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A Monte Carlo investigation of charge transport in Strained Silicon Schottky diodes is presented. The effect of strain on the reverse current for several state-of-the-art barrier heights is discussed and extensively analyzed. The results show an important increase of current with strain, which allows achieving lower effective barrier heights due to the shifting of Δ2 conduction band valleys. However,...
In order to fulfill the stringent requirements for ultra-shallow junction formation and proper defect removal needed for future Si devices, molecular and cold implants have arisen as new technological strategies for dopant incorporation. In this work we have used different atomistic simulation techniques within a multiscale scheme to study the phenomena governing the damage generation in these types...
The emerging field of silicon photonics targets monolithic integration of optical components in the CMOS process, potentially enabling high bandwidth, high density interconnects with dramatically reduced cost and power dissipation. A broadband photonic switch is a key component of reconfigurable networks which retain data in the optical domain, thus bypassing the latency, bandwidth and power overheads...
This paper investigates the various effects that affect the ID-VDS characteristics in a strained-Si over SiGe NMOSFETs. The modeling is done keeping the BSIM4 parameters as the reference. The model thus developed showed precise agreement with the experimental data. It is observed that mobility in strained silicon increases and thereby enhancing current. Bandgap is affected to a lesser extent, but...
This paper describes a fabrication process to obtain high efficiency c-Si cells (>; 20%) based on the Laser Fired Contact Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (LFC-PERC) concept. Photovoltaic efficiencies beyond 20% have been achieved using thermal SiO2 as a rear passivation layer on 2 cm × 2 cm solar cells with 0.45 Qcm Fz c-Si substrates. Efficiencies up to 22% are expected for material resistivities...
This paper describes a versatile and reliable wafer-level hermetic packaging technology using an anodically-bondable low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) wafer, in which electrical feedthroughs and passive components can be embedded. The hermeticity of vacuum-sealed cavities was confirmed after 3000 cycles of heat shock (-40°C/+150°C, 30 min/30 min) by diaphragm method. The width of seal rings necessary...
A simple method is described to protect polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) from electrochemical corrosion which often happens when the Micro-Electro-Mechanical systems (MEMS) device is released in HF-based solutions, especially when the device contains noble metal. We propose to employ a photoresist (PR) layer to cover the noble metal layer, which electrically contacts with the underlying polysilicon...
This study presents a novel design and fabrication process to realize a miniature polymer ball bearing slide table (slider) with long linear travel range. The linear slide table consists of a pair of V-shape silicon (111) crystal plane rails, and a suspended slider supported by four polymer ball bearings. The ball-housing on slider is also designed to confine the bearing. The slider, rails, and ball-housings...
This paper describes the possibility of the crystalline anisotropic etching of single-crystal silicon using a fully dry etching process. Conventionally, the crystalline anisotropic etching of silicon has been achieved only using specific wet solutions. In the proposed method, the anisotropic etching is made dominant by controlling the etching energy under specific dry etching conditions. The maximum...
We found that an appropriate mixture of SF6, C4F8 and O2 gases in a standard Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (ICP-RIE) apparatus achieves crystal orientation dependent etching. The etched shapes after the RIE of silicon wafers with (100), (110), and (111) surface orientation are investigated by the masks with circular openings and isolated pattern. The results of the etching process...
In this paper, a microassembling technique of microstructures using a silicon clip mechanism is developed for a time-of-flight scanning force microscope (TOF-SFM) probe. Microsprings formed by deep reactive ion etching were used as a clip micromechanism. Microelements are manipulated by a manipulator, and microgap between the microspring and opposite wall is expanded by pulling the microspring using...
We report detailed characterization of a vacuum sealed angle measuring silicon MEMS gyroscope. The new gyroscope utilizes completely symmetric, dynamically balanced quadruple mass architecture, which provides a unique combination of maximized quality (Q) factors and isotropy of both the resonant frequency and the damping. The vacuum sealed SOI prototype with a 2 kHz operational frequency demonstrated...
A microswitch based on self-assembled carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays as micromechanical contact material has been demonstrated. The aligned CNT arrays are synthesized on microelectrodes and movable shuttle fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The CNT arrays are self-assembled on microstructures making mechanical contact between source and shuttle, and this contact is preloaded by the growth...
We report the theory, design methodology and experiment of an electrostatically actuated silicon-plate Phononic Bandgap (PnBG) crystal architecture. This architecture is a high-order distributed mechanical system comprised of a two-dimensional PnBG crystal which is truncated to finite periodicity and suspended from the substrate utilizing tethers. Electrostatic actuation mitigates the use of piezoelectric...
Current crowding of a micro spring pressure contact under high current is studied. The spring conducts >; 250 mA electrical current between chips, has large mechanical compliance (>; 30 μm) compared to other packaging technologies, and fits in a 180 μm pitch 2d array. At 250 mA and 65°C, daisy chains of 134 spring contacts in a silicon package show stable resistances and hot spot temperature...
This paper reports gamma irradiation effects on the resistance of polycrystalline silicon beams in MEMS. Co60 irradiation test was performed to reveal mechanisms underlying radiation effects. Changes of the resistances have been measured by Semiconductor Characterization Instruments. The mechanisms of gamma irradiation effects on the resistance of polycrystalline silicon were discussed in detail....
Silicon is susceptible to fatigue even under inert environment, although it has been believed not to be. This paper presents a brand-new image of the fatigue behavior of silicon obtained using the microtensile method. It is estimated that 25% of polysilicon specimens and 34% of single-crystal silicon will break in about 100 years in a nitrogen atmosphere at room temperature, when subjected to a fatigue...
A new fabrication process, which includes deposition of thin silver film on silicon surface prior to wet etching, is proposed for realizing aligned silicon nanowires with high uniformity, resulting in black nonreflecting silicon surface.
We present the design of a silicon microsystem that utilizes dense, low-power photonic interconnects to enable a highly-compact supercomputer-scale system. We review recent progress in wavelength-division multiplexed, low-power silicon photonic interconnect components and discuss a future roadmap for the technology.
A couple of decade ago when auto engineers decided to increase the voltage level of electrical power system drive, it was the advancement of silicon technology supporting their dream. Today the power electronics circuits play an important role in the success of electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Typical power electronics circuits in hybrid vehicles include electric motor drive circuits and DC/DC...
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