A Bilayer High-Temperature Dielectric Film with Superior Breakdown Strength and Energy Storage Density

The further electrification of various fields in production and daily life makes it a topic worthy of exploration to improve the performance of capacitors for a long time,including thin-film capacitors.The discharge energy density of thin-film capacitors that serves as one of the important types directly depends on electric field strength and the dielectric constant of the insulation material.However,it has long been a great challenge to improve the breakdown strength and dielectric constant simultaneously.Considering that boron nitride nanosheets(BNNS)possess superior insulation and thermal conductivity owing to wide band gap and 2-dimensional structure,a bilayer polymer film is prepared via coating BNNS by solution casting on surface of polyethylene terephthalate(PET)films.By revealing the bandgap and insulating behavior with UV absorption spectrum,leakage current,and finite element calculation,it is manifested that nanocoating contributes to enhance the bandgap of polymer films,thereby suppressing the charge injection by redirecting their transport from electrodes.Worthy to note that an ultrahigh breakdown field strength(~736 MV m^(−1)),an excellent discharge energy density(~8.77 J cm^(−3))and a prominent charge-discharge efficiency(~96.51%)are achieved concurrently,which is ascribed to the contribution of BNNS ultrathin layer.In addition,the modified PET films also have superior comprehensive performance at high temperatures(~120°C).The materials and methods here selected are easily accessible and facile,which are suitable for large-scale roll-to-roll process production,and are of certain significance to explore the methods about film modification suitable for commercial promotion.

Current Progress of Hf(Zr)-Based High-k Gate Dielectric Thin Films

With the continued downscaling of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor dimensions, high-dielectric constant （high-k） gate materials, as alternatives to SiO2, have been extensively investigated. Hf （Zr）-based high-k gate dielectric thin films have been regarded as the most promising candidates for high-k gate dielectric according to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor due to their excellent physical properties and performance. This paper reviews the recent progress on Hf （Zr）-based high-k gate dielectrics based on PVD （physical vapor deposition） process. This article begins with a survey of various methods developed for generating Hf （Zr）-based high-k gate dielectrics, and then mainly focuses on microstructure, synthesis, characterization, formation mechanisms of interfacial layer, and optical properties of Hf （Zr）-based high-k gate dielectrics. Finally, this review concludes with personal perspectives towards future research on Hf （Zr）-based high-k gate dielectrics.

Study on the Dielectric Properties of Chemical Vapor Deposited Diamond Film

Aim To study the dielectric properties of diamond film. Methods Dielectric properties (the frequency dependenCe of conductance, permittivity, and loss factor) of diamond film preped by DC are plasma jet chemical vapor deposition (CVD) were studied. Resuls Dielectric properties of CVD diamond fAn depend mainly on its polycrystalline nature, and the presence of non-diamond disordered graphitic regions and impurities between diamond grains of the film. Annealing at 500℃ leads to the removal of greater part of disordered graphitic regions, but am not remove all disordered graphitic regions and impurities. Conclusion Much work nab to be done tO prepare or post-treat diamond films before using CVD diamond as a substrate for electronic devices.

Construction of all-organic low dielectric polyimide hybrids via synergistic effect between covalent organic framework and cross-linking structure

Polyimide(PI)is a promising electronic packaging material,but it remains challenging to obtain an all-organic PI hybrid film with decreased dielectric constant and loss without modifying the monomer.Herein,a series of allorganic PI hybrid films were successfully prepared by introducing the covalent organic framework(COF),which could induce the formation of the cross-linking structure in the PI matrix.Due to the synergistic effects of the COF fillers and the cross-linking structure,the PI/COF hybrid film containing 2 wt%COF exhibited the lowest dielectric constant of 2.72 and the lowest dielectric loss(tanδ)of 0.0077 at 1 MHz.It is attributed to the intrinsic low dielectric constant of COF and a large number of mesopores within the PI.Besides,the cross-linking network of PI prevents the molecular chains from stacking and improves the fraction of free volume(FFV).The molecular dynamics simulation results are well consistent with the dielectric properties data.Furthermore,the PI/COF hybrid film with 5 wt%COF showed a significant enhancement in breakdown strength,which increased to 412.8 kV/mm as compared with pure PI.In addition,the PI/COF hybrid film achieve to reduce the dielectric constant and thermal expansion coefficient(CTE).It also exhibited excellent thermal,hydrophobicity,and mechanical performance.The all-organic PI/COF hybrid films have great commercial potential as next-generation electronic packaging materials.

