Strain Engineering for Germanium-on-Insulator Mobility Enhancement with Phase Change Liner Stressors

We investigate the strain in various Ge-on-insulator （GeOI） micro-structures induced by three phase-change maferials （PCMs） （Ge2Sb2Te5, Sb2Te3, GeTe） deposited. The PCMs could change the phase from amorphous state to polycrystalline state with a low temperature thermal annealing, resulting in an intrinsic contraction in the PCM films. Raman spectroscopy analysis is performed to compare the strain induced in the GeOI micro- structures by various PCMs. By comparison, Sb2 Tea could induce the largest amount of tensile strain in the GeOI micro-structures after the low temperature annealing. Based on the strain calculated from the Raman peak shifts, finite element numerical simulation is performed to calculate the strain-induced electron mobility enhancement for Ge n-MOSFETs with PCM liner stressors. With the adoption of Sb2 Te3 liner stressor, 22% electron mobility enhancement at Xinv=1×10^13cm^-2 could be achieved, suggesting that PCM especially Sb2 Te3 liner stressor is a promising technique for the performance enhancement of Ge MOSFETs.

Bioadaptability:An Innovative Concept for Biomaterials

Biocompatibility is the basic requirement of biomaterials for tissue repair. However, the present concept of biocompatibility has a certain limitation in explaining the phenomena involved in biomaterial-based tissue repair. New materials, in particular those for tissue engineering and regeneration, have been developed with common characteristics, i.e. they participate deeply into important chemical and biological processes in the human body and the interaction between the biomaterials and tissues is far more complex. Understanding the interplay between these biomaterials and tissues is vital for their development and functionalization. Herein, we suggest the concept of bioadaptability of biomaterials. This concept describes the three most important aspects that can determine the performance of biomaterials in tissue repair： 1） the adaptability of the micro-environment created by biomaterials to the native microenvironment in situ; 2） the adaptability of the mechanical properties of biomaterials to the native tissue; 3） the adaptability of the degradation properties of biomaterials to the new tissue formation. The concept of bioadaptability emphasizes both the material＇s characteristics and biological aspects within a certain micro-environment and molecular mechanism. It may provide new inspiration to uncover the interaction mechanism of biomaterials and tissues, to foster the new ideas of functionalization of biomaterials and to investigate the fundamental issues during the tissue repair process by biomaterials. Furthermore, designing biomaterials with such bioadaptability would open a new door for repairing and regenerating organs or tissues. In this review, we summarized the works in recent years on the bioadaptability of biomaterials for tissue repair applications.