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Lateral MOSFET devices with a thin surface counter-doped layer using Sb and As with and without NO passivation have been fabricated and characterized. The results demonstrate that Sb and As counter-dope the interface without significant trap passivation while in combination with NO there is a superposition of both trap passivation and counter-doping related performance enhancement. In addition, by varying the counter doping level, a universal mobility characteristics of NO passivated devices has been identified.

A nitrogen plasma annealing process for gate dielectric applications in 4H-SiC metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) technology has been investigated. This process results in substantially greater interfacial N coverage at the SiO2/4H-SiC interface and lower interface trap densities than the state-of-the-art nitric oxide (NO) annealing process. Despite these exciting results, the field-effect mobility of MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) fabricated by use of this process is very similar to that of NO-annealed MOSFETs. These results emphasize the importance of understanding mobility-limiting mechanisms in addition to charge trapping in next-generation 4H-SiC MOSFETs.

The use of phosphorous as a passivating agent for the SiO2/4H-SiC interface increases the field effect channel mobility of 4H-SiC MOSFET to twice the value, 30-40cm2/V-s, that is obtained with a high temperature anneal in nitric oxide (NO). A solid SiP2O7planar diffusion source is used to produce P2O5for the passivation of the interface. Incorporation of phosphorous into SiO2leads to formation of phosphosilicate glass (PSG) which is known to be a polar material causes device instability. With a new modified thin phosphorous (P) passivation process, as described in this abstract, we can improve the stability of MOSFETs significantly with mobility around 75cm2/V.s.

Channel mobility of >100 cm 2 V -1 s -1 has been obtained on enhancement mode 4H-SiC MOSFETs using an antimony (Sb) doped surface channel in conjunction with nitric oxide (NO) postoxidation annealing. Temperature dependence of the channel mobility indicates that Sb, being an n-type dopant, reduces the surface electric field while the NO anneal reduces the interface trap density, thereby improving the channel mobility. This letter highlights the importance of semiconductor/dielectric materials processes that reduce the transverse surface electric field for improved channel mobility in 4H-SiC MOSFETs.

Phosphorous from P2O5 is more effective than nitrogen for passivating the 4H-SiC/SiO2 interface. The peak value of the field-effect mobility for 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) after phosphorus passivation is approximately 80 cm2/V·s. However, P2O5 converts the SiO2 layer to phosphosilicate glass (PSG)-a polar material that introduces voltage instabilities which negate the benefits of lower interface trap density and higher mobility. We report a significant improvement in voltage stability with mobilities as high as 72 cm2/V·s for MOSFETs fabricated with a thin PSG gate layer ( ~ 10 nm) capped with a deposited oxide.

For the next generation 4H-SiC MOSFET devices it is very critical to have a good 4H-SiC/SiO2 interface. In this paper we reported two new passivation processes - thin phosphorous (P) passivation and nitrogen plasma (N2P) passivation. With thin P passivation the mobility of ~75 cm2/V·s can be achieved with improved threshold voltage stability. N2P passivation gives an alternative to introduce nitrogen (N) at the interface in minimum oxygen (O) ambient during passivation. With this new N2P process we can introduce more N at the interface, almost two times compared to standard NO (nitric oxide) passivation.

We report a low-temperature aqueous solution growth of uniformly aligned ZnO nanorod arrays on flexible substrates. The substrate is Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film coated on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Solutions with five different concentrations of the precursors with equimolar Zinc Nitrate and Hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) in distilled water were prepared to systematically study the effect of precursor solution concentration on the structural and optical properties of ZnO nanorods. It was concluded that the precursor concentration have great influence on the morphology, crystal quality, and optical property of ZnO nanorods. The diameter, density, and orientation of the nanorods are dependent on the precursor solution concentration. X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy showed that the ZnO nanorods with the highest concentration of 50 mM were highly aligned and have the highest level of surface coverage. It was also found that the diameter and length of the nanorods increases upon increasing precursor solution concentration. This is the first systematic investigation of studying the effect of precursor solution concentration on the quality of ZnO nanorods grown on ITO/PET substrates by low-temperature solution method. We believe that our work will contribute to the realization of flexible organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell based on ZnO nanorods and conjugated polymer.

A method for determining the local depth of a surface‐breaking crack is presented based on near‐field surface acoustic wave signal responses. Finite element models were used to study the forward problem, where the characteristic response of a surface acoustic wave incident on a surface‐breaking crack oriented normal to the material surface was investigated. Experimental validation of the modeling predictions was accomplished using a wedge transducer for surface wave generation and a scanning laser vibrometry system for surface wave detection. The characteristic near‐field amplitude response in reflection and in transmission showed several unique features, which are attributed to the superposition of incident, transmitted, reflected, and scattered energy fields. In the d/lambda range of 0.1–0.8, an approximate linear trend was observed, which provides an opportunity to characterize and quantify local crack depth based on a simple linear inversion method. Finite element and experimental evidence of this eff...

Phosphorous and nitrogen are electrically active species at the SiO2/SiC interface in SiC MOSFETs. We compare the concentration, chemical bonding, and etching behavior of P and N at the SiO2/SiC(0001) interface using photoemission, ion scattering, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Both interfacial P and N are found to be resistant to buffered HF solution etching at the SiO2/SiC(0001) interface while both are completely removed from the SiO2/Si interface. The medium energy ion scattering results of etched phosphosilicate glass/SiC not only provide an accurate coverage but also indicate that both the passivating nitrogen and phosphorus are confined to within 0.5 nm of the interface. Angle resolved photoemission shows that P and N are likely situated in different chemical environments at the interface. We conclude that N is primarily bound to Si atoms at the interface while P is primarily bound to O and possibly to Si or C. Different interface passivating element coverages and bonding configurations on di...

X-ray scattering and various optical techniques are utilized to study the aggregation process and chromonic liquid crystal phase of the anionic monoazo dye Sunset Yellow FCF. The x-ray results demonstrate that aggregation involves pi-pi stacking of the molecules into columns, with the columns undergoing a phase transition to an orientationally ordered chromonic liquid crystal phase at high dye concentration. Optical absorption measurements on dilute solutions reveal that the aggregation takes place at all concentrations, with the average aggregation number increasing with concentration. A simple theory based on the law of mass action and an isodesmic aggregation process is in excellent agreement with the experimental data and yields a value for the "bond" energy between molecules in an aggregate. Measurements of the birefringence and order parameter are also performed as a function of temperature in the chromonic liquid crystal phase. The agreement between these results and a more complicated theory of aggregation is quite reasonable. Overall, these results both confirm that the aggregation process for some dyes is isodesmic and provide a second example of a well-characterized chromonic system.