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A low-cost, flexible processor is essential to realise affordable flexible electronic systems and transform everyday objects into smart-objects. Thin film transistors (TFTs) based on metal-oxides (or organics) are ideal candidates as they can be manufactured at low processing temperatures and low-cost per unit area, unlike traditional silicon devices. The development of complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology based on these materials remains challenging due to differences in performance between n- and p-type TFTs. Existing geometric rules typically compensate the lower mobility of the metal-oxide p-type TFT by scaling up the width-to-length (W/L) ratio but fail to take into account the significant off-state leakage current. Here we propose the concept of an optimal geometric aspect ratio which maximises the inverter efficiency represented by the average switching current divided by the static currents. This universal method is especially useful for the design of low-power CMOS inverters based on metal-oxides, where the large off-current of the p-type TFT dominates the static power consumption of the inverter. We model the inverter efficiency and noise margins of metal-oxide CMOS inverters with different geometric aspect ratios and compare the performance to different inverter configurations. The modelling results are verified experimentally by fabricating CMOS inverter configurations consisting of n-type indium-silicon-oxide (ISO) TFTs and p-type tin monoxide (SnO) TFTs. Notably, our results show that reducing W/L of metal-oxide p-type TFTs increases the inverter efficiency while reducing the area compared to simply scaling up W/L inversely with mobility. We anticipate this work provides a straightforward method to geometrically optimise flexible CMOS inverters, which will remain relevant even as the performance of TFTs continues to evolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the stoichiometry of amorphous zinc tin oxide (a-ZTO) thin films used as the semiconducting channel in thin film transistors (TFTs) is investigated. A-ZTO has been deposited using remote-plasma reactive sputtering from zinc:tin metal alloy targets with 10%, 33%, and 50% Sn at. %. Optimisations of thin films are performed by varying the oxygen flow, which is used as the reactive gas. The structural, optical, and electrical properties are investigated for the optimised films, which, after a post-deposition annealing at 500 °C in air, are also incorporated as the channel layer in TFTs. The optical band gap of a-ZTO films slightly increases from 3.5 to 3.8 eV with increasing tin content, with an average transmission ~90% in the visible range. The surface roughness and crystallographic properties of the films are very similar before and after annealing. An a-ZTO TFT produced from the 10% Sn target shows a threshold voltage of 8 V, a switching ratio of 108, a sub-threshold slope of 0.55 V dec-1, and a field effect mobility of 15 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is a sharp increase from 0.8 cm2 V-1 s-1 obtained in a reference ZnO TFT. For TFTs produced from the 33% Sn target, the mobility is further increased to 21 cm2 V-1 s-1, but the sub-threshold slope is slightly deteriorated to 0.65 V dec-1. For TFTs produced from the 50% Sn target, the devices can no longer be switched off (i.e., there is no channel depletion). The effect of tin content on the TFT electrical performance is explained in the light of preferential sputtering encountered in reactive sputtering, which resulted in films sputtered from 10% and 33% Sn to be stoichiometrically close to the common Zn2SnO4 and ZnSnO3 phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metallic to semiconducting resistivity ratios and the transition temperature sharpness of annealed atomic layer deposited VO2 films on amorphous silicon dioxide are found to depend on the grain size in a closely similar way to films from previous sputtered or pulse laser deposited work. This occurs because the dominance of grain growth and compaction processes leads to a common scaling of properties with the grain size. Density functional simulations find that V–V dimerizations allow grain boundaries to remain semiconducting but with a reduced bandgap, while others create metallic grain boundaries, reducing the resistivity ratio for smaller grains in both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oscillatory neural networks based on insulator to metal transition of VO2 switches are implemented for image recognition. The VO2 oscillators are fabricated on silicon in a CMOS compatible process. A fully-connected network of coupled oscillators is investigated using programmable resistors as coupling elements. In this approach, input of the image information and data processing is performed in the time domain. In particular, tuning the coupling resistors allows to control the phase-relation between the oscillators. This is used to memorize and recognize patterns in an analog circuit. The concept is demonstrated experimentally on a three-VO2 oscillator network, whereas simulations are performed on a larger 9-oscillators circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition & Development is the property of Rural Outreach Programme and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The stability of amorphous zinc tin oxynitride thin film transistors (a-ZTON TFTs) under positive bias stress (PBS) is investigated. Thin films are deposited by remote plasma reactive sputtering and are annealed at 300°C in air for 1 h, after which films are confirmed to be highly amorphous by transmission electron microscopy. Typical a-ZTON TFTs exhibit a threshold voltage of 2.5 V, a field effect mobility of 3.3 cm2 V-1 s-1, a sub-threshold slope of 0.55V dec-1, and a switching ratio over 106. Using a thermalization energy analysis, the threshold voltage shift under PBS is analysed. A maximum energy barrier to defect conversion up to 0.91 eV is found, which is significantly greater than that of the ~0.75 eV energy barrier for amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide and amorphous zinc tin oxide TFTs previously reported. The improved stability of these oxynitride TFTs over amorphous oxide TFTs is explained by the elimination of less stable oxygen vacancies due to the passivation of oxygen vacancies with nitrogen. The higher attempt-to-escape frequency of 108 to 109 s-1 in a-ZTON TFTs compared with 107 s-1 in amorphous oxide semiconductor TFTs, on the other hand, is attributed to the high homogeneity of the amorphous film leading to strong carrier localization in the band tails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tropical Medicine & International Health is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Thin film transistors (TFTs) employing an amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) channel layer exhibit a positive shift in the threshold voltage under the application of positive gate bias stress (PBS). The time and temperature dependence of the threshold voltage shift was measured and analysed using the thermalization energy concept. The peak energy barrier to defect conversion is extracted to be 0.75 eV and the attempt-to-escape frequency is extracted to be 107 s-1. These values are in remarkable agreement with measurements in a-IGZO TFTs under negative gate bias illumination stress (NBIS) reported recently (Flewitt and Powell, J. Appl. Phys. 115, 134501 (2014)). This suggests that the same physical process is responsible for both PBS and NBIS, and supports the oxygen vacancy defect migration model that the authors have previously proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique is the property of John Libbey Eurotext Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The nucleotide sequence of cosmid B1790, carrying the Rif-Str regions of the Mycobacterium leprae chromosome, has been determined. Twelve open reading frames were identified in the 36716bp sequence, representing 40% of the coding capacity. Five ribosomal proteins, two elongation factors and the β and β' subunits of RNA polymerase have been characterized and two novel genes were found. One of these encodes a member of the so-called ABC family of ATP-binding proteins while the other appears to encode an enzyme involved in repairing genomic lesions caused by free radicals. This finding may well be significant as M. leprae, an intracellular pathogen, lives within macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]