| 1. |
- Fang, Yeyu, 1984-
(författare)
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Titled and graded anisotropy FePt and FePtCu thin films for the application of hard disk drive and spin torque oscillators
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The FePt and FePtCu thin films with graded anisotropy and titled anisotropy are utilized to solve both the magnetic recording ‘‘trilemma’’ of the hard disk drives (HDDs) and the large field operation problem of spin torque oscillators (STOs). We have successfully realized the FePtCu thin films with graded anisotropy. During deposition a compositional gradient is achieved by continuously varying the Cu content from the top to bottom. After annealing at proper temperatures, the top Cu-poor regions remain at soft A1 phase, while the bottom Cu-rich regions transform into hard L1 0phase. Hence the gradient anisotropy is established through the film thickness. The critical role of the annealing temperatures (TA) on the resultant anisotropy gradient is investigated. Magnetic measurements support the creation of an anisotropy gradient in properly annealed films which exhibit both the reduced coercivity and moderate thermal stability. In conjunction of the fabrication, the subsequent analysis of the graded material is not trivial. The reversal mechanism of graded anisotropy have been investigated by alternation gradient magnetometer (AGM) and magneto optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements with first order reversal curves (FORC) technique. The AGM-FORC analysis, which clearly shows the soft and hard phases, is not able to resolve how these phases are distributed through the film thickness. MOKE-FORC measurement which preferentially probes the surface of the film, reveal that the soft components are indeed located toward the top surface. The TA plays a critical role in the induced anisotropy gradient. We provide a detailed study of the how the anisotropy gradient in a compositional graded FePtCu film gradually develops as a function of the TA. By utilizing the in-situ annealing and magnetic characterization capability of a physical property measurement system, the evolution of the induced anisotropy gradient is elucidated. These results are important and useful for the application of HDDs. In order to achieve the zero-field operation for STOs, we have successfully fabricated pseudo spinvalves based on L1 0(111) textured FePt or FePtCu. We demonstrate magnetoresistance(MR) in excess of 4% in FePt/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/NiFe pseudo spin valves based on L10(111)-oriented FePt fixed layers with a 36 ° out-of-plane tilted magnetization. The high MR is achieved by increasing the spin polarization at the Cu interfaces, using thin CoFe, and optimizing the FePt growth and Cu interface quality using Ta and Ta/Pt underlayers.We observe well-separated switching of the FePt/CoFe fixed layer and the CoFe/NiFe free layer, suggesting that CoFe is rigidly exchange coupled to FePt and NiFe in the respective layers. Futuremore, through optimization of the Cu spacer thickness, we demonstrate MR up to 5% in FePtCu/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/NiFe pseudo spin valves based on L10 (111) FePtCu fixed layers with a tilted magnetization. We find an optimum spacer thickness of about 2.4 nm which correlates with a clear onset of strong interlayer exchange coupling below 2.4 nm and spin-independent current shunting in the spacer above 2.4 nm. These results are an important milestone for future applications of tilted spin polarizers in STOs.
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| 2. |
- Ghandi, Reza
(författare)
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Fabrication Technology for Efficient High Power Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The superior characteristics of Silicon Carbide as a wide band gap semiconductor have motivated many industrial and non-industrial research groups to consider SiC for the next generations of high power semiconductor devices. The SiC Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is one candidate for high power applications due to its low on-state power loss and fast switching capability. However, to compete with other switching devices such as Field Effect Transistors (FETs) or IGBTs, it is necessary for a power SiC BJT to provide a high current gain to reduce the power required from the drive circuit. In this thesis implantation free 4H-SiC BJTs with linearly graded base layer have been demonstrated with common-emitter current gain of 50 and open-base breakdown voltage of 2700 V. Also an efficient junction termination extension (JTE) with 80% of theoretical parallel-plane breakdown voltage was analyzed by fabrication of high voltage PiN diodes to achieve an optimum dose of remaining JTE charge. Surface passivation of 4H-SiC BJT is an essential factor for efficient power BJTs. Therefore different passivation techniques were compared and showed that around 60% higher maximum current gain can be achieved by a newsurface passivation layer with low interface trap density that consists of PECVD oxide followed by post-deposition oxide anneal in N2O ambient. This surface passivation along with doublezone JTE were used for fabrication of high power BJTs that result in successful demonstration of 2800 V breakdown voltage for small area (0.3 × 0.3 mm) and large area (1.8 × 1.8 mm) BJTs with a maximum dc current gain of 55 and 52, respectively. The small area BJT showed RON = 4mΩcm2, while for the large are BJT RON = 6.8 mΩcm2. Finally, a Darlington transistor with a maximum current gain of 2900 at room temperature and 640 at 200 °C is reported. The high current gain of the Darlington transistor is achieved by optimum design for the ratio of the active area of the driver BJT to the output BJT.
