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<p>The computer program developed by T.B. Remple for the analysis of PiN photodiodes has been modified to handle Schottky barrier cases. The fundamental physics involved in the original model is summarized and the theories for a metal-semiconductor interface are presented. The boundary values for n, p, and ψ are then defined in such a way that ψ (x) would be in agreement with the thermionic-diffusion theory. An equivalent circuit approach is used to determine the RC response of the photodetector. While the modified version of the computer model provides very detailed analysis of the device, it is also very expensive to run. A simplified model is therefore employed for the design process. The objective is to design an Au-nGe photodiode with a risetime less than 50 psecs. The set of optimum design parameters obtained with the simplified model is then taken as the input to the modified version of Remple's program for further analysis. The theoretical risetime of the optimum design is found to be about 45 psecs.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

No description available.

This thesis is a sandwich thesis composed of three papers that are published in refereed journals or conferences. The first paper is a systematic experimental study conducted to identify the first phase to form during cobalt germanidation. Hexagonal β-Co5Ge3 was the first phase to form at temperatures as low as 227°C followed by monoclinic CoGe as the second phase at the same temperature. We also report for the first time that both phases that formed were highly ordered partial epitaxial crystal orientations suggesting that both of those low-temperature phases could potentially serve as high quality contacts for germanium based devices with a very low thermal budget which is advantageous for the process design. Those results contributed to a better understanding of cobalt germanidation leading to the first multiphase technology computer aided design model presented in the second paper. This kinetic model for cobalt germanide growth can predict the resulting phase based on anneal time, temperature, and ambient. The model has been calibrated to experimental results. This predictive model can help in the design of cobalt germanide contacts with low resistance and can serve as a general modeling framework for multiphase solid state reaction binary systems. A comprehensive survey of the experimental results for formation of cobalt germanides is discussed and the data are reconciled in the third paper. Factors affecting the resulting phases and their quality are identified and some optimum choices for the experimental parameters are pointed based on the survey. The role of germanium crystal orientation in ohmic and Schottky properties of the contact is analyzed. Fermi level pinning plays a role mainly on metal/(100) n-type Ge interfaces and its role is minimal on p-type Ge and other crystalline orientations. Schottky Barrier Heights for cobalt germanide contacts reported in the literature are surveyed. Crystalline cobalt germanides, forming when Co is deposited at high temperatures, are expected to have lower interface resistivities compared to those reported. The work is important because contact resistance has become one of the most important factors in advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and advanced devices already include germanium (Ge) in the source/drain regions of devices. It is also important because heating at the interface due to contact resistance is one of the key challenges in power devices and cobalt germanide can be used both for Si and Ge based devices as well as for gallium nitride (GaN) devices. The latter application is possible because cobalt germanide is lattice-matched to GaN. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The main goal of this thesis is to create predictive empirical, mathematical, and physical models to help the designer of the semiconductor process technology to design high quality electric contacts, namely cobalt germanides, to their semiconductor devices, germanium based. The choice of cobalt germanides is motivated by their expected superior quality given the possibility of growing them in crystalline form. We settled a theoretical and experimental controversy regarding the first phase to form by conducting experiments demonstrating that low-temperature forming cobalt germanide phases are highly ordered and could serve as high quality contacts. A predictive physical based mathematical model was developed to assist the designer in obtaining the desired cobalt germanide phase for its needed electrical properties by design. Factors affecting the quality of the germanide were identified based on an extensive survey and the optimum choices for the parameters to obtain high quality contact were pointed.

