Electrical characterization and process control of cost-effective high-k aluminum oxide gate dielectrics prepared by anodization followed by furnace annealing

A cost-effective technique was introduced to prepare ultrathin aluminum oxide (Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) gate dielectrics with equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) down to 14 /spl Aring/. Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ was fabricated by anodic oxidation (anodization) of ultrathin Al films at room temperature in deionized water and then furnace annealed at 650/spl deg/C in N/sub 2/ ambient. Both dc and dac (dc superimposed with ac) anodization techniques were investigated. Effective dielectric constant of k/spl sim/7.5 and leakage current of 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than SiO/sub 2/ are observed. The conduction mechanism in Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ gate stack is shown to be Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling. Saturated current behavior in the inversion region of MOS capacitor is observed. It is found that the saturation current is sensitive to interface state capacitance and can be used as an efficient way to evaluate the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ gate stack/Si-substrate interfacial property. An optimal process control for preparing Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ gate dielectrics with minimized interface state capacitance via monitoring the inversion saturation current is demonstrated.     

Highly Efficient Orange and Green Solid‐State Light‐Emitting Electrochemical Cells Based on Cationic IrIII Complexes with Enhanced Steric Hindrance

Highly efficient orange and green emission from single‐layered solid‐state light‐emitting electrochemical cells based on cationic transition‐metal complexes [Ir(ppy)₂sb]PF₆ and [Ir(dFppy)₂sb]PF₆ (where ppy is 2‐phenylpyridine, dFppy is 2‐(2,4‐difluorophenyl)pyridine, and sb is 4,5‐diaza‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene) is reported. Photoluminescence measurements show highly retained quantum yields for [Ir(ppy)₂sb]PF₆ and [Ir(dFppy)₂ sb]PF₆ in neat films (compared with quantum yields of these complexes dispersed in m‐bis(N‐carbazolyl)benzene films). The spiroconfigured sb ligands effectively enhance the steric hindrance of the complexes and reduce the self‐quenching effect. The devices that use single‐layered neat films of [Ir(ppy)₂sb]PF₆ and [Ir(dFppy)₂sb]PF₆ achieve high peak external quantum efficiencies and power efficiencies of 7.1 % and 22.6 lm W^–1) at 2.5 V, and 7.1 % and 26.2 lm W^–1 at 2.8 V, respectively. These efficiencies are among the highest reported for solid‐state light‐emitting electrochemical cells, and indicate that cationic transition‐metal complexes containing ligands with good steric hindrance are excellent candidates for highly efficient solid‐state electrochemical cells.     

Thin-gate oxides prepared by pure water anodization followed byrapid thermal densification

Anodic oxidation at room temperature with pure deionized water as electrolyte and then followed by high-temperature rapid thermal densification was used to prepare high breakdown endurance thin-gate oxides with thicknesses of about 50 Å. It was observed that the oxides prepared by anodic oxidation followed by rapid thermal densification (AOD) show better electrical characteristics than those grown by rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) only. The AOD oxides have a very low midgap interface trap density, Ditm, of smaller than 1×10¹⁰ eV^-1 cm^-2 and negative effective oxide trapped charge. From the smaller leakage currents observed during staircase ramp voltage time-zero dielectric breakdown (TZDB) and constant field time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) testings, it is supposed that the uniform interfacial property and the pretrapped negative charges in AOD oxides are responsible for the improved characteristics     

Effect of exponentially graded base doping on the performance ofGaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

The authors have fabricated n-p-n GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with base doping graded exponentially from 5×10¹⁹ cm^-3 at the emitter edge to 5×10¹⁸ cm^-3 at the collector edge. The built-in field due to the exponentially graded doping profile significantly reduces base transit time, despite bandgap narrowing associated with high base doping. Compared to devices with the same base thickness and uniform base doping of 1×10¹⁹ cm^-3 , the cutoff frequency is increased from 22 to 31 GHz and maximum frequency of oscillation is increased from 40 to 58 GHz. Exponentially graded base doping also results ill consistently higher common-emitter current gain than uniform base doping, even though the Gummel number is twice as high and the base resistance is reduced by 40%     

Stress distribution on [100] Si wafer mapped by novel I-V analysis of MOS tunneling diodes

The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor tunneling diodes distributed over a 3-in Si wafer were analyzed to investigate the stress distribution on the wafer. Generally, the substrate injection saturation current (J/sub sat/) decreases as the gate injection leakage current (J/sub g/) increases, the latter being dominated by oxide thickness via a trap related mechanism. A universal curve to fit all analyzed data was found and it is suggested that devices with extremely high (low) J/sub sat/ at a given J/sub g/ should be located in areas of the silicon lattice with relatively high external compressive (tensile) stress because of the stress-induced bandgap variation effect. The mapped locations of the highly stressed devices on a 3-in [100] Si wafer correspond to the patterns of slips caused by thermal stress during rapid thermal processing, as described in previous reports.     

