Novel Tunnel-Contact-Controlled IGZO Thin-Film Transistors with High Tolerance to Geometrical Variability.

Thin insulating layers are used to modulate a depletion region at the source of a thin-film transistor. Bottom contact, staggered-electrode indium gallium zinc oxide transistors with a 3 nm Al2 O3 layer between the semiconductor and Ni source/drain contacts, show behaviors typical of source-gated transistors (SGTs): low saturation voltage (VD_SAT ≈ 3 V), change in VD_SAT with a gate voltage of only 0.12 V V-1 , and flat saturated output characteristics (small dependence of drain current on drain voltage). The transistors show high tolerance to geometry: the saturated current changes only 0.15× for 2-50 µm channels and 2× for 9-45 µm source-gate overlaps. A higher than expected (5×) increase in drain current for a 30 K change in temperature, similar to Schottky-contact SGTs, underlines a more complex device operation than previously theorized. Optimization for increasing intrinsic gain and reducing temperature effects is discussed. These devices complete the portfolio of contact-controlled transistors, comprising devices with Schottky contacts, bulk barrier, or heterojunctions, and now, tunneling insulating layers. The findings should also apply to nanowire transistors, leading to new low-power, robust design approaches as large-scale fabrication techniques with sub-nanometer control mature

A novel split mode TFBAR device for quantitative measurements of prostate specific antigen in a small sample of whole blood.

Easy monitoring of prostate specific antigen (PSA) directly from blood samples would present a significant improvement as compared to conventional diagnostic methods. In this work, a split mode thin film bulk acoustic resonator (TFBAR) device was employed for the first time for label-free measurements of PSA concentrations in the whole blood and without sample pre-treatment. The surface of the sensor was covalently modified with anti-PSA antibodies and demonstrated a very high sensitivity of 101 kHz mL ng-1 and low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.34 ng mL-1 in model spiked solutions. It has previously been widely believed that significant pre-processing of blood samples would be required for TFBAR biosensors. Importantly, this work demonstrates that this is not the case, and TFBAR technology provides a cost-effective means for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics and monitoring of PSA in hospitals and in doctors' offices. Additionally, the accuracy of the developed biosensor, with respect to a commercial auto analyser (Beckman Coulter Access), was evaluated to analyse clinical samples, giving well-matched results between the two methods, thus showing a practical application in quantitative monitoring of PSA levels in the whole blood with very good signal recovery

Nanoparticulate PdZn as a Novel Catalyst for ZnO Nanowire Growth.

ZnO nanowires have been grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using PdZn bimetallic nanoparticles to catalyse the process. Nanocatalyst particles with mean particle diameters of 2.6 ± 0.3 nm were shown to catalyse the growth process, displaying activities that compare well with those reported for sputtered systems. Since nanowire diameters are linked to catalyst morphology, the size-control we are able to exhibit during particle preparation represents an advantage over existing approaches in terms of controlling nanowire dimensions, which is necessary in order to utilize the nanowires for catalytic or electrical applications.(See supplementary material 1).RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Tail state mediated conduction in zinc tin oxide thinfilm phototransistors under below bandgap optical excitation

Abstract: We report on the appearance of a strong persistent photoconductivity (PPC) and conductor-like behaviour in zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thinfilm phototransistors. The active ZTO channel layer was prepared by remote plasma reactive sputtering and possesses an amorphous structure. Under sub-bandgap excitation of ZTO with UV light, the photocurrent reaches as high as ~ 10−4 A (a photo-to-dark current ratio of ~ 107) and remains close to this high value after switching off the light. During this time, the ZTO TFT exhibits strong PPC with long-lasting recovery time, which leads the appearance of the conductor-like behaviour in ZTO semiconductor. In the present case, the conductivity changes over six orders of magnitude, from ~ 10−7 to 0.92/Ω/cm. After UV exposure, the ZTO compound can potentially remain in the conducting state for up to a month. The underlying physics of the observed PPC effect is investigated by studying defects (deep states and tail states) by employing a discharge current analysis (DCA) technique. Findings from the DCA study reveal direct evidence for the involvement of sub-bandgap tail states of the ZTO in the strong PPC, while deep states contribute to mild PPC

Photoconductive laser spectroscopy as a method to enhance defect spectral signatures in amorphous oxide semiconductor thin- film transistors

Defects in semiconductor thin-films often leave optical spectral signatures that can be used for their identification. In this letter, we report on spectrally resolved photoconductivity measurements of amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors. In contrast to previously reported photoconductive spectroscopy measurements recorded using spectrally filtered broadband light sources, we used a wavelength tunable picosecond laser to illuminate the thin-film. We extracted the absorption coefficient as a function of wavelength from the photocurrent measurement and showed that it followed the typical characteristic behaviour previously reported for amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-films. However, in addition, we observed several sharp spectral peaks in the photoconductivity spectrum which can be associated with sub-bandgap defects. These enhanced peaks are not normally visible in previously reported photoconductivity spectra. Furthermore, we show that we can control the sensitivity of our measurement by changing the applied gate bias voltage when the thin-films were fabricated into transistors. The enhancement achieved by using the wavelength tunable laser makes this a particularly sensitive characterisation tool and can additionally be used to discriminate between defects which have been incorporated after device fabrication

