Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 23
  • Item
    Engineering interface-type resistive switching in BiFeO3 thin film switches by Ti implantation of bottom electrodes
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) You, Tiangui; Ou, Xin; Niu, Gang; Bärwolf, Florian; Li, Guodong; Du, Nan; Bürger, Danilo; Skorupa, Ilona; Jia, Qi; Yu, Wenjie; Wang, Xi; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Schmidt, Heidemarie
    BiFeO3 based MIM structures with Ti-implanted Pt bottom electrodes and Au top electrodes have been fabricated on Sapphire substrates. The resulting metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures show bipolar resistive switching without an electroforming process. It is evidenced that during the BiFeO3 thin film growth Ti diffuses into the BiFeO3 layer. The diffused Ti effectively traps and releases oxygen vacancies and consequently stabilizes the resistive switching in BiFeO3 MIM structures. Therefore, using Ti implantation of the bottom electrode, the retention performance can be greatly improved with increasing Ti fluence. For the used raster-scanned Ti implantation the lateral Ti distribution is not homogeneous enough and endurance slightly degrades with Ti fluence. The local resistive switching investigated by current sensing atomic force microscopy suggests the capability of down-scaling the resistive switching cell to one BiFeO3 grain size by local Ti implantation of the bottom electrode.
  • Item
    Plasma enhanced complete oxidation of ultrathin epitaxial praseodymia films on Si(111)
    (Basel : MDPI, 2015) Kuschel, Olga; Dieck, Florian; Wilkens, Henrik; Gevers, Sebastian; Rodewald, Jari; Otte, Christian; Zoellner, Marvin Hartwig; Niu, Gang; Schroeder, Thomas; Wollschläger, Joachim
    Praseodymia films have been exposed to oxygen plasma at room temperature after deposition on Si(111) via molecular beam epitaxy. Different parameters as film thickness, exposure time and flux during plasma treatment have been varied to study their influence on the oxygen plasma oxidation process. The surface near regions have been investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showing that the plasma treatment transforms the stoichiometry of the films from Pr2O3 to PrO2. Closer inspection of the bulk properties of the films by means of synchrotron radiation based X-ray reflectometry and diffraction confirms this transformation if the films are thicker than some critical thickness of 6 nm. The layer distance of these films is extremely small verifying the completeness of the plasma oxidation process. Thinner films, however, cannot be transformed completely. For all films, less oxidized very thin interlayers are detected by these experimental techniques.
  • Item
    Geometric conductive filament confinement by nanotips for resistive switching of HfO2-RRAM devices with high performance
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Niu, Gang; Calka, Pauline; Auf der Maur, Matthias; Santoni, Francesco; Guha, Subhajit; Fraschke, Mirko; Hamoumou, Philippe; Gautier, Brice; Perez, Eduardo; Walczyk, Christian; Wenger, Christian; Di Carlo, Aldo; Alff, Lambert; Schroeder, Thomas
    Filament-type HfO2-based RRAM has been considered as one of the most promising candidates for future non-volatile memories. Further improvement of the stability, particularly at the “OFF” state, of such devices is mainly hindered by resistance variation induced by the uncontrolled oxygen vacancies distribution and filament growth in HfO2 films. We report highly stable endurance of TiN/Ti/HfO2/Si-tip RRAM devices using a CMOS compatible nanotip method. Simulations indicate that the nanotip bottom electrode provides a local confinement for the electrical field and ionic current density; thus a nano-confinement for the oxygen vacancy distribution and nano-filament location is created by this approach. Conductive atomic force microscopy measurements confirm that the filaments form only on the nanotip region. Resistance switching by using pulses shows highly stable endurance for both ON and OFF modes, thanks to the geometric confinement of the conductive path and filament only above the nanotip. This nano-engineering approach opens a new pathway to realize forming-free RRAM devices with improved stability and reliability.
  • Item
    Understanding the growth mechanism of graphene on Ge/Si(001) surfaces
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Dabrowski, J.; Lippert, G.; Avila, J.; Baringhaus, J.; Colambo, I.; Dedkov, Yu S.; Herziger, F.; Lupina, G.; Maultzsch, J.; Schaffus, T.; Schroeder, T.; Kot, M.; Tegenkamp, C.; Vignaud, D.; Asensio, M.-C.