Optimized growth and dielectric properties of barium titanate thin films on polycrystalline Ni foils

Barium titanate（BTO） thin films were deposited on polycrystalline Ni foils by using the polymer assisted deposition（PAD） technique.The growth conditions including ambient and annealing temperatures were carefully optimized based on thermal dynamic analysis to control the oxidation processing and interdiffusion.Crystal structures,surface morphologies,and dielectric performance were examined and compared for BTO thin films annealed under different temperatures.Correlations between the fabrication conditions,microstructures,and dielectric properties were discussed.BTO thin films fabricated under the optimized conditions show good crystalline structure and promising dielectric properties with εr～ 400 and tan δ 〈 0.025 at 100 kHz.The data demonstrate that BTO films grown on polycrystalline Ni substrates by PAD are promising in device applications.

Numerical and analytical investigations for the SOI LDMOS with alternated high-k dielectric and step doped silicon pillars

This paper presents a new silicon-on-insulator(SOI) lateral-double-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor(LDMOST) device with alternated high-k dielectric and step doped silicon pillars(HKSD device). Due to the modulation of step doping technology and high-k dielectric on the electric field and doped profile of each zone, the HKSD device shows a greater performance. The analytical models of the potential, electric field, optimal breakdown voltage, and optimal doped profile are derived. The analytical results and the simulated results are basically consistent, which confirms the proposed model suitable for the HKSD device. The potential and electric field modulation mechanism are investigated based on the simulation and analytical models. Furthermore, the influence of the parameters on the breakdown voltage(BV) and specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)) are obtained. The results indicate that the HKSD device has a higher BV and lower R_(on,sp) compared to the SD device and HK device.

Si–Ge based vertical tunnel field-effect transistor of junction-less structure with improved sensitivity using dielectric modulation for biosensing applications

A dielectric modulation strategy for gate oxide material that enhances the sensing performance of biosensors in junction-less vertical tunnel field effect transistors(TFETs)is reported.The junction-less technique,in which metals with specific work functions are deposited on the source region to modulate the channel conductivity,is used to provide the necessary doping for the proper functioning of the device.TCAD simulation studies of the proposed structure and junction structure have been compared,and showed an enhanced rectification of 10^(4) times.The proposed structure is designed to have a nanocavity of length 10 nm on the left-and right-hand sides of the fixed gate dielectric,which improves the biosensor capture area,and hence the sensitivity.By considering neutral and charged biomolecules with different dielectric constants,TCAD simulation studies were compared for their sensitivities.The off-state current IOFFcan be used as a suitable sensing parameter because it has been observed that the proposed sensor exhibits a significant variation in drain current.Additionally,it has been investigated how positively and negatively charged biomolecules affect the drain current and threshold voltage.To explore the device performance when the nanogaps are fully filled,half filled and unevenly filled,extensive TCAD simulations have been run.The proposed TFET structure is further benchmarked to other structures to show its better sensing capabilities.

Analysis of the spatial filter of a dielectric multilayer film reflective cutoff filter-combination device

The experiment setup of a reflecting combination device, which has more advantages than a transmitting combination device, is designed in this study. To achieve angular spectrum selectivity, only one type of reflective component is needed,so difficulties of design and preparation are reduced. A dielectric multilayer film is applied to the reflective component, and the long wave-pass coating stacks of the structure are designed. To achieve high stopband transmittance and reduce electric field intensity at a wavelength of 1053 nm, an objective function is proposed for designing an optimized coating. The final optimized coating has good spectral characteristics and a high laser-induced damage threshold. A dielectric multilayer film with high reflectance plays an important role in preparing and applying a dielectric multilayer film reflecting cutoff filter-combination device.

