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Nanoelectronics

   The focus of this research thrust is to develop new devices/materials and related process technologies for future low power electronics.  Power efficiencies at both device and circuit levels represent areas where important innovations and advancements are needed for improving the overall performance of ICs. We have made a number of important advancements in this direction, ranging from those that can be readily adopted by industry to those that are longer-term and currently remain in pure research stage. A few examples of our recent contributions are listed below.

1. Monolayer Doping

   Formation of ultrashallow junctions (sub-5nm) that are defect free with high carrier concentrations is essential for the source/drain contacts of future nanoscale devices.  In this regard, ion implantation has made significant progress in obtaining shallower junctions, but to-date obtaining high quality sub-5nm junctions with implantion has been challenging.  Motivated by this challenge, our group has developed a new doping concept named monolayer doping (MLD).  In this approach, the semiconductor surface is first conformally covered with a self-assembled monolayer of dopant containing species using a self-terminating process (Nature Materials, 2008; Nano Letters, 2009).  The dopant atoms are subsequently incoraporated into the semiconductor using a thermal anneal step.  Using this process, we have demonstrated sub 5-nm junctions with low leakage currents, high dopant activation rates, and high carrier concentrations. We have shown the compatibility of the process for a wide range of dopants, and semiconductors (including Si, InAs, and InP - both planar and 3D) using appropriate surface chemistries (APL 2009, APL 2011).  We have transferred the technology to SEMATECH which has used MLD to fabricate Fin-FETs, demonstrating improved transistor performance over similar devices fabricated by ion implantation (reported at IEDM, 2011).  A number of semiconductor companies have adopted MLD for internal R&D. Moving forward, besides the IC industry, this technology could also be used by the PV and LED industries. The project demonstrates an elegant use of surface chemistry in making an important advance in device applications and process technologies.


MLD process flow    sheet resistance

2. X-on-Insulator (XOI)

    One approach for lowering the operating voltage of MOSFETs is to replace the Si channel material with a thin layer of high mobility semiconductor, such as III-V compound semiconductors.  From manufacturing point of view, it is desirable to still use Si as the handling wafer due to its well established process technology, and superb mechanical and thermal properties. Integration of high mobility materials on Si, however, is challenging due to the large-lattice mismatch.  Two promising processes have been proposed, one involving direct growth of III-V’s on Si using multiple buffer layers, and the other, which was led by our group is based on layer transfer (e.g., wafer bonding) of ultrathin III-V layers. We have named the latter approach X-on-insulator (XOI), analogous to conventional SOI (Nature, 2010; Nano Letters, 2011; APL, 2011; EDL, 2011, Nano Letters, 2012; Nano Letters, 2012; APL, 2012).  To date, our group has shown some of the highest performance III-V MOSFETs (both n- and p-type) on Si substrates using the XOI geometry with channel thickness down to 3 nm. Specifically, we have reported peak effective mobilities of 1000-5000 cm2/Vs depending on the thickness by using InAs XOI, with a subthreshold swing of ~72 mV/decade and high interfacial quality.

 

    We have further extended the work to the use of layered chalcogenides as the “X” layer.  Chalcogenides are a new class of semiconductor materials that can be made down to a single monolayer with large band gaps, minimal to no dangling bonds, and no native oxides. We are currently examining chemical doping, heterjunctions, transport physics, and large-area growth of various layered chalcogenides, including WSe2. Particularly, our group has demonstrated for the first time that few-layer and monolayer WSe2 can be selectively doped with electrons and holes using surface charge transfer process, enabling n- and p- MOSFETs with near identical electron and hole mobilities (Nano Letters, 2012; Nano Letters, 2013). We have also explored chalcogenide heterostructures, demonstrating that near ideal electrical junctions can be obtained with van der Waals interfaces (APL, 2013 - cover article).


3. New mV Switch

    The operating voltage of an ideal MOSFET, even with a high mobility material, cannot be scaled below ~300 mV given the theoretical substreshold swing of 60 mV/decade. In this regard, developing a switch that can operate at voltages <300 mV is of fundamental and practical importance. Our group has been exploring a number of alternative switching mechanisms, including band-to-band tunneling (i.e., TFETs) based on variety of material systems with engineered band-alignments. We are focusing on using III-V, III-N, chalcogenides and oxides, configured into proper heterostructures for exploiting new switching mechanisms. One example includes ultrathin-body XOI TFETs (APL, 98, 113105, 2011).

 



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