Design, Characterization And Analysis Of Electrostatic Discharge (esd) Protection Solutions In Emerging And Modern Technologies

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is a significant hazard to electronic components and systems. Based on a specific processing technology, a given circuit application requires a customized ESD consideration that includes the devices’ operating voltage, leakage current, breakdown constraints, and footprint. As new technology nodes mature every 3-5 years, design of effective ESD protection solutions has become more and more challenging due to the narrowed design window, elevated electric field and current density, as well as new failure mechanisms that are not well understood. The endeavor of this research is to develop novel, effective and robust ESD protection solutions for both emerging technologies and modern complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technologies. The Si nanowire field-effect transistors are projected by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors as promising next-generation CMOS devices due to their superior DC and RF performances, as well as ease of fabrication in existing Silicon processing. Aiming at proposing ESD protection solutions for nanowire based circuits, the dimension parameters, fabrication process, and layout dependency of such devices under Human Body Mode (HBM) ESD stresses are studied experimentally in company with failure analysis revealing the failure mechanism induced by ESD. The findings, including design methodologies, failure mechanism, and technology comparisons should provide practical knowhow of the development of ESD protection schemes for the nanowire based integrated circuits. Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are the basic elements for the emerging flexible, printable, large-area, and low-cost organic electronic circuits. Although there are plentiful studies focusing on the DC stress induced reliability degradation, the operation mechanism of OTFTs iv subject to ESD is not yet available in the literature and are urgently needed before the organic technology can be pushed into consumer market. In this work, the ESD operation mechanism of OTFT depending on gate biasing condition and dimension parameters are investigated by extensive characterization and thorough evaluation. The device degradation evolution and failure mechanism under ESD are also investigated by specially designed experiments. In addition to the exploration of ESD protection solutions in emerging technologies, efforts have also been placed in the design and analysis of a major ESD protection device, diodetriggered-silicon-controlled-rectifier (DTSCR), in modern CMOS technology (90nm bulk). On the one hand, a new type DTSCR having bi-directional conduction capability, optimized design window, high HBM robustness and low parasitic capacitance are developed utilizing the combination of a bi-directional silicon-controlled-rectifier and bi-directional diode strings. On the other hand, the HBM and Charged Device Mode (CDM) ESD robustness of DTSCRs using four typical layout topologies are compared and analyzed in terms of trigger voltage, holding voltage, failure current density, turn-on time, and overshoot voltage. The advantages and drawbacks of each layout are summarized and those offering the best overall performance are suggested at the en

The 2021 flexible and printed electronics roadmap

This roadmap includes the perspectives and visions of leading researchers in the key areas of flexible and printable electronics. The covered topics are broadly organized by the device technologies (sections 1–9), fabrication techniques (sections 10–12), and design and modeling approaches (sections 13 and 14) essential to the future development of new applications leveraging flexible electronics (FE). The interdisciplinary nature of this field involves everything from fundamental scientific discoveries to engineering challenges; from design and synthesis of new materials via novel device design to modelling and digital manufacturing of integrated systems. As such, this roadmap aims to serve as a resource on the current status and future challenges in the areas covered by the roadmap and to highlight the breadth and wide-ranging opportunities made available by FE technologies

Bio-inspired electronics for micropower vision processing

Vision processing is a topic traditionally associated with neurobiology; known to encode, process and interpret visual data most effectively. For example, the human retina; an exquisite sheet of neurobiological wetware, is amongst the most powerful and efficient vision processors known to mankind. With improving integrated technologies, this has generated considerable research interest in the microelectronics community in a quest to develop effective, efficient and robust vision processing hardware with real-time capability. This thesis describes the design of a novel biologically-inspired hybrid analogue/digital vision chip ORASIS1 for centroiding, sizing and counting of enclosed objects. This chip is the first two-dimensional silicon retina capable of centroiding and sizing multiple objects2 in true parallel fashion. Based on a novel distributed architecture, this system achieves ultra-fast and ultra-low power operation in comparison to conventional techniques. Although specifically applied to centroid detection, the generalised architecture in fact presents a new biologically-inspired processing paradigm entitled: distributed asynchronous mixed-signal logic processing. This is applicable to vision and sensory processing applications in general that require processing of large numbers of parallel inputs, normally presenting a computational bottleneck. Apart from the distributed architecture, the specific centroiding algorithm and vision chip other original contributions include: an ultra-low power tunable edge-detection circuit, an adjustable threshold local/global smoothing network and an ON/OFF-adaptive spiking photoreceptor circuit. Finally, a concise yet comprehensive overview of photodiode design methodology is provided for standard CMOS technologies. This aims to form a basic reference from an engineering perspective, bridging together theory with measured results. Furthermore, an approximate photodiode expression is presented, aiming to provide vision chip designers with a basic tool for pre-fabrication calculations

