Hole diffusion effect on the minority trap detection and non-ideal behavior of NiO/β-Ga2O3 heterojunction

A NiO/β-Ga2O3 heterojunction was fabricated by sputtering a highly p-doped NiO layer onto β-Ga2O3. This heterojunction showed a low leakage current and a high turn-on voltage (Von) compared to a Ni/β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diode. The extracted Von from the NiO/β-Ga2O3 heterojunction's forward current-voltage characteristics was ∼1.64 V, which was lower than the extracted built-in potential voltage (Vbi) obtained from the capacitance-voltage curve. To explain this difference, deep level transient spectroscopy and Laplace-deep level transient spectroscopy were employed to study majority and minority traps in β-Ga2O3 films. A minority trap was detected near the surface of β-Ga2O3 under a reverse bias of −1 V but was not observed at −4 V, indicating its dependence on hole injection density. Using Silvaco TCAD, the hole diffusion length from P+-NiO to β-Ga2O3 was determined to be 0.15 μm in equilibrium, which is increased with increasing forward voltage. This finding explained why the trap level was not detected at a large reverse bias. Moreover, hole diffusion from NiO into β-Ga2O3 significantly affected the β-Ga2O3 surface band bending and impacted transport mechanisms. It was noted that the energy difference between the conduction band minimum (CBM) of β-Ga2O3 and the valence band maximum (VBM) of NiO was reduced to 1.60 eV, which closely matched the extracted Von value. This supported the dominance of direct band-to-band tunneling of electrons from the CBM of β-Ga2O3 to the VBM of NiO under forward bias voltage

Hybrid integrated photomedical devices for wearable vital sign tracking

In light of the importance of and challenges inherent in realizing a wearable healthcare platform for simultaneously recognizing, preventing, and treating diseases while tracking vital signs, the development of simple and customized functional devices has been required. Here, we suggest a new approach to make a stretchable light waveguide which can be combined with integrated functional devices, such as organic photodetectors and nanowire-based heaters, for multifunctional healthcare monitoring. Controlling the reflection condition of the medium gave us a solid design rule for strong light emission in our stretchable waveguides. Based on this rule, the stretchable light waveguide (up to 50% strain) made of polydimethylsiloxane was successfully demonstrated with strong emissions. We also incorporated highly sensitive organic photodetectors and silver nanowire-based heaters with the stretchable waveguide for the detection of vital signs, including heart rate, deep breathing, coughs, and blood oxygen saturation. Through these multifunctional performances, we have successfully demonstrated that our stretchable light waveguide has a strong potential for multifunctional healthcare monitoring

Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020

Background: To estimate global and regional trends from 2000 to 2020 of the number of persons visually impaired by cataract and their proportion of the total number of vision-impaired individuals. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published population studies and gray literature from 2000 to 2020 was carried out to estimate global and regional trends. We developed prevalence estimates based on modeled distance visual impairment and blindness due to cataract, producing location-, year-, age-, and sex-specific estimates of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI presenting visual acuity &lt;6/18, ≥3/60) and blindness (presenting visual acuity &lt;3/60). Estimates are age-standardized using the GBD standard population. Results: In 2020, among overall (all ages) 43.3 million blind and 295 million with MSVI, 17.0 million (39.6%) people were blind and 83.5 million (28.3%) had MSVI due to cataract blind 60% female, MSVI 59% female. From 1990 to 2020, the count of persons blind (MSVI) due to cataract increased by 29.7%(93.1%) whereas the age-standardized global prevalence of cataract-related blindness improved by −27.5% and MSVI increased by 7.2%. The contribution of cataract to the age-standardized prevalence of blindness exceeded the global figure only in South Asia (62.9%) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (47.9%). Conclusions: The number of people blind and with MSVI due to cataract has risen over the past 30 years, despite a decrease in the age-standardized prevalence of cataract. This indicates that cataract treatment programs have been beneficial, but population growth and aging have outpaced their impact. Growing numbers of cataract blind indicate that more, better-directed, resources are needed to increase global capacity for cataract surgery.</p

Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract : a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020

DATA AVAILABILITY : Data sources for the Global Vision Database are listed at the following weblink http://www.anglia.ac.uk/verigbd. Fully disaggregated data is not available publicly due to data sharing agreements with some principal investigators yet requests for summary data can be made to the corresponding author.CHANGE HISTORY 16 July 2024 : A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-024-03161-7.BACKGROUND : To estimate global and regional trends from 2000 to 2020 of the number of persons visually impaired by cataract and their proportion of the total number of vision-impaired individuals. METHODS : A systematic review and meta-analysis of published population studies and gray literature from 2000 to 2020 was carried out to estimate global and regional trends. We developed prevalence estimates based on modeled distance visual impairment and blindness due to cataract, producing location-, year-, age-, and sex-specific estimates of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI presenting visual acuity <6/18, ≥3/60) and blindness (presenting visual acuity <3/60). Estimates are age-standardized using the GBD standard population. RESULTS : In 2020, among overall (all ages) 43.3 million blind and 295 million with MSVI, 17.0 million (39.6%) people were blind and 83.5 million (28.3%) had MSVI due to cataract blind 60% female, MSVI 59% female. From 1990 to 2020, the count of persons blind (MSVI) due to cataract increased by 29.7%(93.1%) whereas the age-standardized global prevalence of cataract-related blindness improved by −27.5% and MSVI increased by 7.2%. The contribution of cataract to the age-standardized prevalence of blindness exceeded the global figure only in South Asia (62.9%) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (47.9%). CONCLUSIONS : The number of people blind and with MSVI due to cataract has risen over the past 30 years, despite a decrease in the age-standardized prevalence of cataract. This indicates that cataract treatment programs have been beneficial, but population growth and aging have outpaced their impact. Growing numbers of cataract blind indicate that more, better-directed, resources are needed to increase global capacity for cataract surgery.Brien Holden Vision Institute, Fondation Thea, Fred Hollows Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), Sightsavers International, and University of Heidelberg. Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.https://www.nature.com/eyehj2024School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH)SDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Control of Ni/&beta;-Ga2O3 Vertical Schottky Diode Output Parameters at Forward Bias by Insertion of a Graphene Layer

