Hydrogen annealing effect on DC and low-frequency noise characteristics in CMOS FinFETs

The hydrogen annealing process has been used to improve surface roughness of the Si-fin in CMOS FinFETs for the first time. Hydrogen annealing was performed after Si-fin etch and before gate oxidation. As a result, increased saturation current with a lowered threshold voltage and a decreased low-frequency noise level over the entire range of drain current have been attained. The low-frequency noise characteristics indicate that the oxide trap density is reduced by a factor of 3 due to annealing. These results suggest that hydrogen annealing is very effective for improving device performance and for attaining a high-quality surface of the etched Si-fin.     

A concise process technology for 3-D suspended radio frequency micro-inductors on silicon substrate

In this letter, a concise process technology is proposed for the first time to enable the fabrication of good quality three-dimensional (3-D) suspended radio frequency (RF) micro-inductors on bulk silicon, without utilizing the lithography process on sidewall and trench-bottom patterning. Samples were fabricated to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed process technology.     

Effect of irrigation scheduling on grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency of irrigated wheat at Kadawa and Bakura,northern Nigeria

In this study the interaction of applied N with different irrigation schedules on grain yields and N use efficiency of wheat was investigated in two Inceptisols of the Nigerian savanna during 1978–80. Irrigation intervals ranged from 7 to 28 days at Kadawa and 5 to 10 days at Bakura while the N rates varied from 0 to 200 kg per ha. Both grain yield and N uptake increased significantly with increasing N rates at both the locations. The magnitude of increase in yield and N uptake decreased substantially when the irrigation interval became longer. This interaction was very pronounced at Bakura where the soil is highly porous, excessively drained and extremely poor in moisture retention capacity. Longer irrigation intervals produced grains with slightly higher N content but the difference was not significant. Higher N rates and fewer irrigations gave lower fertilizer N recovery.     

Studies on electrical and optical properties of vanadium-incorporated ion-deficient perovskites

Partial substitution of V⁵⁺ for Ti⁴⁺ in SrTiO₃ has been carried out and the effect of the cation vacancies so created on the polarity of the bonds in the substrate has been investigated. With this end in view compounds with the general formula Sr_{(1–x/2) x/2}Ti _(1–x) ⁴⁺ V _(x ⁵⁺ O₃, where x0.5, have been prepared, and their optical and electrical properties studied. A comparison of the results with those obtained for a similar perovskite having all the cation vacancies filled up by potassium ions suggested an increase in covalency of the B-O bond in the peroskite due to the incorporation of V⁵⁺.     

Strained n-Channel Transistors With Silicon Source and Drain Regions and Embedded Silicon/Germanium as Strain-Transfer Structure

We report the demonstration of 55 nm gate length strained n-channel field-effect transistors (n-FETs) having an embedded Si_1-xGe_x structure that is beneath the Si channel region and which acts as a strain-transfer structure (STS). The Si_1-xGe_x STS has lattice interactions with both the silicon source and drain regions and with the overlying Si channel region. This effectively results in a transfer of lateral tensile strain to the Si channel region for electron mobility enhancement. The mechanism of strain transfer is explained. Significant drive current I_on enhancement of 18% at a fixed off-state leakage I_off of 100 nA/mum is achieved, which is attributed to the strain-induced mobility enhancement. Furthermore, continuous downsizing of transistors leads to higher I_on enhancement in the strained n-FETs, which is consistent with the increasing transconductance G_m improvement when the gate length is reduced.     

Universal sine squared shaped video syncs

A digital method for generating precisely controlled sine-squared shaped video sync pulses of sixteen different wave shapes is reported. The principle involved in the technique is to store 16 sample values of the desired sine-squared shaped signal in programmable read-only memory (PROM) and to release these digital data sequentially to a digital-to-analog converter at a desired speed to produce the sine-squared shaped waveform. The application of this method is discussed     

CMOS compatible dual metal gate integration with successful Vth adjustment on high-k HfTaON by high-temperature metal intermixing

In this paper, we report for the first time a novel dual metal gate (MG) integration process for gate-first CMOS platform by utilizing the intermixing (InM) of laminated ultra-thin metal layers during high-temperature annealing at 1000 °C. In this process, an ultra-thin (2 nm) TaN film is first deposited on gate dielectric as a buffer layer. Preferable laminated metal stacks for NMOS and PMOS are then formed on a same wafer through a selective wet-etching process in which the gate dielectric is protected by the TaN buffer layer. Dual work function for CMOS can finally be achieved by the intermixing of the laminated metal films during the S/D activation annealing. To demonstrate this process, prototype metal stacks of TaN/Tb/TaN (NMOS) and TaN/Ti/HfN (PMOS) has been integrated on a single wafer, with WF of 4.15 and 4.72 eV achieved, respectively. Threshold voltage (V_th) adjustment and transistor characteristics on high-k HfTaON dielectric are also studied.     

High-performance fully depleted silicon nanowire (diameter /spl les/ 5 nm) gate-all-around CMOS devices

This paper demonstrates gate-all-around (GAA) n- and p-FETs on a silicon-on-insulator with /spl les/ 5-nm-diameter laterally formed Si nanowire channel. Alternating phase shift mask lithography and self-limiting oxidation techniques were utilized to form 140- to 1000-nm-long nanowires, followed by FET fabrication. The devices exhibit excellent electrostatic control, e.g., near ideal subthreshold slope (/spl sim/ 63 mV/dec), low drain-induced barrier lowering (/spl sim/ 10 mV/V), and with I/sub ON//I/sub OFF/ ratio of /spl sim/10/sup 6/. High drive currents of /spl sim/ 1.5 and /spl sim/1.0 mA//spl mu/m were achieved for 180-nm-long nand p-FETs, respectively. It is verified that the threshold voltage of GAA FETs is independent of substrate bias due to the complete electrostatic shielding of the channel body.     

Magnetodielectric Microwave Radiation Absorbent Materials and Their Polymer Composites

Functional radiation absorbent materials (RAMs) can transform incident microwave energy into heat energy, hence being essential to impede reflections of microwaves generated by modern radars in military, aerospace, and commercial applications. For such applications, use of composites is imperative to maintain an optimum bandwidth, enhance the magnetoelectric functional activity, ensure a flexible design, and reduce weight, which can be achieved by tuning the volume fractions of such materials. Use of ferrites is widely recommended for microwave (MW) suppression due to their appropriate magnetodielectric characteristics. This review first describes the requirements for an ideal MW absorber and accurate measurements for quantification of MW absorption. Then, the significance, applications, approaches, and experimental developments of magnetodielectric polymer composite RAMs are presented. Moreover, such composites facilitate exploration of nanoscale functional properties to achieve efficient RAMs. The permeability and permittivity at microwave frequencies, magnetic properties induced by unique elemental doping mechanisms, as well as physical and chemical properties of these composites are also presented. The resonance-dependent absorption condition for different families of magnetic ferrites, as well as the dependence of their magnetic properties on the resonant frequency and their absorption bandwidth (spinels up to 30 GHz, hexaferrites 1 GHz to 100 GHz), are presented for applications. Furthermore, magnetodielectric composites decorated with carbon fillers (carbon nanotubes/multiwall carbon nanotubes, graphene, reduced graphene oxide, etc.) with enhanced microwave absorption properties are discussed. Additionally, core–shell magnetodielectric materials are also discussed in detail. Finally, this review highlights the importance of magnetodielectric polymer composites decorated with conducting materials and core–shell magnetodielectric materials as effective broadband RAMs achieving the primary application requirement of broadband absorption of at least ?10 dB with reduced thickness.