The micro-LED roadmap: status quo and prospects

Micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED) will play an important role in the future generation of smart displays. They are found very attractive in many applications, such as maskless lithography, biosensor, augmented reality (AR)/mixed reality etc, at the same time. A monitor that can fulfill saturated color rendering, high display resolution, and fast response time is highly desirable, and the micro-LED-based technology could be our best chance to meet these requirements. At present, semiconductor-based red, green and blue micro-LED chips and color-conversion enhanced micro-LEDs are the major contenders for full-color high-resolution displays. Both technologies need revolutionary ways to perfect the material qualities, fabricate the device, and assemble the individual parts into a system. In this roadmap, we will highlight the current status and challenges of micro-LED-related issues and discuss the possible advances in science and technology that can stand up to the challenges. The innovation in epitaxy, such as the tunnel junction, the direct epitaxy and nitride-based quantum wells for red and ultraviolet, can provide critical solutions to the micro-LED performance in various aspects. The quantum scale structure, like nanowires or nanorods, can be crucial for the scaling of the devices. Meanwhile, the color conversion method, which uses colloidal quantum dot as the active material, can provide a hassle-free way to assemble a large micro-LED array and emphasis the full-color demonstration via colloidal quantum dot. These quantum dots can be patterned by porous structure, inkjet, or photo-sensitive resin. In addition to the micro-LED devices, the peripheral components or technologies are equally important. Microchip transfer and repair, heterogeneous integration with the electronics, and the novel 2D material cannot be ignored, or the overall display module will be very power-consuming. The AR is one of the potential customers for micro-LED displays, and the user experience so far is limited due to the lack of a truly qualified display. Our analysis showed the micro-LED is on the way to addressing and solving the current problems, such as high loss optical coupling and narrow field of view. All these efforts are channeled to achieve an efficient display with all ideal qualities that meet our most stringent viewing requirements, and we expect it to become an indispensable part of our daily life

Neuromorphic Computing with Resistive Switching Devices.

Resistive switches, commonly referred to as resistive memory (RRAM) devices and modeled as memristors, are an emerging nanoscale technology that can revolutionize data storage and computing approaches. Enabled by the advancement of nanoscale semiconductor fabrication and detailed understanding of the physical and chemical processes occurring at the atomic scale, resistive switches offer high speed, low-power, and extremely dense nonvolatile data storage. Further, the analog capabilities of resistive switching devices enables neuromorphic computing approaches which can achieve massively parallel computation with a power and area budget that is orders of magnitude lower than today’s conventional, digital approaches. This dissertation presents the investigation of tungsten oxide based resistive switching devices for use in neuromorphic computing applications. Device structure, fabrication, and integration are described and physical models are developed to describe the behavior of the devices. These models are used to develop array-scale simulations in support of neuromorphic computing approaches. Several signal processing algorithms are adapted for acceleration using arrays of resistive switches. Both simulation and experimental results are reported. Finally, guiding principles and proposals for future work are discussed.PhDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116743/1/sheridp_1.pd

High-Density Solid-State Memory Devices and Technologies

This Special Issue aims to examine high-density solid-state memory devices and technologies from various standpoints in an attempt to foster their continuous success in the future. Considering that broadening of the range of applications will likely offer different types of solid-state memories their chance in the spotlight, the Special Issue is not focused on a specific storage solution but rather embraces all the most relevant solid-state memory devices and technologies currently on stage. Even the subjects dealt with in this Special Issue are widespread, ranging from process and design issues/innovations to the experimental and theoretical analysis of the operation and from the performance and reliability of memory devices and arrays to the exploitation of solid-state memories to pursue new computing paradigms