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| 3. |
- Gudmundsson, Valur, 1980-
(författare)
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Fabrication, characterization, and modeling of metallic source/drain MOSFETs
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As scaling of CMOS technology continues, the control of parasitic source/drain (S/D) resistance (RSD) is becoming increasingly challenging. In order to control RSD, metallic source/drain MOSFETs have attracted significant attention, due to their low resistivity, abrupt junction and low temperature processing (≤700 °C). A key issue is reducing the contact resistance between metal and channel, since small Schottky barrier height (SBH) is needed to outperform doped S/D devices. A promising method to decrease the effective barrier height is dopant segregation (DS). In this work several relevant aspects of Schottky barrier (SB) contacts are investigated, both by simulation and experiment, with the goal of improving performance and understanding of SB-MOSFET technology:First, measurements of low contact resistivity are challenging, since systematic error correction is needed for extraction. In this thesis, a method is presented to determine the accuracy of extracted contact resistivity due to propagation of random measurement error.Second, using Schottky diodes, the effect of dopant segregation of beryllium (Be), bismuth (Bi), and tellurium (Te) on the SBH of NiSi is demonstrated. Further study of Be is used to analyze the mechanism of Schottky barrier lowering.Third, in order to fabricate short gate length MOSFETs, the sidewall transfer lithography process was optimized for achieving low sidewall roughness lines down to 15 nm. Ultra-thin-body (UTB) and tri-gate SB-MOSFET using PtSi S/D and As DS were demonstrated. A simulation study was conducted showing DS can be modeled by a combination of barrier lowering and doped Si extension.Finally, a new Schottky contact model was implemented in a multi-subband Monte Carlo simulator for the first time, and was used to compare doped-S/D to SB-S/D for a 17 nm gate length double gate MOSFET. The results show that a barrier of ≤ 0.15 eV is needed to comply with the specifications given by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS).
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| 4. |
- Kolahdouz Esfahani, Mohammadreza, 1982-
(författare)
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Application of SiGe(C) in high performance MOSFETs and infrared detectors
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Epitaxially grown SiGe(C) materials have a great importance for many device applications. In these applications, (strained or relaxed) SiGe(C) layers are grown either selectively on the active areas, or on the entire wafer. Epitaxy is a sensitive step in the device processing and choosing an appropriate thermal budget is crucial to avoid the dopant out–diffusion and strain relaxation. Strain is important for bandgap engineering in (SiGe/Si) heterostructures, and to increase the mobility of the carriers. An example for the latter application is implementing SiGe as the biaxially strained channel layer or in recessed source/drain (S/D) of pMOSFETs. For this case, SiGe is grown selectively in recessed S/D regions where the Si channel region experiences uniaxial strain.The main focus of this Ph.D. thesis is on developing the first empirical model for selective epitaxial growth of SiGe using SiH2Cl2, GeH4 and HCl precursors in a reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) reactor. The model describes the growth kinetics and considers the contribution of each gas precursor in the gas–phase and surface reactions. In this way, the growth rate and Ge content of the SiGe layers grown on the patterned substrates can be calculated. The gas flow and temperature distribution were simulated in the CVD reactor and the results were exerted as input parameters for the diffusion of gas molecules through gas boundaries. Fick‟s law and the Langmuir isotherm theory (in non–equilibrium case) have been applied to estimate the real flow of impinging molecules. For a patterned substrate, the interactions between the chips were calculated using an established interaction theory. Overall, a good agreement between this model and the experimental data has been presented. This work provides, for the first time, a guideline