Improved RF power performance of InAlN/GaN HEMT by optimizing rapid thermal annealing process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications

Improved radio-frequency(RF)power performance of InAlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)is achieved by optimizing the rapid thermal annealing(RTA)process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications.By optimizing the RTA temperature and time,the optimal annealing condition is found to enable low parasitic resistance and thus a high-performance device.Besides,compared with the non-optimized RTA HEMT,the optimized one demonstrates smoother ohmic metal surface morphology and better heterojunction quality including the less degraded heterojunction sheet resistance and clearer heterojunction interfaces as well as negligible material out-diffusion from the barrier to the channel and buffer.Benefiting from the lowered parasitic resistance,improved maximum output current density of 2279 mA·mm^(-1)and higher peak extrinsic transconductance of 526 mS·mm^(-1)are obtained for the optimized RTA HEMT.In addition,due to the superior heterojunction quality,the optimized HEMT shows reduced off-state leakage current of 7×10^(-3)mA·mm^(-1)and suppressed current collapse of only 4%,compared with those of 1×10^(-1)mA·mm^(-1)and 15%for the non-optimized one.At 8 GHz and V_(DS)of 6 V,a significantly improved power-added efficiency of 62%and output power density of 0.71 W·mm^(-1)are achieved for the optimized HEMT,as the result of the improvement in output current,knee voltage,off-state leakage current,and current collapse,which reveals the tremendous advantage of the optimized RTA HEMT in high-performance low-voltage terminal applications.

Thermal annealing induced photocarrier radiometry enhancement for ion implanted silicon wafers

An experimental study on the photocarrier radiometry signals of As^＋ ion implanted silicon wafers before and after rapid thermal annealing is performed. The dependences of photocarrier radiometry amplitude on ion implantation dose （1×10^11-1×10^16/cm^2）, implantation energy （20-140 keV） and subsequent isochronical annealing temperature （500- 1100℃ are investigated. The results show that photocarrier radiometry signals are greatly enhanced for implanted samples annealed at high temperature, especially for those with a high implantation dose. The reduced surface recombination rate resulting from a high built-in electric field generated by annealing-activated impurities in the pn junction is believed to be responsible for the photocarrier radiometry signal enhancement. Photocarrier radiometry is contactless and can therefore be used as an effective in-line tool for the thermal annealing process monitoring of the ion-implanted wafers in semiconductor industries.

Thermal annealing behaviour of Al/Ni/Au multilayer on n-GaN Schottky contacts

Recently GaN-based high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） have revealed the superior properties of a high breakdown field and high electron saturation velocity. Reduction of the gate leakage current is one of the key issues to be solved for their further improvement. This paper reports that an Al layer as thin as 3 nm was inserted between the conventional Ni/Au Schottky contact and n-GaN epilayers, and the Schottky behaviour of Al/Ni/Au contact was investigated under various annealing conditions by current-voltage （I-V） measurements. A non-linear fitting method was used to extract the contact parameters from the I-V characteristic curves. Experimental results indicate that reduction of the gate leakage current by as much as four orders of magnitude was successfully recorded by thermal annealing. And high quality Schottky contact with a barrier height of 0.875 eV and the lowest reverse-bias leakage current, respectively, can be obtained under 12 min annealing at 450 ℃ in N2 ambience.

Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the room-temperature NO_2-sensing properties of WO_3 thin films under LED radiation

WO3 thin films were sputtered onto alumina substrates by DC facing-target magnetron sputtering. One sample was rapid-thermal-annealed （RTA） at 600 ℃ in a gas mixture of N2：O2 = 4 ： 1, and as a comparison, another was conventionally thermal-annealed at 600 ℃ in air. The morphology of both was investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and atomic force microscopy （AFM）, and the crystallization structure and phase identification were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The NO2-sensing measurements were taken under LED light at room temperature. The sensitivity of the RTA-treated sample was found to be high, up to nearly 100, whereas the sensitivity of the conventionally thermal-annealed sample was about five under the same conditions. From the much better selectivity and response-recovery characteristics, it can be concluded that compared to conventional thermal annealing, RTA has a greater effect on the NO2-sensing properties of WO3 thin films.

Research on the photoluminescence of spectral broadening by rapid thermal annealing on InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Photoluminescence (PL) test was conducted to investigate the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the opticalperformance of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) at the temperatures of 16 and 300 K. It was found that after RTAtreatment, the PL spectrum of the QDs sample had a large blue-shift and significantly broadened at 300 K. Compared with theas-grown InAs QDs sample, the PL spectral width has increased by 44.68 meV in the InAs QDs sample RTA-treated at800 ℃. The excitation power-dependent PL measurements showed that the broadening of the PL peaks of the RTA-treatedInAs QDs should be related to the emission of the ground state (GS) of different-sized InAs QDs, the InAs wetting layer (WL)and the In0.15Ga0.85As strain reduction layer (SRL) in the epitaxial InAs/GaAs layers.

Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the morphology and optical property of ultrathin InSb film deposited on SiO_2/Si substrate

Ultrathin InSb films on SiO2/Si substrates are prepared by radio frequency（RF） magnetron sputtering and rapid thermal annealing（RTA） at 300,400,and 500℃,respectively.X-ray diffraction（XRD） indicates that InSb film treated by RTA at 500℃,which is higher than its melting temperature（about 485℃）,shows a monocrystalline-like feature.A high-resolution transmission electron microscopy（HRTEM） micrograph shows that melt recrystallization of InSb film on SiO2/Si（111） substrate is along the（111） planes.The transmittances of InSb films decrease and the optical band gaps redshift from 0.24 eV to 0.19 eV with annealing temperature increasing from 300℃ to 500℃,which is indicated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR） measurement.The observed changes demonstrate that RTA is a viable technique for improving characteristics of InSb films,especially the melt-recrystallized film treated by RTA at 500℃.

Charge storage characteristics of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon film prepared by rapid thermal annealing

The early stages of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon （nc-Si：H） films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition were characterized by atomic force microscopy. To increase the density of nanocrystals in the nc-Si：H films, the films were annealed by rapid thermal annealing （RTA） at different temperatures and then analysed by Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the recrystallization process of the film was optimal at around 1000℃. The effects of different RTA conditions on charge storage were characterized by capacitance-voltage measurement. Experimental results show that nc-Si：H films obtained by RTA have good charge storage characteristics for nonvolatile memory.

Fabrication of VO_2 thin film by rapid thermal annealing in oxygen atmosphere and its metal–insulator phase transition properties

Vanadium dioxide thin films have been fabricated through sputtering vanadium thin films and rapid thermal annealing in oxygen. The microstructure and the metal-insulator transition properties of the vanadium dioxide thin films were inves- tigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and a spectrometer. It is found that the preferred orientation of the vanadium dioxide changes from （111） to （011 ） with increasing thickness of the vanadium thin film after rapid thermal annealing. The vanadium dioxide thin films exhibit an obvious metal-insulator transition with increasing temperature, and the phase transition temperature decreases as the film thickness increases. The transition shows hysteretic behaviors, and the hysteresis width decreases as the film thickness increases due to the higher concentration carriers resulted from the uncompleted lattice. The fabrication of vanadium dioxide thin films with higher concentration carriers will facilitate the nature study of the metal-insulator transition.

Effects of high temperature rapid thermal annealing on Ge films grown on Si(001) substrate

Tensile strain, crystal quality, and surface morphology of 500 nm thick Ge films were improved after rapid thermal annealing at 900 ℃ for a short period （〈 20 s）. The films were grown on Si（001） substrates by ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition. These improvements are attributed to relaxation and defect annihilation in the Ge films. However, after prolonged （〉 20 s） rapid thermal annealing, tensile strain and crystal quality degenerated. This phenomenon results from intensive Si-Ge mixing at high temperature.

Design and fabrication of GeAsSeS chalcogenide waveguides with thermal annealing

We reported a chalcogenide glass-based rib waveguide fabricated using photolithography and dry etching method. A commercial software(COMSOL Multiphysics) was used to optimize the waveguide structure and the distribution of the fundamental modes in the waveguide based on the complete vector finite component. We further employed thermal annealing to optimize the surface and sidewalls of the rib waveguides. It was found that the optimal annealing temperature for Ge As Se S films is 220℃, and the roughness of the films could be significantly reduced by annealing. The zero-dispersion wavelength(ZDW) could be shifted to a short wavelength around ~2.1 μm via waveguide structural optimization, which promotes supercontinuum generation with a short wavelength pump laser source. The insertion loss of the waveguides with cross-sectional areas of 4.0 μm×3.5 μm and 6.0 μm×3.5 μm was measured using lens fiber and the cut-back method. The propagation loss of the 220℃ annealed waveguides could be as low as 1.9 d B/cm at 1550 nm.

Characterization of low-resistance ohmic contacts to heavily carbon-doped n-type InGaAsBi films treated by rapid thermal annealing

Carbon-doped In Ga As Bi films on In P:Fe(100)substrates have been grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy(GSMBE).The electrical properties and non-alloyed Ti/Pt/Au contact resistance of n-type carbon-doped In Ga As Bi films were characterized by Van der Pauw-Hall measurement and transmission line method(TLM)with and without rapid thermal annealing(RTA).It was found that the specific contact resistance decreases gradually with the increase of carrier concentration.The electron concentration exhibits a sharp increase,and the specific contact resistance shows a noticeable reduction after RTA.With RTA,the In Ga As Bi film grown under CBr4 supply pressure of 0.18 Torr exhibited a high electron concentration of 1.6×10^(21) cm^(-3) and achieved an ultra-low specific contact resistance of 1×10^(-8)Ω·cm^(2),revealing that contact resistance depends greatly on the tunneling effect.