The Role Of Photonics In Energy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)In celebration of the 2015 International Year of Light, we highlight major breakthroughs in photonics for energy conversion and conservation. The section on energy conversion discusses the role of light in solar light harvesting for electrical and thermal power generation; chemical energy conversion and fuel generation; as well as photonic sensors for energy applications. The section on energy conservation focuses on solid-state lighting, flat-panel displays, and optical communications and interconnects. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.5Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)U.S. National Science Foundation [DMR-1309459, ECCS 1408051, DMR 1505122]U.S. Office of Naval ResearchEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK [EP/K00042X, EP/L012294]European Research Council of the European Union [321305]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Organic Thin Film Transistor Integration

This thesis examines strategies to exploit existing materials and techniques to advance organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology in device performance, device manufacture, and device integration. To enhance device performance, optimization of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) gate dielectric thin film and investigation of interface engineering methodologies are explored. To advance device manufacture, OTFT fabrication strategies are developed to enable organic circuit integration. Progress in device integration is achieved through demonstration of OTFT integration into functional circuits for applications such as active-matrix displays and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. OTFT integration schemes featuring a tailored OTFT-compatible photolithography process and a hybrid photolithography-inkjet printing process are developed. They enable the fabrication of fully-patterned and fully-encapsulated OTFTs and circuits. Research on improving device performance of bottom-gate bottom-contact poly(3,3'''-dialkyl-quarter-thiophene) (PQT-12) OTFTs on PECVD silicon nitride (SiNx) gate dielectric leads to the following key conclusions: (a) increasing silicon content in SiNx gate dielectric leads to enhancement in field-effect mobility and on/off current ratio; (b) surface treatment of SiNx gate dielectric with a combination of O2 plasma and octyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) delivers the best OTFT performance; (c) an optimal O2 plasma treatment duration exists for attaining highest field-effect mobility and is linked to a “turn-around” effect; and (d) surface treatment of the gold (Au) source/drain contacts by 1-octanethiol SAM limits mobility and should be omitted. There is a strong correlation between the electrical characteristics and the interfacial characteristics of OTFTs. In particular, the device mobility is influenced by the interplay of various interfacial mechanisms, including surface energy, surface roughness, and chemical composition. Finally, the collective knowledge from these investigations facilitates the integration of OTFTs into organic circuits, which is expected to contribute to the development of new generation of all-organic displays for communication devices and other pertinent applications. A major outcome of this work is that it provides an economical means for organic transistor and circuit integration, by enabling use of the well-established PECVD infrastructure, yet not compromising the performance of electronics

ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES FOR CHEMICAL SENSING AND BIO INTERFACES

The scope of this work is to establish organic field effect transistors (OFET) as a viable platform for sensing and for interfacing between biological and electronic materials. In section 1 we discuss our approaches and strategies for designing gas sensor platforms for ammonia and ethylene using the OFET platform. For ammonia sensor, we devised an organic field-effect transistor (OFET) structure with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (TPFB) as ammonia receptor. OFETs with this additive could detect concentrations of 450 ppb v/v, with a limit of detection of 350 ppb. For printable versions of ammonia sensors, we simplified the OFET structure by replacing the gate electrode and the dielectric deposition steps with the introduction of static charges on the back surface of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by corona charging, a procedure that is adaptable to roll-to-roll processing. This technique considerably decreased the time and the cost of production. For ethylene sensors, we developed an OFET platform with an organic semiconductor layer containing palladium particles as ethylene receptor. With this unique active sensing layer, we could sense concentration of 50-ppm v/v. In section 2, we studied OSCs as candidates for developing bio interfaces. In the first part of this section we investigated OFETs as an electronic bio sensing platform. We designed an OFET-based biosensor with a new receptor–antibody-functionalized composite top dielectric layer consisting of a fluorinated polymer (CYTOP) and vapor-deposited hydrocarbon (tetratetracontane). Using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as a model protein analyte, this sensor platform demonstrated significant selectivity and recognition of target protein even in concentrated non-target protein backgrounds. In second part of section 2, we studied electrical properties of functionalized self-assembling nanowires using OFET structures. The effect of systematic changes in amino acid composition on the semiconducting/conducting functionality of the nanostructures was analyzed. The study shows that these self-assembling peptides can be used successfully to transmit electronic signals over biologically relevant distances. This library of nanowires should be instrumental in electrically manipulating and stimulating cells for bioengineering purposes. The strategies and the results discussed here open new pathways for the future development of these areas. Readers Professor Howard E. Katz (Advisor) Professor John D. Tovar (Chair of the defense Committee