Transactions On Electron Devices Research Articles

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Vacuum Electronic Devices, “From Mega to Nano: Beyond One Century of Vacuum Electronics”

I am delighted and honored to open the sixth Special Issue on Vacuum Electronics published by IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES (T-ED) “From Mega to Nano: Beyond One Century of Vacuum Electronics” following the successful Special Issues published in January 2001, May 2005, May 2009, June 2014, and June 2018.

Editorial Special Issue on Dielectrics for 2-D Electronics

It is our great pleasure to introduce this Special Issue on Dielectrics for 2-D Electronics to the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES readership. This Special Issue features the latest research aiming to clarify which would be the most suitable dielectric materials for state-of-the-art electronic devices containing 2-D materials.

Announcing the New Editor-in-Chief

As of January 1, 2023, the Electron Devices Society (EDS) has appointed Prof. Patrick Fay to succeed Prof. Giovanni Ghione as he steps down as Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED). Patrick is currently on the editorial board of T-ED working under the leadership of Giovanni. He is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, as well as the Director of the Notre Dame Nanofabrication Facility, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA. Patrick excelled in what was an exceptionally strong lineup of candidates for the post of EiC. In his time as Editor of T-ED, he has done an excellent job embracing the huge technological advances in industrial and academic research and development in electron devices while maintaining a deep commitment to EDS’ publication traditions of high intellectual rigor and standards. EDS is confident that Patrick will build on the extraordinary achievements of Giovanni, and is the right person to take T-ED to new heights as the leading flagship journal in electron devices.

Kudos to Our Reviewers… and a Big Thanks!

The ability of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) to publish high-quality papers critically depends upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The T-ED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on high-quality and timely reviews and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals from inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, contributing to the welfare of the Society and to the promotion of its goals is widely regarded as a duty of each member. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.

Changes in the Editorial Board

After nine years (the maximum three consecutive terms) on the Editorial Board of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES (T-ED), Prof. John Kymissis, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA (Molecular and Organic Devices), and Prof. Gregory Snider, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA (Emerging Technologies), have stepped down from their Editor position in the respective fields.

Changes to the Editorial Board

After six years on the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) Editorial Board, Prof. Siddharth Rajan, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA (compound semiconductor devices) has stepped down from his Editor position.

Changes to the Editorial Board

After nine years (the maximum three consecutive terms) on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED), Prof. Kevin Chen, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (compound semiconductor devices), and Prof. JianJang Huang, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan (optoelectronic devices), have stepped down from their Editor positions in the respective fields.

Electrical Performance Enhanced Doping Less Tunnel Field Effect Transistor by Metal Electrode Work Function Engineering

Tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) has been proposed as one of the promising alternative devices to MOSFET since it has low power consumption and excellent subthreshold swing (SS) characteristics of less than 60 mV / dec. However, conventional TFET fabrication requires ion implantation process to form p-i-n structure in active region, which induces a random distribution of dopant atoms. In the nm-scale device, even a small number of dopant atom dispersion can cause electrical characteristic variations such as threshold voltage (Vt)1, so alternative method for forming p-i-n region instead of doping process is needed.Doping-less TFET (DL-TFET) introduces charge plasma concept2 that controls carrier concentration of Si region by band alignment in MOS contact not by doping process, so random dopant fluctuation (RDF) issue can be solved. Since the active region carrier concentration is determined by the work function of the metal electrode, it is necessary to analyze the device performance by the metal work function condition. In this work, we manufactured doping-less TFET with adapting various metal work function to enhance electrical performance, and conducted CV measurement in MOS structure to confirm Si band bending and charge plasma by analyzing flat band voltage (VFB).DL-TFET was fabricated on SOI wafer and the overall structure is shown in Fig. 1. (a). In the case of the source region, the metal work function must be larger than that of Si to form the p-type active area, and drain region, on the contrary, must have smaller work function for n-type active region. Obviously, gate electrode work function has similar work function to intrinsic Si. For fabricating DL-TFET, we conducted reactive ion etch (RIE) process to define Si active layer and formed gate oxide (SiO2) by thermal oxidation. Then, we deposited gate metal and removed source / drain region oxide for contact hole. Spacer oxide was deposited using PECVD to isolate each metal electrode, finally we deposited source / drain metal. IV characteristics are shown in Fig. 1. (b), (c) when Pt / W / Al is applied at source / gate / drain area and we compared IV curve of various metal electrode and thermal conditions.In addition, to confirm whether the charge plasma was formed as intended, we fabricated MOS capacitor with 10 nm oxide thickness as shown in Fig. 1. (d). Through frequency sweep, we determined suitable bias frequency and conducted CV measurement (see Fig. 1. (e), (f), (g)). Band bending and charge plasma were confirmed by evaluating VFB shift depending on work function of each MOS gate material (see Fig. 1. (h)). Finally, we discussed the optimal metal electrode combination in terms of ambipolar current, off current, on current and SS. Key Words: Charge plasma, Doping-less TFET, Work function, CV measurement References Changho Shin, Jeong-Kyu Kim, Gwang-Sik Kim, Hyunjae Lee, Changhwan Shin, Jong-Kook Kim, Byung Jin Cho, and Hyun-Yong Yu, “Random Dopant Fluctuation-Induced Threshold Voltage Variation-Immune Ge FinFET With Metal–Interlayer–Semiconductor Source/Drain,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, vol. 63, No. 11, pp 4167-4172, Nov 2016. doi: 10.1109/TED.2016.2606511 Raymond J. E. Hueting, Bijoy Rajasekharan, Cora Salm, and d Jurriaan Schmitz, " The Charge Plasma P-N Diode" IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, vol. 29, issue 12, pp 1367-1369, Dec 2008. doi: 10.1109/LED.2008.2006864 Acknowledgment * This research was supported by Brain Korea 21 PLUS Program in 2021, the MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy 20010836) and KSRC (Korea Semiconductor Research Consortium) support program for the development of the future semiconductor device. Figure 1

Effect of TiN Liner Thickness on the Electrical Characteristics and Reliability of CuGeS2/GeS2-Based Selector Device

Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point memory technology has attracted much attention for the future ultrahigh-density memory applications [1]. However, when the resistor (1R) without the selector device is applied to the 3D crosspoint memory cell, the power consumption is extrememly high due to the leakage current, which is a major obstacle in large-scale memory operation. To supress the leakage current, it has been proposed that a selector (1S) is stacked vertically with a resistor (1R). The selector device should have ultralow leakage current and high selectivity to avoid any undesired operation of the unselected memory cells. Among the various selector devices, mixed-ionic-electronic-conduction (MIEC) type selector has been intensively researched as it showed abrupt resisitive switching through the formation and rupture of the metal filaments, resulting in high selectivity (~ 104) and low leakage current (~ 10 pA) [2]. However, the selector device using metal filaments suffer from reliability issues such as endurance failure due to the accumulation of excessive amounts of metal ions in the switching layer [3]. Therefore, it is important to find an efficient solution that improves selectivity and endurance characteristics by controlling the diffusion of excessive amounts of metal ions.In this work, we demonstrated the selector device adopting TiN liner as a diffusion barrier to control the diffusion of Cu into the switching layer. The effects of the TiN liner thickness on the reliability and electrical chacateristics (i.e. Vth, Vh, selectivity) of the GeS2-based selector device were investigated in detail. The schematic image of a selector device without a TiN liner, with a 1-nm-thick TiN liner, and with a 2-nm-thick TiN liner were demonstrated, as shown in Fig. 1(a-c). The GeS2 based selector device has a structure of the plug-type bottom W electrode, 5-nm-thick GeS2 switching layer, 0 to 2 nm-thick TiN liner, 5-nm-thick CuGeS2 ion supply layer, and 50-nm-thick Pt top electrode. A typical DC I-V curve of GeS2 based selector device without a TiN liner exhibited a threshold voltage (V th) of ~ 0.60 V, a holding voltage (V h) of ~ 0.00 V, and a selectivity of ~ 4.59 × 105, as shown in Fig. 1(d). Moreover, a typical DC I-V curve of GeS2 based selector device with a 1-nm-thick TiN liner exhibited a threshold voltage (V th) of ~ 0.75 V, a holding voltage (V h) of ~ 0.15 V, and a selectivity of ~ 1.14 × 106, as shown in Fig. 1(e). Lastly, a typical DC I-V curve of GeS2 based selector device with a 2-nm-thick TiN liner exhibited a threshold voltage (V th) of ~ 1.00 V, a holding voltage (V h) of ~ 0.25 V, and a selectivity of ~ 3.10 × 106, as shown in Fig. 1(f). These results indicated that the threshold voltage (V th), the holding voltage (V h), and the selectivity increased as the thickness of the TiN liner increased. Afterwards, the dependence of the endurance characteristics according to the thickness of the TiN liner of the selector device was evaluated. GeS2 based selector device without a TiN liner demonstrated endurance cycles of ~ 5 × 105, as shown in Fig. 1 (g). Moreover, the endurance characteristic of GeS2 based selector device with 1-nm-thick TiN liner demonstrated endurance cycles of ~ 5 × 106, as shown in Fig. 1 (h). Lastly, the endurance characteristic of GeS2 based selector device with 2-nm-thick TiN liner demonstrated endurance cycles of ~ 1 × 106, as shown in Fig. 1 (i). This result suggested that the optimal liner thickness for the diffusion of an adequate amount of Cu is important to achieve electrically reliable switching characteristics. In the presentation, the effects of TiN liner thickness on Cu diffusion will be assessed in detail using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) elemental mapping, and line profile. Reference [1] Geoffrey W. Burr. et al. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32, 040802 (2014)[2] K. Virwani et al., IEDM Tech. Dig. 2012, 2.7.[3] Song, J. et al. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 64, NO. 11, 2017 Acknowledgement This research was supported by the MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (10068055) and KSRC (Korea Semiconductor Research Consortium) support program for the development of the future semiconductor device. Figure 1

Changes in the Editorial Board

After nine years (the maximum three consecutive terms) on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED), Prof. Farrokh Ayazi, GeorgiaTech, Atlanta, GA, USA (Solid-State Sensors and Actuators), Prof. Manfred Thumm, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany (Vacuum Electron Devices), and Dr. Wilman Tsai, TSMC, USA (MOS Devices and Technology) have stepped down from their Editor positions in the respective fields.

Editorial Special Section on Papers From the 2020 VLSI Symposium

Since 2017, the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED) has published a selection of extended versions of papers presented at the Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits held in the corresponding years (vol. 64, no. 10; vol. 65, no. 11; vol. 66, no. 12). Since 2018, the papers have been collected in a Special Section of TED titled “Papers from Symposium on VLSI Technology.” This initiative, which was the result of a fruitful cooperation between the Electron Device Society and the VLSI Symposium chairs and committees, has brought to TED a number of carefully selected (by the VLSI TPC first and then through the TED usual review process), high-quality submissions. We have been able to continue this cooperation also in this difficult 2020, and we are therefore happy to announce the publication in the December issue (Vol. 67, No. 12) of a Special Section on papers from the 2020 Symposium, held virtually on June 15–19, 2020. A special thanks to the Guest Editors of the section, Peide Ye, Purdue University (Publication Chair, 2020 VLSI Symposium), and Masaharu Kobayashi, The University of Tokyo, Japan (Publication Co-Chair, 2020 VLSI Symposium).

