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SOI technology offers ample room for scaling, performance improvement, and innovations. The current status is reviewed by focusing on several technological options for boosting the transport properties in SOI MOSFETs. The impact of series resistance, high-K dielectrics, and metal gate in advanced transistors is discussed. Carrier mobility measurements as a function of channel length and temperature reveal the beneficial effect of strain, mitigated however by various types of defects. The experimental data is exclusively collected from state-of-the-art, ultrathin body, fully depleted MOSFETs. Simple models are presented to clarify the mobility behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits and adapts of the pseudo-MOSFET (Ψ-MOSFET) characterization technique for advanced fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) wafers. We review the current challenges for standard Ψ-MOSFET set-up on ultra-thin body (12 nm) over ultra-thin buried oxide (25 nm BOX) and propose a novel set-up enabling the technique on FDSOI structures. This novel configuration embeds 4 probes with large tip radius (100-200 μm) and low pressure to avoid oxide damage. Compared with previous 4-point probe measurements, we introduce a simplified and faster methodology together with an adapted Y-function. The models for parameters extraction are revisited and calibrated through systematic measurements of SOI wafers with variable film thickness. We propose an in-depth analysis of the FDSOI structure through comparison of experimental data, TCAD (Technology Computed Aided Design) simulations, and analytical modeling. TCAD simulations are used to unify previously reported thickness-dependent analytical models by analyzing the BOX/substrate potential and the electrical field in ultrathin films. Our updated analytical models are used to explain the results and to extract correct electrical parameters such as low-field electron and hole mobility, subthreshold slope, and film/BOX interface traps density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudo-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (Ψ-MOSFET) is a simple and efficient technique for characterizing electrical properties of silicon-on-insulator wafers. The primary condition for reliable parameter extraction is to achieve ohmic contacts between Ψ-MOSFET probes and silicon film. This paper brings experimental arguments on the probe-pressure impact on contact nature, series resistance, and carrier mobility. The specificity of our study consists of the topographical analysis (by atomic force microscopy) of craters induced by the probes. We correlate the probe-pressure with morphology parameters (size of craters) and electrical parameters (series resistance, mobility). For higher pressures, contacts are improved, changing from Schottky-like to ohmic-like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Adapt reliability methods to evaluate the degradation of UTBOX. [•] Study the carrier trapping and defects generation for breakdown in SOI technology. [•] Evaluate the quality and lifetime of buried oxides for back-bias applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper discusses options for disease prevention in Public Health Genetics and attempts to assess the probability that coercive strategies might be chosen in public health policies that impose duties to undergo genetic testing. Given the social values, legal and political cultures and professional orientations in Western Europe and the United States, which provide the terms of reference for this assessment, it is unlikely that the preventive options which might emerge from human genetics in the future will trigger policies that force preventive behavior upon people, except in the cases where such enforcement is designed to protect third parties., (Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.)