Deposition of Thin Titania Films by Dielectric Barrier Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure

A homogeneous atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge is studied. It is in argon with small admixtures of titanium tetrachloride vapour and oxygen for the deposition of thin titania films on glass substrates. A special electrode configuration was applied in order to deposit the titania film uniformly. The sustaining voltage （6 kV to 12 kV）, current density （about 3 mA/cm^2） and total optical emission spectroscopy were monitored to characterize the discharge in the gap of 2 mm. Typical deposition rates ranged from approximately 30 nm/min to 120 nm/min. The film morphology was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and the composition was determined with an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy （EDS） analysis tool attached to the SEM. The crystal structure and phase composition of the films were studied by x-ray diffraction （XRD）. Several parameters such as the discharge power, the ratio of carrier gas to the precursor gas, the deposition time on the crystallization behavior, the deposition rate and the surface morphology of the titania film were extensively studied.

Measurement of surface charges on the dielectric film based on field mills under the HVDC corona wire

The ion flow field on the ground is one of the significant parameters used to evaluate the electromagnetic environment of high voltage direct current（HVDC） power lines.HVDC lines may cross the greenhouses due to the restricted transmission corridors.Under the condition of ion flow field,the dielectric films on the greenhouses will be charged,and the electric fields in the greenhouses may exceed the limit value.Field mills are widely used to measure the groundlevel direct current electric fields under the HVDC power lines.In this paper,the charge inversion method is applied to calculate the surface charges on the dielectric film according to the measured ground-level electric fields.The advantages of hiding the field mill probes in the ground are studied.The charge inversion algorithm is optimized in order to decrease the impact of measurement errors.Based on the experimental results,the surface charge distribution on a piece of quadrate dielectric film under a HVDC corona wire is studied.The enhanced effect of dielectric film on ground-level electric field is obviously weakened with the increase of film height.Compared with the total electric field strengths,the normal components of film-free electric fields at the corresponding film-placed positions have a higher effect on surface charge accumulation.

Growth of Fluorocarbon Films by Low-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Plasma polymerized fluorocarbon （FC） films have been deposited on silicon substrates from dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） plasma of C4Fs at room temperature under a pressure of 25～125 Pa. The effects of the discharge pressure and frequency of power supply on the films have been systematically investigated. FC films with a less cross linked structure may be formed at a relatively high pressure. Increase in the frequency of power supply leads to a significant increase in the deposition rate. Static contact angle measurements show that deposited FC films have a stable, hydrophobic surface property. All deposited films show smooth surfaces with an atomic surface roughness. The relationship between plasma parameters and the properties of the deposited FC films are discussed.

Phase control of magnetron sputtering deposited Gd_2O_3 thin films as high-κ gate dielectrics

Gd2O3 thin films as high-κ gate dielectrics were deposited directly on Si（001） substrates by magnetron sputtering at a pressure of 1.3 Pa and different temperatures. X-ray diffraction results revealed that all the films grown from 450 to 570 ℃ were crystalline, and the Gd2O3 thin films consisted of a mixture of cubic and monoclinic phases. The growth temperature was a critical parameter for the phase constituents and their relative amount. Low temperature was favorable for the formation of cubic phase while higher temperature gave rise to more monoclinic phase. All the Gd2O3 thin films grown from different temperatures exhibited acceptable electrical properties, such as low leakage current density （JL） of 10-5 A/cm^2 at zero bias with capacitance equivalent SiO2 thickness in the range of 6-13 nm. Through the comparison between films grown at 450 and 570 ℃, the existence of monoclinic phase caused an increase in JL by nearly one order of magnitude and a reduction of effective dielectric constant from 17 to 9.