Fabrication of Microsensor for Detection of Low-Concentration Formaldehyde Gas in Formalin-Treated Fish

After nine years (the maximum three consecutive terms) on the Editorial Board of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED), Prof. Richard Carter, Lancaster University, U.K. (Vacuum Electron Devices), Dr. Youichi Momiyama, Socionext, Japan (MOS Devices and Technology), Prof. Guofu Niu, Auburn University, USA (Bipolar Devices), and Prof. Rama Venkatasubramanian, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, USA (Thermal Management) have stepped down from their Editor positions in the respective fields.

Kudos to Our Reviewers

The ability of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES (T-ED) to publish quality papers has always been and will continue to be critically dependent upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The T-ED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on quality reviews, and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, it is widely regarded as a duty of membership that each member contributes to the welfare of the Society and to the promotion of its goals. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.

Special Issue on Reliability

Reliability is an important consideration during semiconductor technology development, which ensures that the performances of devices, circuits, and systems are maintained over a specified period of time, leading to successful products. Device reliability is at the core of overall product reliability, which continues to remain an important area of research and has attracted the attention of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) authors and readers throughout the years. Device reliability can be classified into two broad areas: gradual drift of device performance over time or sudden failure, and both are of importance for logic, memory, RF, and power devices. Different aspects of device reliability are usually reported, such as the development of electrical or physical characterization methods, investigation and modeling of a particular phenomenon, impact of material and processes on reliability, and development of reliability tolerant technologies.

(Invited) Diamond Technology – Integration into Solid-State Breakers and Biomedical Devices

A commercial viable solid-state direct current circuit breaker with fast switching performance for the use in the 1-100kV range requires a low loss on-resistance close to commercial available mechanical breakers [1]. Diamond provides excellent semiconductor properties for those breaker applications with a material characteristics superior in high electric field breakdown strength, higher thermal conductivity, and high charge carrier mobility as compared to silicon, silicon carbide, and gallium nitride [2-4]. These properties will enable diamond electronic devices that will be more energy efficient while keeping the active area of devices to lower values, which offers a potential cost advantage in case of a better availability of large-area substrates [5,6]. Diamond diodes [7-9], diamond field effect transistors [10], and gate turn-off thyristor devices [11-13] are proposed to be the core unit in a medium voltage direct current (MVDC) solid-state circuit breaker [14,15]. A reduced energy loss in solid-state breakers by using diamond will enable a competitive placement of diamond breakers on the MVDC market with a decisive advantage of a much faster response to electrical circuit faults and more robust DC electrical energy delivery systems with >1MW capacity. The diamond-based diode and FET development focuses on devices in the 1-5kV range and the diamond thyristors cover a 15-20kV range. Higher voltages would ultimately be achieved with series circuit arrangements of the diamond devices. Diamond offers also excellent properties for applications in the biomedical sector [16]. The manufacturing of tailored biopharmaceuticals, stem cells, or human tissue is being attempted through the utilization of single-use perfusion bioreactors due to its minimal spacial and financial costs, and its ability to execute critical parallel processing methods [17,18]. However, continuous monitoring of analytes in multifaceted protein mixtures and achieving full automation of production are challenges inhibiting commercialization of tailored products to a reasonable price. Constant and instantaneous monitoring of a bioreactor both ensures flexibility with the opportunity for quick adjustments and eliminates contamination risks from manual sampling. Also, it is essential that the bioactive layer of an integrated biosensor monitoring system sustains the lifetime of the processing cycle, as well as display a shelf life compatible with standard inventory consumption. Achieving and maintaining the specific conditions necessary to produce complex bio-products requires a robust real-time monitoring with redundancy and automated control of a variety of nutrients, intermediate metabolites, and cell products within the bioreactor. Diamond biosensors exhibit low biofouling rates and show promising results in the in-situ monitoring of the bioprocess conditions for the full operation time of single-use bioreactors [19]. Operational human IL-8 antibodies have been successfully adhered to the diamond sensor surface [20]. A high antibody concentration and activity as a measure of biosensor sensitivity is obtained using a modified ELISA procedure. The results indicate a reasonable robust diamond biosensor performance suitable for in-situ applications in the complex environment of bioreactors [21]. Song, C. Peng, A.Q. Huang (2017) IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS IN POWER ELECTRONICS 5(1), 278.Kalish (2007) Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 40(20), 6467.Hiraiwa, H. Kawarada (2013) Journal of Applied Physics 114(3), 034506.Tsao et.al. (2018) Advanced Electronic Materials 4(1), 1600501.Friel et.al. (2019) Diamond and Related Materials 18, 808.Tallaire, J. Achard, F. Silva, O. Brinza, A. Gicquel (2013) Comptes Rendus Physique 14, 169.Alvearez, M. Boutchich, J. P. Kleider, T. Teraji, Y. Koide (2014) J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 47, 355102.Ozawa et.al. (2018) Diamond and Related Materials 85, 49.Zimmermann et.al. (2005) Diamond & Related Materials 14(3-7), 416.Huang, B. Zhang (2000) Solid-State Electronics 44, 325.Paques et.al. (2011) IEEE Electron Device Letters 32, 1421.HERLET, K. RAITHEL (1966) Solid-State Electronics 9, 1089.ADLER (1978) IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES ED-25(1), 16.Shenai (2018) IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES 65(10), 4216.Gu, P. Wheeler, A. Castellazzi, A.J. Watson, F. Effah (2017) Energies 10, 495.Hébert, S. Ruffinatto, P. Bergonzo (2015) Carbon for Sensing Devices, 978-3-319-08648-4, 227.Shukla, U. Gottschalk (2013) Trends in Biotechnology 31(3), 147.Bijonowski, W.M. Miller, J.A. Wertheim (2013) Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering 2(1), 32.Bixler, B. Bhushan (2012) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 370, 2381.Navas et.al. (2018) Applied Surface Science 433, 408.Mross, T. Zimmermann, N. Winkin, M. Kraft, H. Vogt (2016) Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 236, 937.

