Parasitic Bipolar Junction Transistors in a Floating-Gate MOSFET for Fluorescence Detection

In this letter, we examined whether the parasitic bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) in the MOSFET fabricated by the standard CMOS process can play a role as a fluorescence detector. To suppress the action of two vertical parasitic BJTs, the gate and n-well were tied in the parasitic BJTs, and the body node was connected to the drain. The proposed device was compared with the inherent and the parasitic diodes in the MOSFET. It had 100 times higher photocurrents than the diodes in the MOSFET. In addition, it was applied for the detection of the fluorescent signal, and could detect near 10 nM of Alexa 546. Therefore, CMOS-process-compatible parasitic BJTs can be used as a photodetector in an integrated fluorescence detector.     

Development of an ozone gas sensor using single-walled carbon nanotubes

This study deals with the fabrication of an ozone gas sensor using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as sensing material. The SWCNTs are dispersed by N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The CNT-DMF solution was dropped between interdigitated electrodes’ fingers to fabricate ozone gas sensor. For ozone environment, a commercial ozone generator was introduced. To improve sensor response, the deposited carbon nanotubes network was thermally treated at high temperature in a furnace. The sensor exhibits high sensitivity to ozone gas at concentration as low as 50 ppb, and fast response time, which is promising for future commercialization of carbon nanotubes based ozone gas sensor.     

Quality factor measurement of micro gyroscope structure according to vacuum level and desired Q-factor range package method

A micro-machined gyro chip of gyroscope is normally packaged in specific vacuum level to get the specific quality factor(Q-factor). If the Q-factor is too high, frequency tuning and the approximate matching between driving and sensing comb structure become difficult, and if the Q-factor is too low, its sensitivity decreases. The optimum Q-factor of our gyro chip design is 4000 range. To get this range, we measured the drive mode Q-factor as vacuum level of our gyro chip and we found that the vacuum level of the desired Q-factor 4000 is in the range of 740 mTorr. Based on this data, we fabricate the wafer level package gyro chip of the desired Q-factor by controlled the basic pressure of package bonding chamber just prior to the bonding process. After wafer level package process, we measured Q-factor of whole samples. Among 804 samples, 502 packaged gyro chips are worked and the Q-factor of 67% samples is between 3500 and 4500 range.     

Channel width effect for organic thin film transistors using TIPS-pentacene employed as a dopant of poly-triarylamine

The effects of the physical channel width on the characteristics of organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), made with 6,13-bis(triisopropyl-silylethynyl)-pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) embedded into poly-triarylamine (PTAA, hole conductor within an active channel), have been examined in this paper. The devices are estimated by measuring the drain-source current (I_DS) for different contact metals such as Au and Ag, at fixed gate and drain voltages. The results show that the threshold voltage (V_T) and I_DS increase with increasing channel width. Furthermore, it has been observed that the field effect mobility is dependent on V_T, which is influenced by the channel width. The OTFTs, produced using Au and Ag contacts, exhibited the highest values of mobility in the saturation regime, namely 5.44 × 10^?2 and 1.33 × 10^?2 cm²/Vs, respectively.     

Phosphorescent,green-emitting Ir(III) complexes with carbazolyl-substituted 2-phenylpyridine ligands: Effect of binding mode of the carbazole group on photoluminescence and electrophosphorescence

The ligands, 9-((6-phenylpyridin-3-yl)methyl)-9H-carbazole and 9-(4-(pyridin-2-yl)benzyl)-9H-carbazole were synthesized by attaching a carbazolyl group to the pyridine and phenyl rings of 2-phenylpyridine, respectively. Ir(III) complexes were prepared by a simple procedure and the solubility of the novel complexes was significantly better than that of the conventional, green-emitting conventional fac-tris(2-phenylpyridinato-C²,N)iridium(III). The Ir(III) complexes were used to prepare electrophosphorescent polymer light-emitting devices. The device comprising 10% of fac-tris(2-(4′-((9H-carbazol-9-yl)methyl)phenyl)pyridinato-C²,N)iridium(III) exhibited an external quantum efficiency of 7.88%, luminous efficiency of 23.01 cd/A, and maximum brightness of 32,640 cd/m². The color of the emissions of fac-tris(2-(4′-((9H-carbazol-9-yl)methyl)phenyl)pyridinato-C²,N)iridium(III) was similar to that of conventional fac-tris(2-phenylpyridinato-C²,N)iridium(III). This work shows that integration of a rigid hole-transporting carbazole and phosphorescent complex in one molecule provides a new route to highly efficient, solution-processable complexes for electrophosphorescent applications.     