for chip manufacturers who are implementing SiGe layers in the devices.The other focus of this thesis is to implement SiGe layers or dots as a thermistor material to detect infrared radiation. The result provides a fundamental understanding of noise sources and thermal response of SiGe/Si multilayer structures. Temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and noise voltage have been measured for different detector prototypes in terms of pixel size and multilayer designs. The performance of such structures was studied and optimized as a function of quantum well and Si barrier thickness (or dot size), number of periods in the SiGe/Si stack, Ge content and contact resistance. Both electrical and thermal responses of such detectors were sensitive to the quality of the epitaxial layers which was evaluated by the interfacial roughness and strain amount. The strain in SiGe material was carefully controlled in the meta–stable region by implementingivcarbon in multi quantum wells (MQWs) of SiGe(C)/Si(C). A state of the art thermistor material with TCR of 4.5 %/K for 100×100 μm2 pixel area and low noise constant (K1/f) value of 4.4×10-15 is presented. The outstanding performance of these devices is due to Ni silicide contacts, smooth interfaces, and high quality of multi quantum wells (MQWs) containing high Ge content.The novel idea of generating local strain using Ge multi quantum dots structures has also been studied. Ge dots were deposited at different growth temperatures in order to tune the intermixing of Si into Ge. The structures demonstrated a noise constant of 2×10-9 and TCR of 3.44%/K for pixel area of 70×70 μm2. These structures displayed an improvement in the TCR value compared to quantum well structures; however, strain relaxation and unevenness of the multi layer structures caused low signal–to–noise ratio. In this thesis, the physical importance of different design parameters of IR detectors has been quantified by using a statistical analysis. The factorial method has been applied to evaluate design parameters for IR detection improvements. Among design parameters, increasing the Ge content of SiGe quantum wells has the most significant effect on the measured TCR value.
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| 5. |
- Kothe, Christian, 1980-
(författare)
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Applications and characterisation of correlations in quantum optics
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Quantum optics offers a huge variety of exciting phenomena. Many of them are still in their infancy and especially when it comes to implementing devices using these effects for more than a proof of principle demonstration still many things have to be investigated and understood. In this thesis I discuss the role of correlations in some areas of quantum optics and in some cases compare it to classical optics. Four papers form the core of the thesis. In the first paper, I propose a new measure for entanglement. This measure is based on correlations between two states. I show, how this measure relates to another measure, the concurrence. It turns out that the measure is a bijective map of the concurrence for a pure state of two qubits. I motivate why the new measure is useful if one wants to implement it experimentally. I discuss its behaviour for the case of two qubits and show its properties when dealing with pure and with mixed states. The second paper extends the result of the first one to the case where one has higher-dimensional states than qubits. In the third paper I look at phase super-resolution. I show that it can be interpreted as a purely classical effect and I analyse what is needed and what is not needed to achieve it. Specifically, I show that quantum correlations in terms of entanglement is not needed to demonstrate phase super-resolution. By doing so I propose how one could achieve arbitrarily high phase super-resolution. Finally, the last paper looks at the efficiency of quantum lithography and quantum imaging. It shows, that some basic assumptions in the original proposals of quantum lithography seems unfounded and that, as a consequence, the efficiency is poor. I give formulæ for the explicit scaling behaviour when changing the number of photons in a mode or when changing the number of pixels. The effect of the results on the future of quantum lithography is discussed as well.