Performance improvement of CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se_2 solar cells after rapid thermal annealing

In this paper, we investigated the effect of rapid thermal annealing （RTA） on solar cell performance. An opto-electric conversion efficiency of 11.75% （Voc = 0.64 V, Jsc = 25.88 mA/cm2, FF=72.08%） was obtained under AM 1.5G when the cell was annealed at 300℃ for 30 s. The annealed solar cell showed an average absolute efficiency 1.5% higher than that of the as-deposited one. For the microstructure analysis and the physical phase confirmation, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectra, front surface reflection （FSR）, internal quantum efficiency （IQE）, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） were respectively applied to distinguish the causes inducing the efficiency variation. All experimental results implied that the RTA eliminated recombination centers at the p-n junction, reduced the surface optical losses, enhanced the blue response of the CdS buffer layer, and improved the ohmic contact between Mo and Cu（In, Ga）Se2 （CIGS） layers. This leaded to the improved performance of CIGS solar cell.

Hardening of an ODS Ferritic Steel after Helium Implantation and Thermal Annealing

Specimens of an oxide dispersion strengthened（ODS） ferritic steel（15 Cr-4 Al-0.6 Zr-0.1 Ti） are implanted with multiple-energy He ions at room temperature to create a damage plateau of 0.4 dpa for the average（corresponding to an He concentration of about 7000 appm） from the near surface to a depth about 1 um. The specimen is subsequently thermally annealed at 800°C for 1 h in a vacuum so that simple defects can be formed in the as-implanted state that has undergone significant recombination, meanwhile helium bubbles at nano-scale are formed. Hardness of the specimens are tested with the nano-indentation technique. A hardening by 25% is observed. Microstructures of the specimen after irradiation/annealing are investigated with transmission electron microscopy. Helium bubbles are generally located at dislocations and grain boundaries. Using the dispersed barrier strength model, the strength factor of helium bubbles in the ODS ferritic steel is estimated to be between0.1 and 0.26, which is close to that of helium bubbles in austenitic steels.

Effects of Thermal Annealing on the Solvent Additive P3HT PC61BM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Effects of thermal annealing on the optical, electrical and structural properties of 3 vol% 1,8-diiodoctane added P3HT：PC61BM active layers are investigated, concerning the performance of the bulk heterojunction polymer so- lar cells by changing the heat temperature. The structure information of the active layer is analyzed by using the grazing incidence wide angle scattering diffraction combined with the optical microscope, light absorption, pho- toluminescence and the external quantum efficiency spectra. The relationship between the detail of morphology and the optical, electrical properties is investigated.

Effect of Metal Contact and Rapid Thermal Annealing on Electrical Characteristics of Graphene Matrix

Development of graphene field effect transistors （GFETs） faces a serious challenge of graphene interface to the dielectric material. A single layer of intrinsic graphene has an average sheet resistance of the order of 1-5 kΩ/□. The intrinsic nature of graphene leads to higher contact resistance yielding into the outstanding properties of the material. We design a graphene matrix with minimized sheet resistance of 0.185 kΩ/□ with Ag contacts. The developed matrices on silicon substrates provide a variety of transistor design options for subsequent fabrication. The graphene layer is developed over 400 nm nickel in such a way as to analyze hypersensitive electrical properties of the interface for exfoliation. This work identifies potential of the design in the applicability of few-layer GFETs with less process steps with the help of analyzing the effect of metal contact and post-process anneMing on its electrical fabrication.

A Novel Process for SiGe Core-Shell JAM Transistors Fabrication and Thermal Annealing Effect on Its Electrical Performance

In this study,we fabricate Si/SiGe core-shell Junctionless accumulation mode(JAM)FinFET devices through a rapid and novel process with four main steps,i.e.e-beam lithography definition,sputter deposition,alloy combination annealing,and chemical solution etching.The height of Si core is 30 nm and the thickness of Si/SiGe core-shell is about 2 nm.After finishing the fabrication of devices,we widely studied the electrical characteristics of poly Si/SiGe core-shell JAM FinFET transistors from a view of different Lg and Wch.A poly-Si/SiGe core-shell JAMFETs was successfully demonstrated and it also exhibits a superior subthreshold swing of 81mV/dec and high on/off ratio>10^5 when annealing for 1hr at 600℃.The thermal diffusion process condition for this study are 1hr at 600℃ and 6hr at 700℃ for comparison.The annealing condition at 700oC for 6 hours shows undesired electrical characteristics against the other.Results suggests that from over thermal budget causes a plenty of Ge to precipitate against to form SiGe thin film.Annealing JAMFETs at low temperature shows outstanding Subthreshold swing and better swing condition when compared to its counterpart i.e.at higher temperature.This new process can still fabricate a comparable performance to classical planar FinFET in driving current.