Noxious gas detection using carbon nanotubes with Pd nanoparticles

ABSTRACT: Noxious gas sensors were fabricated using carbon nanotubes [CNTs] with palladium nanoparticles [Pd NPs]. An increase in the resistance was observed under ammonia for both CNTs and CNT-Pd sensors. Under carbon monoxide [CO], the two sensors exhibited different behaviors: for CNT sensors, their resistance decreased slightly with CO exposure, whereas CNT-Pd sensors showed an increase in resistance. The sensing properties and effect of Pd NPs were demonstrated, and CNT-Pd sensors with good repeatability and fast responses over a range of concentrations may be used as a simple and effective noxious gas sensor at room temperature.     

The effect of annealing on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin film transistors

This paper presents the post-annealing effects, caused by rapid thermal annealing (RTA), on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistor's (TFT) electrical characteristics, and its contact resistance (R_C) with thermally grown SiO₂ gate dielectric on silicon wafer substrates. The electrical characteristics of two types of TFTs, one post-annealed and the other not, are compared, and a simple model of the source and drain contacts is applied to estimate the R_C by a transmission line method (TLM). Consequently, it has been found that the post-annealing does improve the TFT performances; in other words, the saturation mobility (μ_sat), the on/off current ratio (I_ON/OFF), and the drain current (I_D) all increase, and the R_C and the threshold voltage (V_T) both decrease. As-fabricated TFTs have the following electrical characteristics; a saturation mobility (μ_sat) as large as 0.027 cm²/V s, I_ON/OFF of 10³, sub-threshold swing (SS) of 0.49 V/decade, V_T of 32.51 V, and R_C of 969 MΩ, and the annealed TFTs have improved electrical characteristics as follows; a μ_sat of 3.51 cm²/V s, I_ON/OFF of 10⁵, SS of 0.57 V/decade, V_T of 27.2 V, and R_C of 847 kΩ.     

Comprehensive understanding on the high dielectric constantinsulating layers for alternating-current thin-film electroluminescentdevices

We introduced thin-film electroluminescent cells (TFEL) with a new multilayered-BaTiO₃ layer for the low-voltage driven devices. We begin by simulating the basic parameters for TFEL devices in electrostatic boundary condition and point out how the insulator parameters influence the typical operating properties of the devices. Next, we performed the voltage accelerated breakdown testing of the multilayered-BaTiO₃ having both high dielectric constant and high breakdown strength. The time-zero-breakdown distribution is shown to be dependent on surface roughness, while the long-term failure studied by time-dependent-dielectric breakdown technique at high field is dependent on the bulk characteristics, i.e., transition layers within m-BT films. Thirdly, the TFEL devices were prepared using the multilayered-BaTiO₃ as dielectric materials. We observed a decrease of turn-on voltage with increasing thickness and the increase of the maximum overvoltage. Finally, typical symmetric capacitance-voltage (C-V) and internal charge-phosphor field characteristics were obtained for the device with thin m-BT layers. With increasing thickness of m-BT the significant asymmetry with respect to the applied voltage polarity was observed. This is a main difference as compared with the symmetric characteristics of conventional TFEL devices with low dielectric constant insulators. The experimental results indicate the fact that a selection of the thickness of upper m-BT and their deposition process would strongly affect the interfacial characteristics as well as bulk characteristics of an as-grown ZnS:Pr, Ce layer     

Investigation of the effects of bottom anti-reflective coating on nanoscale patterns by laser interference lithography

Enhanced resolution of the structures can be achieved by employing the bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) material in laser interference lithography process. The purpose of the BARC is to control the reflection of light at the surface of the wafer to minimize the effects caused by reflection. Lloyd's mirror interferometer is utilized for the experiment with 257 nm wavelength Ar-Ion laser used as the light source to generate one-dimensional nanoscale patterns. By adjusting reflectivity through application of the BARC material, scattering of the patterns are reduced. The effects of BARC material are explored to confirm the reduction of the vertical standing wave, which is the main cause of undesirable nanoscale patterns. It is also highlighted that improvements through utilization of BARC material enables smaller pattern size with a set pitch size by controlling the exposure energy.     

Wettability control of a transparent substrate using ZnO nanorods

This paper presents a simple way of controlling the wettability of a structured surface with ZnO nanorods on a transparent substrate. A combination of ZnO nanostructures and stearic acid was used to create superhydrophobic surfaces with the potential properties of being self-cleaning, waterproof, and antifog. ZnO nanorods were uniformly covered on glass substrates through a simple hydrothermal method with varying growth time which affects the surface morphology. When a substrate is dipped into 10 mM stearic acid in ethanol for 24 h, chemisorption of the stearic acid takes place on the ZnO nanorod surface, after which the hydrophilic ZnO nanorod surfaces are modified into hydrophobic ones. The contact angle of a water droplet on this superhydrophobic ZnO nanorod surface increased from 110 degrees to 150 degrees depending on the growth time (from 3 to 6 h) with a high transparency of above 60%. In addition, the water contact angle can be made to as low as 27 degrees after exposing the substrate to 10-mW/cm2 UV for 1 h.