    The practical difficulties to use graphene in microelectronics and optoelectronics is that the available methods to grow graphene are not easily integrated in the mainstream technologies. A growth method that could overcome at least some of these problems is chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of graphene directly on semiconducting (Si or Ge) substrates. Here we report on the comparison of the CVD and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of graphene on the technologically relevant Ge(001)/Si(001) substrate from ethene (C2H4) precursor and describe the physical properties of the films as well as we discuss the surface reaction and diffusion processes that may be responsible for the observed behavior. Using nano angle resolved photoemission (nanoARPES) complemented by transport studies and Raman spectroscopy as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we report the direct observation of massless Dirac particles in monolayer graphene, providing a comprehensive mapping of their low-hole doped Dirac electron bands. The micrometric graphene flakes are oriented along two predominant directions rotated by 30° with respect to each other. The growth mode is attributed to the mechanism when small graphene “molecules” nucleate on the Ge(001) surface and it is found that hydrogen plays a significant role in this process.
  • Item
    Bilayer insulator tunnel barriers for graphene-based vertical hot-electron transistors
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) Vaziri, S.; Belete, M.; Dentoni Litta, E.; Smith, A.D.; Lupina, G.; Lemme, M.C.; Östling, M.
    Vertical graphene-based device concepts that rely on quantum mechanical tunneling are intensely being discussed in the literature for applications in electronics and optoelectronics. In this work, the carrier transport mechanisms in semiconductor–insulator–graphene (SIG) capacitors are investigated with respect to their suitability as electron emitters in vertical graphene base transistors (GBTs). Several dielectric materials as tunnel barriers are compared, including dielectric double layers. Using bilayer dielectrics, we experimentally demonstrate significant improvements in the electron injection current by promoting Fowler–Nordheim tunneling (FNT) and step tunneling (ST) while suppressing defect mediated carrier transport. High injected tunneling current densities approaching 103 A cm−2 (limited by series resistance), and excellent current–voltage nonlinearity and asymmetry are achieved using a 1 nm thick high quality dielectric, thulium silicate (TmSiO), as the first insulator layer, and titanium dioxide (TiO2) as a high electron affinity second layer insulator. We also confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of our approach in a full GBT structure which shows dramatic improvement in the collector on-state current density with respect to the previously reported GBTs. The device design and the fabrication scheme have been selected with future CMOS process compatibility in mind. This work proposes a bilayer tunnel barrier approach as a promising candidate to be used in high performance vertical graphene-based tunneling devices.
  • Item
    Support for a long lifetime and short end-to-end delays with TDMA protocols in sensor networks
    (London : Hindawi, 2012) Brzozowski, Marcin; Salomon, Hendrik; Langendoerfer, Peter
    This work addresses a tough challenge of achieving two opposing goals: ensuring long lifetimes and supporting short end-to-end delays in sensor networks. Obviously, sensor nodes must wake up often to support short delays in multi-hop networks. As event occurs seldom in common applications, most wake-up are useless: nodes waste energy due to idle listening. We introduce a set of solutions, referred to as LETED (limiting end-to-end delays), which shorten the wake-up periods, reduce idle listening, and save energy. We exploit hardware features of available transceivers that allow early detection of idle wake-up periods. This feature is introduced on top of our approach to reduce idle listening stemming from clock drift owing to the estimation of run-time drift. To evaluate LETED and other MAC protocols that support short end-to-end delays we present an analytical model, which considers almost 30 hardware and software parameters. Our evaluation revealed that LETED reduces idle listening by 15x and more against similar solutions. Also, LETED outperforms other protocols and provides significant longer lifetimes. For example, nodes with LETED work 8x longer than those with a common TDMA and 2x-3x longer than with protocols based on preamble sampling, like B-MAC.
