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Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) scaling has led to numerous reliability challenges. A major source of such challenges is the molecular phenomena at the channel/dielectric interface in Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFET). In this work, MOSFET dielectric/channel interface is investigated, and hydrogen diffusion as the cause behind one of the major MOSFET reliability issues (namely NBTI) is characterized. Within the realm of device simulation, classical molecular dynamics bridges the gap between accurate but complex quantum chemical methods and crude but straightforward statistical/Monte-Carlo methods. In particular, classical molecular dynamics alongside customized forcefield parameters were used to study hydrogen dissociation and diffusion at the silicon/ silicon dioxide interface. Such processes govern BTI-like MOSFET aging. For the first time, a full molecular-level characterization of hydrogen dissociation and diffusion at the gate-dielectric/channel interface was developed. We also showed how some mechanical alterations may improve the MOSFET devices resilience to longterm NBTI aging. Further, new forcefield parameters were developed and used to predict some of the characteristics of high-k dielectrics and their interface with silicon dioxide. This work sets the grounds for a systematic, simulation-driven approach towards engineering reliable nano-scale MOSFET devices.

In this paper, we introduce a new quantum bit commitment protocol which is practically secure against entanglement attacks. A general cheating strategy is discussed and shown to be practically ineffective against the proposed approach.

This paper considers the use an entanglement breaking channel in the construction of a secure bit-commitment protocol. It is shown that this can be done via a depolarizing quantum channel.