Looking for Quality in TCAD-Based Papers

During the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of submissions of “physics-based simulation only” papers to the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES (T-ED). The popularity of such papers may be explained by the fact that the present widespread technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tools are a significant and welcome boost to creativity in the electronic device community. In fact, TCAD tools allow researchers to explore and optimize device structures without being burdened by technology concerns in terms of availability, cost, and time delay.

Kudos to Our Reviewers

The ability of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) to publish high quality papers has been and will continue to be critically dependent upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The T-ED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on quality reviews and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, contributing to the welfare of the society and to the promotion of its goals is widely regarded as a duty of each member. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.

Kudos to Our Reviewers

The ability of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED) to publish high-quality papers has been and will continue to be critically dependent upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The TED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on quality reviews and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, contributing to the welfare of the society and to the promotion of its goals is widely regarded as a duty of each member. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.

J-EDS Comes of Age

It seems like yesterday that the inaugural issue of IEEE Journal of Electron Devices Society (J-EDS) was published on January 1st 2013. Since then, the question keeps resurfacing why a 3rd publication was launched since Electron Devices Society already had Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) and Electron Device Letters (EDL) as its flagship publications. While the answer to this question was published in an earlier editorial [1] let me revisit this question briefly to set the stage for the material to follow.

Kudos to Our Reviewers

The ability of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (T-ED) to publish quality papers has always been and will continue to be critically dependent upon the competence, diligence, and generosity of reviewers who voluntarily contribute their time for this purpose. The T-ED Editorial Board and I are well aware of our dependence on quality reviews and wish to acknowledge and recognize the individuals inside and out of the Electron Devices Society (EDS) who have so selflessly contributed to this effort. Within EDS, it is widely regarded as a duty of membership that each member contributes to the welfare of the Society and to the promotion of its goals. Acting as a reviewer is one way to accomplish this duty.