On the singularity of temperature gradient near an inclined crack terminating at bimaterial interface

This paper deals with the singularity of temperature gradient near an inclined crack terminating at a bimaterial interface. The temperature field is solved by considering the continuity of temperature and heat flux at the interface and appropriate thermal boundary conditions on crack surfaces. The singularity of temperature gradient around the crack tip is then studied for the cases for which the temperature on crack surfaces is prescribed or crack surfaces are insulated. It is found that, unlike the oscillatory singularity of the stress field, no oscillatory character near the crack tip is observed for these problems. The dependence of the singularity of temperature gradient on the inclined angle of crack and thermal conductivity ratio of two dissimilar media is also shown.     

Ant colony optimization based sensor deployment protocol for wireless sensor networks

Sensor deployment is one of the most important issues in wireless sensor networks, because an efficient deployment scheme can reduce the deployment cost and enhance the detection capability of the wireless sensor networks. In addition, it can enhance the quality of monitoring in wireless sensor networks by increasing the coverage area. Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm provides a natural and intrinsic way of exploration of search space for multiple knapsack problem (MKP). In this work, we consider the problem of sensor deployment to achieve complete coverage of the service region and maximize the lifetime of the network. We model the deployment problem as the multiple knapsack problem. Based on ACO algorithm, we proposed a deployment scheme to prolong the network lifetime, while ensuring complete coverage of the service region. The simulations show that our algorithm can prolong the lifetime of the network.     

Bis(Benzofuran–1,3-N,N-heterocycle)s as Symmetric and Synthetic Drug Leads against Yellow Fever Virus

The yellow fever virus (YFV) is an emerging RNA virus and has caused large outbreaks in Africa and Central and South America. The virus is often transmitted through infected mosquitoes and spreads from area to area because of international travel. Being an acute viral hemorrhagic disease, yellow fever can be prevented by an effective, safe, and reliable vaccine, but not be eliminated. Currently, there is no antiviral drug available for its cure. Thus, two series of novel bis(benzofuran–1,3-imidazolidin-4-one)s and bis(benzofuran–1,3-benzimidazole)s were designed and synthesized for the development of anti-YFV lead candidates. Among 23 new bis-conjugated compounds, 4 of them inhibited YFV strain 17D (Stamaril) on Huh-7 cells in the cytopathic effect reduction assays. These conjugates exhibited the most compelling efficacy and selectivity with an EC₅₀ of <3.54 μM and SI of >15.3. The results are valuable for the development of novel antiviral drug leads against emerging diseases.     

VEGF and FGF2 Improve Revascularization,Survival, and Oocyte Quality of Cryopreserved,Subcutaneously-Transplanted Mouse Ovarian Tissues

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) on revascularization, survival, and oocyte quality of cryopreserved, subcutaneously-transplanted mouse ovarian tissue. Autologous subcutaneous transplantation of vitrified-thawed mouse ovarian tissues treated with (experimental group) or without (control group) VEGF and FGF2 was performed. After transplantation to the inguinal region for two or three weeks, graft survival, angiogenesis, follicle development, and oocyte quality were examined after gonadotropin administration. VEGF coupled with FGF2 (VEGF/FGF2) promoted revascularization and significantly increased the survival rate of subcutaneously-transplanted cryopreserved ovarian tissues compared with untreated controls. The two growth factors did not show long-term effects on the ovarian grafts. In contrast to the untreated ovarian grafts, active folliculogenesis was revealed as the number of follicles at various stages and of mature oocytes in antral follicles after gonadotropin administration were remarkably higher in the VEGF/FGF2-treated groups. Although the fertilization rate was similar between the VEGF/FGF2 and control groups, the oocyte quality was much better in the VEGF/FGF2-treated grafts as demonstrated by the higher ratio of blastocyst development. Introducing angiogenic factors, such as VEGF and FGF2, may be a promising strategy to improve revascularization, survival, and oocyte quality of cryopreserved, subcutaneously-transplanted mouse ovarian tissue.     

Scalable SIMD-parallel memory allocation for many-core machines

Dynamic memory allocation is an important feature of modern programming systems. However, the cost of memory allocation in massively parallel execution environments such as CUDA has been too high for many types of kernels. This paper presents XMalloc, a high-throughput memory allocation mechanism that dramatically magnifies the allocation throughput of an underlying memory allocator. XMalloc embodies two key techniques: allocation coalescing and buffering using efficient queues. This paper describes these two techniques and presents our implementation of XMalloc as a memory allocator library. The library is designed to be called from kernels executed by massive numbers of threads. Our experimental results based on the NVIDIA G480 GPU show that XMalloc magnifies the allocation throughput of the underlying memory allocator by a factor of 48.