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| 6. |
- Li, Qiang
(författare)
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Silicon Based Photonic Devices and Their Applications
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The integration of modern electronic devices for information processing is rapidly ap-proaching an interconnect bottleneck. Silicon photonics can be a promising solution forcircumventing this bottleneck, as already being anticipated by many electronics manu-facturers including HP, IBM and Intel. In particular, optical interconnects can expeditedata transfer both between and within microchips. This thesis aims at two basic buildingblocks of silicon photonics: waveguides and resonators and addresses their applications inoptical signal processing and their potential integration with plasmonic devices. Firstly, the basic theories of waveguide and resonator are introduced. For a singleresonator which acts as a basic signal processing unit, the transmission, phase shift andgroup delay exhibit unique characteristics. Mode splitting is observed in both a singleresonator and a coupled-resonator system. By tuning the configuration of the coupled-resonator system, one can obtain different transmission characteristics for more advancedsignal processing. Secondly, the fabrication and characterization of silicon waveguides and resonatorsused in the thesis are introduced. The fabrication is carried out with e-beam lithographyfollowed by inductively coupled plasma etching. A vertical grating coupling method isadopted to characterize the transmission spectrum. Thirdly, based on a single-ring resonator, three kinds of signal processing are ex-perimentally demonstrated: (1) 10 Gb/s format conversion from non-return-to-zero toalternate-mark-inversion signal; (2) a microwave photonic phase shifter providing a tun-able phase shift of 0–4.6 rad for a 20 GHz signal; (3) a delay line providing maximaldelay times of 80 ps, 95 ps, 110 ps and 65 ps, respectively, for signals in return-to-zero,carrier-suppressed return-to-zero, return-to-zero duobinary, and return-to-zero alternate-mark-inversion formats. Fourthly, based on a single-ring resonator with mode-splitting, two kinds of signalprocessing are experimentally demonstrated: (1) a dense wavelength conversion using thefree carrier dispersion effect with a data rate ranging from 500 Mb/s to 5 Gb/s; (2) amaximum pulse advancement of 130 ps for a 1 ns signal pulse. Since silicon photonic devices are limited by diffraction limit, we further look intotheir hybridization with the diffraction-limit-free plasmonic devices. Two directional cou-plers from a Si photonic waveguide to a hybrid Si-metal plasmonic waveguide and to ametal-insulator-metal plasmonic waveguide are investigated. The proposed hybrid cou-plers feature a short coupling length, a high coupling efficiency, a high extinction ratioand a low insertion loss.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Song, Yi, 1983-
(författare)
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Plasmonic waveguides and resonators for optical communication applications
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Photonic circuits can transmit data signals in a much higher speed thanconventional electronic circuits. However, miniaturization of photonic circuitsand devices is hindered by the existence of light diffraction limit. A promisingsolution to this problem is by exploiting plasmonic systems for guiding andmanipulating signals at optical frequencies. Plasmonic devices are generallycomposed of noble metals and dielectrics, whose interfaces can confine surfaceplasmon polaritons, a hybrid wave that is free of diffraction limit. Plasmonicwaveguides and devices are serious contenders for achieving next-generationphotonic integrated circuits with a density comparable to the electronic counterpart. This thesis addresses the design issues of passive plasmonic devices whichare critical for realization of photonic integration, including plasmonic waveguides,splitters, couplers, and resonators, investigated with both the finitedifferencetime-domain method and the finite-element method. In particularwe present, firstly, a coupler which efficiently couples light between a silicondielectric waveguide and a hybrid plasmonic (HP) waveguide. A coupling efficiencyas high as 70% is realized with a HP taper as short as 0.4μm. Theexperimental result agrees well with the numerical simulation. Secondly, wenumerically investigate and optimize the performances of 1×2 and 1×3 HPmultimode interferometers (MMIs), which split light from a silicon waveguideto multiple HP waveguides. Total transmission over 75% can be achieved inboth cases. Thirdly, we study the coupling and crosstalk issues in plasmonicwaveguide systems. Several methods for crosstalk reduction are proposed.Finally, HP nanodisk micro-cavities are designed and are numerically characterized.With a radius of 1μm, a high quality factor of 819 and a highPurcell factor of 1827 can be simultaneously achieved, which can be useful forrealizing efficient nano-lasers.