Controlling the Schottky barrier height (&#981;B) and other parameters of Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) is critical for many applications. In this work, the effect of inserting a graphene interfacial monolayer between a Ni Schottky metal and a &beta;-Ga2O3 semiconductor was investigated using numerical simulation. We confirmed that the simulation-based on Ni workfunction, interfacial trap concentration, and surface electron affinity was well-matched with the actual device characterization. Insertion of the graphene layer achieved a remarkable decrease in the barrier height (&#981;B), from 1.32 to 0.43 eV, and in the series resistance (RS), from 60.3 to 2.90&nbsp;m&#8486;.cm2. However, the saturation current (JS) increased from 1.26&times;10&minus;11&nbsp; to 8.3&times;10&minus;7(A/cm2). The effects of a graphene bandgap and workfunction were studied. With an increase in the graphene workfunction and bandgap, the Schottky barrier height and series resistance increased and the saturation current decreased. This behavior was related to the tunneling rate variations in the graphene layer. Therefore, control of Schottky barrier diode output parameters was achieved by monitoring the tunneling rate in the graphene layer (through the control of the bandgap) and by controlling the Schottky barrier height according to the Schottky&ndash;Mott role (through the control of the workfunction). Furthermore, a zero-bandgap and low-workfunction graphene layer behaves as an ohmic contact, which is in agreement with published results

A combination of selected mapping and clipping to increase energy efficiency of OFDM systems.

We propose an energy efficient combination design for OFDM systems based on selected mapping (SLM) and clipping peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction techniques, and show the related energy efficiency (EE) performance analysis. The combination of two different PAPR reduction techniques can provide a significant benefit in increasing EE, because it can take advantages of both techniques. For the combination, we choose the clipping and SLM techniques, since the former technique is quite simple and effective, and the latter technique does not cause any signal distortion. We provide the structure and the systematic operating method, and show the various analyzes to derive the EE gain based on the combined technique. Our analysis show that the combined technique increases the EE by 69% compared to no PAPR reduction, and by 19.34% compared to only using SLM technique

Electrical Defect State Distribution in Single Crystal ZnO Schottky Barrier Diodes

The characterization of defect states in a hydrothermally grown single crystal of ZnO was performed using deep-level transient spectroscopy in the temperature range of 77&ndash;340 K. The native intrinsic defect energy level within the ZnO band gap occurred in the depletion region of ZnO Schottky barrier diodes. A major defect level was observed, with a thermal activation energy of 0.27 eV (E3) within the defect state distribution from 0.1 to 0.57 eV below the conduction band minimum. We confirmed the maximum defect concentration to be 3.66 &times; 1016 cm&minus;3 at 0.27 eV (E3). As a result, we clearly confirmed the distribution of density of defect states in the ZnO band gap

On the nature of majority and minority traps in β-Ga2O3: A review

In the last decade, researchers and commercial companies have paid great attention to ultrawide bandgap semiconductors especially gallium oxide (Ga2O3). Ga2O3 has very interesting properties such as a bandgap higher than 4.8 eV, high electrical breakdown field and easy to control the doping density. For example, vacancies and impurities play an important role in controlling the n-type conductivity of this material and hence improving the device performance. This review paper discusses mostly the point defects in Ga2O3 and the sources of majority and minority deep levels (traps) in Ga2O3 characterized using different methods such as deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), optical DLTS (ODLTS), deep level optical spectroscopy (DLOS) and other techniques. Majority traps such as E1, E2*, E2 and E3 with energies of about 0.56, 0.75, 0.79 and 1.05 eV below the conduction band maximum (CBM), respectively, are the most observed in Ga2O3. These traps are mostly related to impurities such as iron (Fe), silicon (Si), titanium (Ti) and other impurities, or alternatively to gallium or oxygen vacancies. Minorities traps H1, H2 and H3 with energies of about 0.2, 0.3 and 1.3 eV, respectively, above the valence band maximum (VBM) are the most known defects that are related to vacancies. These minorities traps are usually extracted using optical techniques because of the very low hole density in Ga2O3

Normalized distortion power versus CR, V = 1, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128.

<p>Normalized distortion power versus CR, V = 1, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128.</p