Im Laufe der Verkleinerungen integrierter Schaltungen ergab sich die Notwendigkeit der alternativen dielektrischen Materialen. Hohe Polarisierbarkeiten in diesen dielektrischen Dünnfilmen treten erst in hoch direktionalen kristallinen Phasen auf. Aufgrund der erschwerten Integrierbarkeit von epitaktischen, einkristallinen Oxidfilmen können nur poly-, beziehungsweise nanokristalle Filme eingesetzt werden. Diese sind jedoch mit hohen Leckströmen behaftet. Weil die Information in einer DRAM-Zelle als Ladung in einem Kondensator gespeichert wird ist der Verlust dieser Ladung durch Leckströme die Ursache für Informationsverluste. Die Frequenz der notwendigen Auffrischungszyklen einer DRAM-Zelle wird direkt durch die Leckströme bestimmt. Voraussetzungen für die Entwicklung neuer dielektrischer Materialien ist das Verständnis der zugrunde liegenden Ladungsträgertransportmechanismen und ein Verständnis der strukturellen Schichteigenschaften, welche zu diesen Leckströmen führen. Conductive atomic force Microscopy ist ein Rastersondenmethode mit der strukturelle Eigenschaften mit lokaler elektrischer Leitfähigkeit korreliert wird. Mit dieser Methode wurde in einer vergleichenden Studie die räumlichen Leckstromverteilungen untersucht. Und es wurde gezeigt, dass es genügt eine nicht geschlossene Zwischenschicht Aluminiumoxid in eine Zirkoniumdioxidschicht zu integrieren um die Leckströme signifikant zu reduzieren während eine ausreichend hohe Kapazität erhalten bleibt. Darüberhinaus wurde ein CAFM modifiziert und benutzt um das Schaltverhalten eines Siliziumnanodrahtschottkybarrierenfeleffektransistor in Abhängigkeit der Spitzenposition zu untersuchen. Es konnte experimentell bestätigt werden das die Schottkybarrieren den Ladungstransport in diesen Bauteilen kontrollieren. Darüber hinaus wurde ein proof-of-concept für eine umprogrammierbaren nichtflüchtigen Speicher, der auf Ladungsakkumulation und der resultierenden Bandverbiegung an den Schottkybarrieren basiert, gezeigt. / In the course of the ongoing downscaling of integrated circuits the need for alternative dielectric materials has arisen. The polarizability of these dielectric thin-films is highest in highly directional crystalline phases. Since epitaxial single crystalline oxide films are very difficult to integrate into the complex DRAM fabrication process, poly- or nanocrystalline thin-films must be used. However these films are prone to very high leakage currents. Since the information is stored as charge on a capacitor in the DRAM cell, the loss of this charge through leakage currents is the origin of information loss. The rate of the necessary refresh cycles is directly determined by these leakage currents. A fundamental understanding of the underlying charge carrier transport mechanisms and an understanding of the structural film properties leading to such leakage currents are essential to the development of new, dielectric thin-film materials. Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy (CAFM) is a scanning probe based technique which correlates structural film properties with local electrical conductivity. This method was used to examine the spatial distribution of leakage currents in a comparative study. I was shown that it is sufficient to include an unclosed interlayer of Aluminium oxide into a Zirconium dioxide film to significantly reduce leakage currents while maintaining a sufficiently high capacitance. Moreover, a CAFM was modified and used to examine the switching behavior of a silicon nanowire Schottky barrier field effect transistors in dependence of the probe position. It was proven experimentally that Schottky barriers control the charge carrier transport in these devices. In addition, a proof of concept for a reprogrammable nonvolatile memory device based on charge accumulation and band bending at the Schottky barriers was shown.

[Truncated abstract] Over the past decade, the group III-nitride semiconducting compounds (GaN, AlN, InN, and their alloys) have attracted tremendous research efforts due to their unique electronic and optical properties. Their low thermal carrier generation rates and large breakdown fields make them attractive for the development of robust electronic devices capable of reliable operation in extreme conditions, i.e. at high power/voltage levels, high temperatures and in radiation environments. For device applications in radiation environments, such as space electronics, GaN-based devices are expected to manifest superior radiation hardness and reliability without the need for cumber- some and expensive cooling systems and/or radiation shielding. The principle aim of this Thesis is to ascertain the level of susceptibility of current GaN-based elec- tron devices to radiation-induced degradation, by undertaking a detailed study of 60Co gamma-irradiation-induced defects and defect-related effects on the electrical characteristics of n-type GaN-based materials and devices . . . While the irradiation-induced effects on device threshold voltage could be regarded as relatively benign (taking into account that the irradiation levels employed in this study are equivalent to more than 60 years exposure at the average ionising dose rate levels present in space missions), the observed device instabilities and the degradation of gate current characteristics are deleterious effects which will have a significant impact on the performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs operating in radiation environments at low temperatures, a combination of conditions which are found in spaceborne electronic systems.