Effect of interface-roughness scattering on mobility degradation in SiGe p-MOSFETs with a high-k dielectric/SiO2 gate stack＊

A physical model for mobility degradation by interface-roughness scattering and Coulomb scattering is proposed for SiGe p-MOSFET with a high-k dielectric/SiO2 gate stack. Impacts of the two kinds of scatterings on mobility degradation are investigated. Effects of interlayer （SiO2） thickness and permittivities of the high-k dielectric and interlayer on carrier mobility are also discussed. It is shown that a smooth interface between high-k dielectric and interlayer, as well as moderate permittivities of high-k dielectrics, is highly desired to improve carriers mobility while keeping alow equivalent oxide thickness. Simulated results agree reasonably with experimental data.

Challenges in Atomic-Scale Characterization of High-k Dielectrics and Metal Gate Electrodes for Advanced CMOS Gate Stacks

The decreasing feature sizes in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor （CMOS） transistor technology will require the replacement of SiO2 with gate dielectrics that have a high dielectric constant （high-k） because as the SiO2 gate thickness is reduced below 1.4 nm, electron tunnelling effects and high leakage currents occur in SiO2, which present serious obstacles to future device reliability. In recent years significant progress has been made on the screening and selection of high-k gate dielectrics, understanding their physical properties, and their integration into CMOS technology. Now the family of hafnium oxide-based materials has emerged as the leading candidate for high-k gate dielectrics due to their excellent physical properties. It is also realized that the high-k oxides must be implemented in conjunction with metal gate electrodes to get sufficient potential for CMOS continue scaling. In the advanced nanoscale Si-based CMOS devices, the composition and thickness of interfacial layers in the gate stacks determine the critical performance of devices. Therefore, detailed atomic- scale understandings of the microstructures and interfacial structures built in the advanced CMOS gate stacks, are highly required. In this paper, several high-resolution electron, ion, and photon-based techniques currently used to characterize the high-k gate dielectrics and interfaces at atomic-scale, are reviewed. Particularly, we critically review the research progress on the characterization of interface behavior and structural evolution in the high-k gate dielectrics by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） and the related techniques based on scanning transmission electron microscopy （STEM）, including high-angle annular dark- field （HAADF） imaging （also known as Z-contrast imaging）, electron energy-loss spectroscopy （EELS）, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDS）, due to that HRTEM and STEM have become essential metrology tools for characterizing the dielectric gate stacks in the present and future generations of CMOS devices. In Section 1 of this review, the working principles of each technique are briefly introduced and their key features are outlined. In Section 2, microstructural characterizations of high-k gate dielectrics at atomic-scale by electron microscopy are critically reviewed by citing some recent results reported on high-k gate dielectrics. In Section 3, metal gate electrodes and the interfacial structures between high-k dielectrics and metal gates are discussed. The electron beam damage effects in high-k gate stacks are also evaluated, and their origins and prevention are described in Section 4. Finally, we end this review with personal perspectives towards the future challenges of atomic-scale material characterization in advanced CMOS gate stacks.

Wet flashover voltage improvement of the ceramics with dielectric barrier discharge

Surface modification techniques with plasma are widely investigated to improve the surface insulation capability of polymers under dry conditions,while the relationship between treatment method,surface physical and chemical properties,and wet flashover voltage is still unclear for inorganic ceramics.In this work,the surface insulation properties of ceramics under wet conditions are improved using nanosecond-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge with polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)as the precursor.The relationships between PDMS concentration and the water contact angle,dry and wet flashover voltages are obtained to acquire the optimal concentration.The surface charge dissipation test and surface physio-chemical property measurement with SEM,AFM,XPS are carried out to further explore the mechanism of surface insulation enhancement.The results show that film deposition with micron thickness and superhydrophobicity occurs at the PDMS concentration of 1.5%.The dry flashover voltage is increased by 14.6%due to the induction of deep traps,while the wet flashover voltage is increased by 66.7%.The gap between dry-wet flashover voltage is decreased by 62.3%compared with the untreated one due to the self-cleaning effect.