  • Item
    Growth and applications of GeSn-related group-IV semiconductor materials
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2015) Zaima, Shigeaki; Nakatsuka, Osamu; Taoka, Noriyuki; Kurosawa, Masashi; Takeuchi, Wakana; Sakashita, Mitsuo
    We review the technology of Ge1−xSnx-related group-IV semiconductor materials for developing Si-based nanoelectronics. Ge1−xSnx-related materials provide novel engineering of the crystal growth, strain structure, and energy band alignment for realising various applications not only in electronics, but also in optoelectronics. We introduce our recent achievements in the crystal growth of Ge1−xSnx-related material thin films and the studies of the electronic properties of thin films, metals/Ge1−xSnx, and insulators/Ge1−xSnx interfaces. We also review recent studies related to the crystal growth, energy band engineering, and device applications of Ge1−xSnx-related materials, as well as the reported performances of electronic devices using Ge1−xSnx related materials.
  • Item
    Compact helical antenna for smart implant applications
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Karnaushenko, Dmitriy D.; Karnaushenko, Daniil; Makarov, Denys; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Smart implants are envisioned to revolutionize personal health care by assessing physiological processes, for example, upon wound healing, and communicating these data to a patient or medical doctor. The compactness of the implants is crucial to minimize discomfort during and after implantation. The key challenge in realizing small-sized smart implants is high-volume cost- and time-efficient fabrication of a compact but efficient antenna, which is impedance matched to 50 Ω, as imposed by the requirements of modern electronics. Here, we propose a novel route to realize arrays of 5.5-mm-long normal mode helical antennas operating in the industry-scientific-medical radio bands at 5.8 and 2.4 GHz, relying on a self-assembly process that enables large-scale high-yield fabrication of devices. We demonstrate the transmission and receiving signals between helical antennas and the communication between an antenna and a smartphone. Furthermore, we successfully access the response of an antenna embedded in a tooth, mimicking a dental implant. With a diameter of ~0.2 mm, these antennas are readily implantable using standard medical syringes, highlighting their suitability for in-body implant applications.
  • Item
    Graphene growth on Ge(100)/Si(100) substrates by CVD method
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Pasternak, Iwona; Wesolowski, Marek; Jozwik, Iwona; Lukosius, Mindaugas; Lupina, Grzegorz; Dabrowski, Pawel; Baranowski, Jacek M.; Strupinski, Wlodek
    The successful integration of graphene into microelectronic devices is strongly dependent on the availability of direct deposition processes, which can provide uniform, large area and high quality graphene on nonmetallic substrates. As of today the dominant technology is based on Si and obtaining graphene with Si is treated as the most advantageous solution. However, the formation of carbide during the growth process makes manufacturing graphene on Si wafers extremely challenging. To overcome these difficulties and reach the set goals, we proposed growth of high quality graphene layers by the CVD method on Ge(100)/Si(100) wafers. In addition, a stochastic model was applied in order to describe the graphene growth process on the Ge(100)/Si(100) substrate and to determine the direction of further processes. As a result, high quality graphene was grown, which was proved by Raman spectroscopy results, showing uniform monolayer films with FWHM of the 2D band of 32 cm−1.
  • Item
    Dielectrophoretic immobilisation of antibodies on microelectrode arrays
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013) Otto, Saskia; Kaletta, Udo; Bier, Frank F.; Wenger, Christian; Hölzel, Ralph
    A silicon based chip device with a regular array of more than 100 000 cylindrical sub-microelectrodes has been developed for the dielectrophoretic (DEP) manipulation of nanoparticles and molecules in solution. It was fabricated by a standard CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) compatible process. The distribution of the electrical field gradient was calculated to predict the applicability of the setup. Heating due to field application was determined microscopically using a temperature sensitive fluorescent dye. Depending on voltage and frequency, temperature increase was found to be compatible with protein function. Successful field controlled immobilisation of biomolecules from solution was demonstrated with the autofluorescent protein R-phycoerythrin (RPE) and with fluorescently labelled IgG antibodies. Biological activity after DEP application was proven by immobilisation of an anti-RPE antibody and subsequent binding of RPE. These results demonstrate that the developed chip system allows the directed immobilisation of proteins onto microelectrodes by dielectrophoresis without the need for any chemical modification and that protein function is preserved. Being based on standard lithographical methods, further miniaturisation and on-chip integration of electronics towards a multiparameter single cell analysis system appear near at hand.