Effect of Plasma Treatment on Metal Oxide p–n Thin Film Diodes Fabricated at Room Temperature

Funder: Cambridge Trust; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003343Abstract: There is a need for a good quality thin film diode using a metal oxide p–n heterojunction as it is an essential component for the realization of flexible large‐area electronics. However, metal oxide‐based diodes normally show poor rectification characteristics whose origin is still poorly understood; this is holding back their use in various applications. A systematic study of the origins of the poor performance is performed based on bias‐stress measurements using a cuprous oxide (Cu2O)/amorphous zinc‐tin oxide (a‐ZTO) heterojunction as an example. This suggests that multiple carrier trapping and thermal release of carriers in defect states stemming from oxygen vacancies at the heterojunction interface is the primary cause of poor rectification. It is demonstrated that a plasma treatment is an effective way to optimize the population of oxygen vacancies at the heterojunction interface based on extensive material analyses, allowing a significant improvement in the diode performance with a much‐enhanced rectification ratio from ≈20 to 10 000, and a consequent facilitation of the next‐generation of ubiquitous electronics

Assessing the Effect of Twisting and Twisting Fatigue on ZnO:Al Thin Film Performance on PEN and PET Substrates

This study examines the electromechanical characteristics of aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films. The films were produced using the RF magnetron sputtering process with a consistent thickness of 150 nm on various polymer substrates. The study focuses on assessing the electro-mechanical failure processes of coated segments using flexible substrates, namely polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with a specific emphasis on typical cracking and delamination occurrences. This examination involves conducting twisting deformation together with using standardised electrical resistance measurements and optical microscope monitoring instruments. It was found that the crack initiation angle is mostly dependent on the mechanical mismatch between the coating and substrate. Higher critical twisting angle values are observed for the AZO/PEN film during twisting testing. Relative to the perpendicular plane of the untwisted sample, it was found that cracks initiated at a twist angle equal to 42° ± 2.1° and 38° ± 1.7° for AZO/PEN and AZO/PET, respectively, and propagated along the sample length. SEM images indicate that the twisting motion results in deformation in the thin film material, leading to the presence of both types of stress in the film structure. These discoveries emphasise the significance of studying the mechanical properties of thin films under different stress conditions, as it can impact their performance and reliability in real-world applications. The electromechanical stability of AZO was found to be similar on both substrates during fatigue testing. Studying the electromechanical properties of various material combinations is important for selecting polymer substrates and predicting the durability of flexible electronic devices made from polyester

Role of ALD Al2O3 Surface Passivation on the Performance of p-Type Cu2O Thin Film Transistors

High-performance p- type oxide thin film transistors (TFTs) have great potential for many semiconductor applications. However, these devices typically suffer from low hole mobility and high off-state currents. We fabricated p-type TFTs with a phase-pure polycrystalline Cu2O semiconductor channel grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The TFT switching characteristics were improved by applying a thin ALD Al2O3 passivation layer on the Cu2O channel, followed by vacuum annealing at 300 degrees C. Detailed characterization by transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the surface of Cu2O is reduced following Al2O3 deposition and indicates the formation of a 1-2 nm thick CuAlO2 interfacial layer. This, together with field-effect passivation caused by the high negative fixed charge of the ALD Al2O3, leads to an improvement in the TFT performance by reducing the density of deep trap states as well as by reducing the accumulation of electrons in the semiconducting layer in the device off-state.Peer reviewe

Flexible electronics: The next ubiquitous platform

Thin-film electronics in its myriad forms has underpinned much of the technological innovation in the fields of displays, sensors, and energy conversion over the past four decades. This technology also forms the basis of flexible electronics. Here we review the current status of flexible electronics and attempt to predict the future promise of these pervading technologies in healthcare, environmental monitoring, displays and human-machine interactivity, energy conversion, management and storage, and communication and wireless networks

Prostate cancer detection through unbiased capture of methylated cell-free DNA

Funding: Cancer Research UK, CRUK Career Development Fellowship, University of Cambridge W.D. Armstrong Trust Fund, John Black Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award. This research was also supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014).Prostate cancer screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been shown to reduce mortality but with substantial overdiagnosis, leading to unnecessary biopsies. The identification of a highly specific biomarker using liquid biopsies, represents an unmet need in the diagnostic pathway for prostate cancer. In this study, we employed a method that enriches for methylated cell-free DNA fragments coupled with a machine learning algorithm which enabled the detection of metastatic and localized cancers with AUCs of 0.96 and 0.74, respectively. The model also detected 51.8% (14/27) of localized and 88.7% (79/89) of patients with metastatic cancer in an external dataset. Furthermore, we show that the differentially methylated regions reflect epigenetic and transcriptomic changes at the tissue level. Notably, these regions are significantly enriched for biologically relevant pathways associated with the regulation of cellular proliferation and TGF-beta signaling. This demonstrates the potential of circulating tumor DNA methylation for prostate cancer detection and prognostication.Peer reviewe