Boosting energy storage performance of low-temperature sputtered CaBi_(2)Nb_(2)O_(9) thin film capacitors via rapid thermal annealing

CaBi_(2)Nb_(2)O_(9) thin film capacitors were fabricated on SrRuO_(3)-buffered Pt(111)/Ti/Si(100)substrates by adopting a two-step fabrication process.This process combines a low-temperature sputtering deposition with a rapid thermal annealing(RTA)to inhibit the grain growth,for the purposes of delaying the polarization saturation and reducing the ferroelectric hysteresis.By using this method,CaBi_(2)Nb_(2)O_(9) thin films with uniformly distributed nanograins were obtained,which display a large recyclable energy density Wrec≈69 J/cm^(3) and a high energy efficiencyη≈82.4%.A superior fatigue-resistance(negligible energy performance degradation after 10^(9) charge-discharge cycles)and a good thermal stability(from-170 to 150℃)have also been achieved.This two-step method can be used to prepare other bismuth layer-structured ferroelectric film capacitors with enhanced energy storage performances.

Thermal annealing synthesis of double-shell truncated octahedral Pt-Ni alloys for oxygen reduction reaction of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Shape-controlled Pt-Ni alloys usually offer an exceptional electrocatalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel ceils(PEMFCs),whose tricks lie in welldesigned structures and surface morphologies.In this paper,a novel synthesis of truncated octahedral PtNi_(3.5) alloy catalysts that consist of homogeneous Pt-Ni alloy cores enclosed by NiO-Pt double shells through thermally annealing defective heterogeneous PtNi35 alloys is reported.By tracking the evolution of both compositions and morphologies,the outward segregation of both PtOv and NiO are first observed in Pt-Ni alloys.It is speculated that the diffusion of low-coordination atoms results in the formation of an energetically favorable truncated octahedron while the outward segregation of oxides leads to the formation of NiO-Pt double shells.It is very attractive that after gently removing the NiO outer shell,the dealloyed truncated octahedral core-shell structure demonstrates a greatly enhanced ORR activity.The asobtained truncated octahedral Pt_(2.1)Ni core-shell alloy presents a 3.4-folds mass-specific activity of that for unannealed sample,and its activity preserves 45.4%after 30000 potential cycles of accelerated degradation test(ADT).The peak power density of the dealloyed truncated octahedral Pt2jNi core-shell alloy catalyst based membrane electrolyte assembly(MEA)reaches 679.8 mW/cm^(2),increased by 138.4 mW/cm^(2) relative to that based on commercial Pt/C.

Effect of Thermal Annealing on Mid-Infrared Transmission in Semiconductor Alloy-Core Glass-Cladded Fibers

We report a study investigating the effects of thermal annealing on the optical properties of Si-Ge alloy-core silica-cladded fibers.Low temperature fiber draw was performed with a laboratory-made draw tower at 1760°C that minimizes impurity diffusion from cladding to the core.As a post-drawing process,Si-Ge core fibers were annealed in a box furnace to alter the core structure.Microstructural and optical properties of fibers were investigated,and transmission losses were measured as 28 dB/cm at 6.1μm.Numerical studies were performed to analyze the experimental results and to find the optimum structure for low loss semiconductor-core glass-cladded fibers.

Rapid thermal annealing effects on vacuum evaporated ITO for InGaN/GaN blue LEDs

8 mil×10 mil InGaN/GaN blue LEDs with indium tin oxide（ITO） emitting at 460 nm were fabricated. A vacuum evaporation technique was adopted to deposit ITO on P-GaN with thickness of 240 nm.The electrical and optical properties of ITO films on P-GaN wafers,as well as rapid thermal annealing（RTA） effects at different temperatures（100 to 550℃） were analyzed and compared.It was found that resistivity of 450℃RTA was as low as 1.19×10^（-4）Ω·cm,along with a high transparency of 94.17%at 460 nm.AES analysis indicated the variation of oxygen content after 450℃annealing,and ITO contact resistance showed a minimized value of 3.9×10^（-3）Ω·cm^2.With 20 mA current injection,it was found that forward voltage and output power were 3.14 V and 12.57 mW.Furthermore,maximum luminous flux of 0.49 lm of ITO RTA at 550℃was measured,which is the consequence of a higher transparency.