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| 9. |
- Wahlberg, Sverker, 1965-
(författare)
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Nanostructured Tungsten Materials by Chemical Methods
- 2011
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tungsten based-materials are used in many different technical fields, particularly in applications requiring good temperature and/or erosion resistance. Nanostructuring of tungsten alloys and composites has the potential to dramatically improve the materials’ properties, enhancing the performance in present applications or enabling totally new possibilities. Nanostructured WC-Co composites have been the focus of researchers and industries for over two decades. New methods for powder fabrication and powder consolidation have been developed. However, the fabrication of true nanograined WC-Co materials is still a challenge. Nanostructured tungsten composites for applications as plasma facing materials in fusion reactors have in recent years attracted a growing interest. This Thesis summarizes work on the development of chemical methods for the fabrication of two different types of nanostructured tungsten based materials; WC-Co materials mainly aimed at cutting tools applications and W-ODS composites with rare earth oxide particles, intended as plasma facing materials in future fusion reactors. The approach has been to prepare powders in two steps: a) synthesis of uniform powder precursors containing ions of tungsten and the doping elements by co-precipitation from aqueous solutions, and b) further processing of the precursors into W or WC based nano-composite powders. Highly homogenous W and Co containing powder precursors for WC-Co composites were prepared via two different routes. Keggin-based precursors ((NH4)8[H2Co2W11O40]) with agglomerates of sizes up to 50 μm, were made from sodium tungstate or ammonium metatungstate and cobalt acetate. The powder composition corresponded to 5.2 % Co in the final WC-Co composites. In a second approach, paratungstate-based precursors (Cox(NH4)10-2x[H2W12O42]) were prepared from ammonium paratungstate (APT) and cobalt hydroxide with different compositions corresponding to 3.7 to 9.7 % Co in WC-Co. These particles had a plate-like morphology with sides of 5-20 μm and a thickness of less than 1 μm. Both precursors were processed and sintered into highly uniform microstructures with fine scale (<1μm). The processing of paratungstate-based precursors was also further investigated. Nanostructured WC-Co powders with grains size of less than 50 nm by decreasing processing temperatures and by applying gas phase carburization. W-ODS materials were fabricated starting from ammonium paratungstate and rare earth elements (Y or La). Paratungstate-based precursors were prepared with different homogeneity and particle sizes. The degree of the chemical uniformity varied with the particle size from ca 1 to 30 μm. Tungsten trioxide hydrate-based precursors made from APT and yttrium nitrate under acidic conditions had dramatically higher homogeneity and smaller particle size. The crystallite size was decreased to a few nanometers. These precursors were further processed to composite nanopowder and sintered to a nanostructured W-1.2%Y2O3 composite with 88% relative density. In summary, APT can be converted to highly homogenous powder precursors of different compositions. The transformations are carried out in aqueous suspensions as a solvent mediated process, in which the starting material dissolves and the precursor precipitates. Powders with fine scale morphologies are obtained, e.g. plate-like particles with thickness less than 1 μm or spherical particles with size of a few nanometers. These precursors were processed further in to nano-sized composite powders and sintered to highly uniform tungsten composites with fine microstructures.
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| 10. |
- Wang, Jing, 1982-
(författare)
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Fabrication and Characterization of Photonic Crystals, Optical Metamaterials and Plasmonic Devices
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Nanophotonics is an emerging research field that deals with interaction between light and matter in a sub-micron length scale. Nanophotonic devices have found an increasing number of applications in many areas including optical communication, microscopy, sensing, and solar energy harvesting especially during the past two decades. Among all nanophotonic devices, three main areas, namely photonic crystals, optical metamaterials and plasmonic devices, gain dominant interest in the photonic society owning to their potential impacts. This thesis studies the fabrication and characterization of three types of novel devices within the above-mentioned areas. They are respectively photonic-crystal (PhC) surface-mode microcavities, optical metamaterial absorbers, and plasmonic couplers. The devices are fabricated with modern lithography-based techniques in a clean room environment. This thesis particularly describes the critical electron-beam lithography step in detail; the relevant obstacles and corresponding solutions are addressed. Device characterizations mainly rely on two techniques: a vertical fiber coupling system and a home-made optical transmissivity/reflectivity setup. The vertical fiber coupling system is used for characterizing on-chip devices intended for photonic integrations, such as PhC surface-mode cavities and plasmonic couplers. The transmissivity/reflectivity setup is used for measuring the absorbance of metamaterial absorbers. This thesis presents mainly three nanophotonic devices, from fabrication to characterization. First, a PhC surface-mode cavity on a SOI structure is demonstrated. Through a side-coupling scheme, a system quality-factor of 6200 and an intrinsic quality-factor of 13400 are achieved. Such a cavity can be used as ultra-compact optical filter, bio-sensor and etc. Second, an ultra-thin, wide-angle metamaterial absorber at optical frequencies is realized. Experimental results show a maximum absorption peak of 88% at the wavelength of ~1.58μm. The ultra-fast photothermal effect possessed by such noble-metal-based nanostructure can potentially be exploited for making better solar cells. Finally, we fabricated an efficient coupler that channels light from a conventional dielectric waveguide to a subwavelength plasmonic waveguides and vice versa. Such couplers can combine low-loss dielectric waveguides and lossy plasmonic components onto one single chip, making best use of the two.
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