High Refractive Index Ti3O5 Films for Dielectric Metasurfaces

Ti33O55 films are deposited with the help of an electron beam evaporator for their applications in metasurfaces. The film of subwavelength （632nm） thickness is deposited on a silicon substrate and annealed at 400℃. The ellipsometry result shows a high refractive index above 2.5 with the minimum absorption coefficient in the visible region, which is necessary for high efficiency of transparent metasurfaces. Atomic force microscopy analysis is employed to measure the roughness of the as-deposited films. It is seen from micrographs that the deposited films are very smooth with the minimum roughness to prevent scattering and absorption losses for metasurface devices. The absence of grains and cracks can be seen by scanning electron microscope analysis, which is favorable for electron beam lithography. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals the transmission and reflection obtained from the film deposited on glass substrates. The as-deposited film shows high transmission above 60%, which is in good agreement with metasurfaces.

High-Pressure Plasma Deposition of a-C:H Films by Dielectric-Barrier Discharge

The fabrication of a-C:H films from methane has been performed using dielectric-barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure. The effect of combined-feed gas, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide or acetylene on the formation of a-C:H films has been investigated. It has been demonstrated that the addition of carbon monoxide or acetylene into methane leads to a remarkable improvement in the fabrication of a-C:H films. The characterization of carbon film obtained has been conducted using FT-IR, Raman and SEM.

Synthesis and applications of low dielectric polyimide

With the advent of the 5 G era,advanced packaging applications such as wafer-level fan-out packaging have emerged thanks to efforts to reduce signal loss and increase signal transmission rates.As one of the key materials employed in telecommunication devices,the interlayer dielectric material directly affects signal transmission and device reliability.Among them,polyimide(PI)has become an important interlayer dielectric material because of its excellent comprehensive properties.However,in order to meet the needs high-frequency and high-speed circuits for 5 G networks,it will be necessary to further reduce the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of PI.PI is widely used as a flexible dielectric material due to its excellent electrical insulation properties(dielectric constant≈3.0-4.0,dielectric loss≈0.02),mechanical properties,and thermal resistance.However,further reduction in the dielectric constant will be needed in order for PI-based materials to better meet the current high integration development needs of the microelectronics industry.This article starts from strategies to prepare low dielectric PI that have been developed in the last decade,based on a more systematic and inductive analysis,and prospects the development potential of low dielectric PI.

Helium Plasma Damage of Low-k Carbon Doped Silica Film:the Effect of Si Dangling Bonds on the Dielectric Constant

The low-k carbon doped silica film has been modified by radio frequency helium plasma at 5 Pa pressure and 80 W power with subsequent XPS, FTIR and optical emission spec- troscopy analysis. XPS data indicate that helium ions have broken Si-C bonds, leading to Si-C scission with C（1s） lost seriously. The Si（2p）, O（ls）, peak obviously shifted to higher binding en- ergies, indicating an increasingly oxidized Si（2p）. FTIR data also show that the silanol formation increased with longer exposure time up to a week. Contrarily, the CHa stretch, Si-C stretching bond and the ratio of the Si-O-Si cage and Si-O-Si network peak sharply decreased upon exposure to helium plasma. The OES result indicates that monovalent helium ions in plasma play a key role in damaging carbon doped silica film. So it can be concluded that the monovalent helium ions besides VUV photons can break the weak Si-C bonds to create Si dangling bonds and free methyl radicals, and the latter easily reacts with O_2 from the atmosphere to generate CO_2 and H_2O. The bonds change is due to the Si dangling bonds combining with H_2O, thereby, increasing the dielectric constant k value.

Influence of lateral size on dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin films with structure transition zones

By taking into account structural transition zones near the lateral and thickness direction edges,this paper uses a modified transverse Ising model to study dielectric properties of a finite size ferroelectric thin film in the framework of the mean-field approximation.The results indicate that the influence of the lateral size on the dielectric susceptibility cannot be neglected and lateral structural transition zones could be a crucial factor that improves the mean susceptibility of the fixed size film.