-μm diameter microdisk laser. The lasing wavelength with incident pump power redshifts at a rate of 0.28 nm/mW which shows the improved thermal characteristics due to the high thermal conductivity of Al_xO _y bottom layer     

Configurable Media Codec Framework： A Stepping Stone for Fast and Stable Codec Development

Recent advances in reconfigurable computing have led to new ways of implementing complex algorithms while maintaining reasonable throughput.Video codecs are becoming more complex in order to provide efficient compression for video with ever-increasing resolution.This problem is compounded by the fact that spectra of video decoding devices has become wider in the move from traditional TV to cable and satellite TV,IPTV,mobile TV,and Internet media.MPEG is tackling this problem with a reconfigurable video coding(RVC) framework and is standardizing a modular definition of tools and connections.MPEG’s work started with video coding and has recently extended to graphics data coding.RVC will be supported by non-MPEG standards such as the Chinese audio-video standard(AVS).This article gives a brief background to the reconfigurable codec framework.The key to this framework is reconfigurability and reducing granularity to find commonality between different standards.