Graphene is widely considered to be a promising candidate for a new generation of electronics, but there are many outstanding fundamental issues that need to be addressed before this promise can be realized. This thesis focuses on the production and properties of graphene grown epitaxially on the carbon terminated face (C-face) of hexagonal silicon carbide leading to the construction of a novel graphene transistor structure. C-face epitaxial graphene multilayers are unique due to their rotational stacking that causes the individual layers to be electronically decoupled from each other. Well-formed C-face epitaxial graphene single layers have exceptionally high mobilities (exceeding 10,000 cm ²/Vs), which are significantly greater than those of Si-face graphene monolayers. This thesis investigates the growth and properties of C-face single layer graphene. A field effect transistor based on single layer graphene was fabricated and characterized for the first time. Aluminum oxide or boron nitride was used for the gate dielectric. Additionally, an all graphene/SiC Schottky barrier transistor on the C-face of SiC composed of 2DEG in SiC/Si₂O ₃ interface and multilayer graphene contacts was demonstrated. A multiple growth scheme was adopted to achieve this unique structure.

Silicon carbide is a promising wide bandgap semiconductormaterial for high-temperature, high-power, and high-frequencydevice applications. However, there are still a number offactors that are limiting the device performance. Among them,one of the most important and critical factors is the formationof low resistivity Ohmic contacts and high-temperature stableSchottky diodes on silicon carbide. In this thesis, different metals (TiW, Ti, TiC, Al, and Ni)and different deposition techniques (sputtering andevaporation) were suggested and investigated for this purpose.Both electrical and material characterizations were performedusing various techniques, such as I-V, C-V, RBS, XRD, XPS,LEED, SEM, AFM, and SIMS. For the Schottky contacts to n- and p-type 4H-SiC, sputteredTiW Schottky contacts had excellent rectifying behavior afterannealing at 500 ºC in vacuum with a thermally stableideality factor of 1.06 and 1.08 for n- and p-type,respectively. It was also observed that the SBH for p-type SiC(ΦBp) strongly depends on the choice the metal with alinear relationship ΦBp= 4.51 - 0.58Φm, indicating no strong Fermi-level pinning.Finally, the behavior of Schottky diodes was investigated byincorporation of size-selected Au nano-particles in Ti Schottkycontacts on silicon carbide. The reduction of the SBH isexplained by using a simple dipole layer approach, withenhanced electric field at the interface due to the small sizeof the circular patch (Au nano-particles) and large differenceof the barrier height between two metals (Ti and Au) on both n-and p-SiC. For the Ohmic contacts, titanium carbide (TiC) was used ascontacts to both n- and p-type 4H-SiC epilayers as well as onAl implanted layers. The TiC contacts were epitaxiallydeposited using a co-evaporation method with an e-beam Tisource and a Knudsen cell for C60, in a UHV system at low substrate temperature(500 ºC). In addition, we extensively investigatedsputtered TiW (weight ratio 30:70) as well as evaporated NiOhmic contacts on both n- and p-type epilayers of SiC. The bestOhmic contacts to n-type SiC are annealed Ni (&gt;950ºC)with the specific contact resistance of ≈ 8× 10-6Ω cm2with doping concentration of 1.1 × 10-19cm-3while annealed TiW and TiC contacts are thepreferred contacts to p-type SiC. From long-term reliabilitytests at high temperature (500 ºC or 600 ºC) invacuum and oxidizing (20% O2/N2) ambient, TiW contacts with a platinum cappinglayer (Pt/Ti/TiW) had stable specific contact resistances for&gt;300 hours. <b>Keywords</b>: silicon carbide, Ohmic and Schottky contacts,co-evaporation, current-voltage, capacitance-voltagemeasurement, power devices, nano-particles, Schottky barrierheight lowering, and TLM structures.