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Abstract The effects of different rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and microwave annealing (MWA) on the electrical behaviors of ZrO 2 metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors were studied in detail. The maximum capacitance density was achieved at 1400 W for MWA, i.e. ∼29.29 fF/μm2 increased by ∼40% compared with that of the un-annealed capacitors. For the capacitors under RTA at 370 °C, equivalent to the ambient of the MWA at 1400 W, the capacitance density is ∼28.04 fF/μm2. Moreover, the leakage current density of ZrO 2 MIM capacitors for MWA at 1400 W and RTA at 370 °C are determined to be about 3.55 × 10−7 A/cm2 and 1.88 × 10-6 A/cm2 at the applied voltage of -1.5 V, respectively. Finally, the possible mechanisms of the improved electrical properties of ZrO 2 MIM capacitors through MWA were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, electrochemically as deposited and rapid thermal annealing in argon atmosphere of CuInSe2 thin films were investigated. The annealing treatments, for half an hour in argon atmosphere, were done at 250°C, 300°C and 350°C. Structural and grain sizes, morphological surfaces and optical properties, of the as deposited and annealed CuInSe2 thin films of different heat treatments were compared. All elaborated thin films show the tetragonal chalcopyrite CuInSe2 with favored orientation along (112) direction. Grain seizes of the as deposited film was about 24.48 nm whereas the annealed thin film at 350°C presents the high intensity of (112)peak with high grain size of 40.71nm. To support XRD and SEM results relating to the composition and quality of the as deposited and annealed CuInSe2 thin films, FT-IR spectroscopy investigation was used. It reveals a distinct absorption peaks nearly at 2332-2361cm-1 conforming the CuInSe2 product. The band gap of the samples was found to be in 1.10-1.20eV range. As a result, RTP conditions of the films are found to be of interest in the process of CuInSe2 electrodeposition and its crystallinety enhancement. As active absorber layers for solar cell applications, those thin films may be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • A de-bondable SiC SiC wafer bonding, compatible with RTA at ∼1273 K, has been accomplished via a Ni nano-film. • The SiC SiC bonding by Ni nano-film achieved at room temperature without any pressure is seamless and robust. • The interfacial precipitation of layered carbon material parallel to the SiC surfaces is considered as the reason of interface weakening and de-bonding. Abstract In this study, a de-bondable wafer bonding method for silicon carbide (SiC) that can sustain rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at ∼1273 K has been realized. Two SiC wafers were bonded via an intermediate nickel (Ni) nano-film at room temperature without any pressure, which was characterized as a seamless and robust bonding. After the RTA process, the strength of the bonding interface was dramatically decreased and the de-bonding could happen at the interface during pulling test. Both of the mechanisms of bonding and de-bonding have been investigated through interface analyses. The sufficient atomic diffusion between two deposited Ni nano-films together with the interfacial mixing between amorphous SiC and the Ni nano-film contribute to the strong bonding of SiC SiC. The interfacial precipitation of layered carbon material parallel to the SiC substrates is assumed to be the reason of the interface weakening and de-bonding after annealing. It is believed that the further development of this bonding and de-bonding technology will advance thin SiC device fabrication, where the RTA process at ∼1273 K is widely used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amorphous oxygen-doped diamond-like carbon films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Compared with the pure diamond-like carbon film, there were much less graphite clusters on the surfaces of the oxygen-doped diamond-like carbon films, and the average transmission of the oxygen-doped diamond-like carbon films in the medium infrared band increased. However, some new absorption peaks in the infrared spectra of the oxygen-doped diamond-like carbon film were generated. Rapid annealing was experimented to remove the absorption peaks. XPS analysis showed that the fractions of the C–O and C=O bonds that generated the new absorption peaks were reduced more than the fractions of s p 3 bonds by rapid annealing at 400 ∘ C, and the absorption peaks in the medium infrared spectra decreased. It indicated that rapid annealing at right temperature during the right time could reduce greatly the absorption in the medium infrared band of oxygen-doped diamond-like carbon films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 was generally activated by high-temperature annealing (over 600 °C) due to its strong bonding energy. Considering the electronic applications using β-Ga 2 O 3 such as various power devices with low power consumption, it is strongly required to decrease the device process temperature including the impurity activation process. In this article, in order to decrease the impurity activation process temperature, we proposed the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment to activate the Si atoms in the β-Ga 2 O 3 films since RTA treatment can give the high thermal energy to specimen in a short time and investigated the influence of RTA treatment with various temperatures on conductivity activation energy, and structural properties of Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 film. Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 films were hetero-epitaxially grown on c -plane sapphire substrate by pulsed laser deposition method. Crystallinity, surface roughness, and electrical properties of specimens were investigated by changing the RTA temperatures. Crystallinity and surface roughness of Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 films were not significantly influenced by RTA treatment at temperatures range of 100–700 °C. Conductivity activation energy of specimens with RTA treatment was about 50–100 meV and did not depend on RTA temperatures. As a result, even Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 film with RTA treatment at 100 °C showed a relatively good conductivity. Based on the experimental results in this study, it can be said that RTA treatment is useful method to decrease the temperature of activation process for Si-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 thin films without serious structural degradations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor qualities of ZnMgO thin films are likely to be obtained at higher Mg content, which can decrease the performance of ZnMgO-based devices. This study focuses on improving the qualities of ZnMgO thin films to increase the performance of CdTe solar cell. It is found that the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment increases the crystallinity, eliminates defects and improves the conductivity of ZnMgO thin films. These are helpful to suppress the recombination caused by bulk and interface defects as well as to reduce the cell's series resistance. The Fermi level moves close to conduction band and both the conduction and valence band energy shift lower relative to band energy of CdSSeTe film after RTA, which could not only increase the built-in voltage but also enhance the electron transport and block the hole recombination. As a result, the efficiency of CdTe solar cells is enhanced when using the RTA-treated ZnMgO, with maxium power conversion efficiency reaching values of 15.7%, which are much higher than those of the cells with the as-grown ZnMgO (11.6%). RTA is proved to be one of the excellent methods to control the properties of ZnMgO for improving the performance of CdTe solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The influence of growth temperature and Sn content on crystallization of GeSn on Ge substrate prepared by magnetron sputtering was investigated. Single crystal GeSn thin films with Sn content of 1–3.4% were achieved with rapid thermal annealing at 600 °C for the initial sputtered amorphous GeSn at relatively lower deposition temperature(180–350 °C), while polycrystalline GeSn thin films were formed for the GeSn having been crystallized during deposition process at higher deposition temperature(≧450 °C). It was demonstrated that the sputtered amorphous GeSn could be solid phase crystallized on Ge substrate at high annealing temperature. In contrast, insufficient atom migration at low annealing temperature or multi-nucleation during sputtering process at higher growth temperature rendered the polycrystalline GeSn films. The crystallization temperature of GeSn thin film decreases with increase of Sn/Ge ratio in the sputtered GeSn films, while the Sn composition in the crystallized GeSn alloys is dominated by annealing temperature due to severe tin segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the properties of Dy2O3 film formed on the surface of a substrate with a por-SiC/SiC structure. The atomic composition of the films under study was analyzed as a function of the RTA time. It is shown that the RTA method makes it possible to obtain thin Dy oxide films with a composition close to the stoichiometric one. In this case, an increase in the RTA time leads to improving the quality of film-substrate interface and increasing the optical transmission of Dy2O3/por-SiC/SiC structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilayer BaTiO3/BiFeO3 (BTO/BFO) stack structures were prepared on the Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si (100) substrate via highly accurate magnetron sputtering process. The cubic to the tetragonal phase transition of BTO was confirmed by both the X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy after the process of rapid thermal anneal. An ~74.1% increase of the relative permittivity was observed with the increasing thickness of BFO in the metal–insulator–metal capacitor. On the other hand, we also demonstrate that the leakage current density and the relative permittivity are found to have 20–50 times reduction and 26.6% improvement, respectively, with the additional cap of the BTO layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • New method to form highly reproducible plasmonic surfaces in an fast way by RTA process. • Influence of the annealing temperature ramp-up rate on the morphology of the nanoparticles. • Formation of arrays of Ag NP via dewetting processes in just ten minutes. • Influence of the AZO spacer layers thickness on the resulting LT effects produced by the PBRs. • Best performing PBR: 120 nm Ag/100 nm AZO/6 nm Ag NPs/60 nm AZO. • μ c-Si:H solar cells show an overall 11% improvement on device efficiency. Abstract A fast method is presented to fabricate plasmonic light trapping structures in just ten minutes (>5 × faster than the present state of art), with excellent light scattering properties. The structures are composed of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) deposited by thermal evaporation and self-assembled using a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system. The effect of the RTA heating rate on the NPs production reveals to be crucial to the decrease of the annealing process. The Ag NPs are integrated in thin film silicon solar cells to form a plasmonic back reflector (PBR) that causes a diffused light reflectivity in the near-infrared (600–1100 nm wavelength region). In this configuration the thicknesses of the AZO spacer/passivating layers between NPs and rear mirror, and between NPs and silicon layer, play critical roles in the near-field coupling of the reflected light towards the solar cell absorber, which is investigated in this work. The best spacer thicknesses were found to be 100 and 60 nm, respectively, for Ag NPs with preferential sizes of about 200 nm. The microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells deposited on such improved PBR demonstrate an overall 11% improvement on device efficiency, corresponding to a photocurrent of 24.4 mA/cm2 and an efficiency of 6.78%, against 21.79 mA/cm2 and 6.12%, respectively, obtained on flat structures without NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1.7 eV absorber materials are important in high-performance III-V multi-junction solar cells. Here, we show that rapid thermal annealing significantly improves the carrier lifetimes in lightly doped metamorphic 1.7 eV Ga 0.37 In 0.63 P (MM GaInP) grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy. A low threading dislocation density of ∼6 × 105 cm−2 was achieved through the use of an In x Ga 1-x As graded buffer. Annealing enables minority carrier lifetimes in 1.7 eV p - and n -GaInP of 3.9 and 28 ns, respectively, both of which are higher than annealed lattice-matched 1.9 eV Ga 0.51 In 0.49 P (LM GaInP) grown in the same chamber. With the benefit of annealing, MM 1.7 eV GaInP front-junction solar cells show a high peak internal quantum efficiency of 94.3% and an open-circuit voltage (V OC) of 1.17 V. We also demonstrate the first MM 1.7 eV GaInP rear-heterojunction cells with high fill factor and V OC of 85% and 1.21 V, respectively, by taking advantage of long carrier lifetime while eliminating majority carrier blocking. The high V OC values for the 1.7 eV GaInP cells presented in this work indicate promising tolerance to threading dislocations in MM GaInP. [Display omitted] • Rapid thermal annealing improves the minority carrier lifetimes of metamorphic 1.7 eV GaInP. • The first report of 1.7 eV GaInP rear-junction cell with V OC of 1.21 V by utilizing n -GaInP with a carrier lifetime of 28 ns. • 1.7 eV GaInP front-junction cells attain high quantum efficiency and V OC of 1.17 V despite threading dislocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a mixed phase ZnSn(OH) 6 /ZnSnO 3 photocatalyst was synthesized by calcining ZHS nanostructures via rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The composition ratio of ZnSn(OH) 6 /ZnSnO 3 was controlled by changing the duration of the RTA process. The obtained mixed-phase photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and physisorption analysis. Results showed that ZnSn(OH) 6 /ZnSnO 3 photocatalyst obtained by calcining ZHS at 300 °C for 20 sec displayed the best photocatalytic performance under UVC light illumination. Under optimized reaction conditions, ZHS-20 (0.125 g) demonstrated nearly complete removal (>99%) of MO dye in 150 min. Scavenger study revealed the predominant role of OH• in photocatalysis. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the ZnSn(OH) 6 /ZnSnO 3 composites was mainly ascribed to the photosensitization of ZHS by ZTO and effective electron-hole separation at the ZnSn(OH) 6 /ZnSnO 3 heterojunction interface. It is expected that this study will provide new research input for the development of photocatalyst through thermal annealing-induced partial phase transformation. [Display omitted] • In-situ partial phase synthesis of cubic ZnSn(OH) 6. • Cubic ZnSn(OH) 6 photocatalyst showed '80% removal of MO dye. • RTA of ZHS affects its composition and crystallinity. • UPS analysis revealed the role of band energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Epitaxial cubic-Gd 2 O 3 with (222) oriented planes on Si (111) by RF sputtering. • Phase evolution and chemical dynamics study with rapid thermal annealing (RTA). • 850 °C RTA, enhancement in epi‑Gd 2 O 3 phase by epi‑regrowth of amorphous interface. • Si out-diffusion in Gd 2 O 3 (> 900 °C) causes degradation in film crystallinity. • Low-cost solution for buried oxide layer in Silicon-on-Insulator technology. Epitaxial growth of Si on rare-earth oxides on Si wafer using sputter technology promises cheaper and high-volume manufacturing of Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers over costly solutions like the smart-cut method. Further, rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in standard complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) processing affects the performance of SOI substrate through chemical and crystal phase change. Herein, we present a systematic study on the rich physical and chemical phase evolution of epitaxial Gd 2 O 3 grown on Si (111) using RF sputtering subjected to RTA temperatures (850 − 1050 °C). First, X-ray diffraction analysis shows a significant enhancement of the epitaxial cubic phase in as-deposited Gd 2 O 3 at an optimum RTA temperature of 850 °C, which is partially explained by epitaxial-regrowth of an amorphous layer at Gd 2 O 3 /Si interface as observed in Transmission Electron Microscopy. Secondly, the degradation of crystallinity beyond 900 °C is correlated with temperature-dependent Si diffusion into Gd 2 O 3 that becomes observable by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Gd 2 O 3 crystallinity is completely quenched into the amorphous gadolinium silicate phase at 1050 °C. Eventually, we employed X-ray reflectivity modeling to evaluate the film thickness variation with RTA. This study provides a detailed insight into the structural and chemical dynamics occurring in epitaxial-Gd 2 O 3 film for CMOS-relevant temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key aspects of ohmic contact formation to InN-based materials were investigated. Detailed analysis of studies conducted over the past three decades, allows determining the basic principles of such contacts. The contact structure properties and optimal conditions for them are presented. Different types of metallization are considered, the advantages and disadvantages of each are determined, including the basic requirements that such contact must meet. There is emphasis on the using multilayer metallization with the barrier layers. In the case of the InAlN/GaN systems, the general approaches of forming ohmic contacts were considered.

The effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) made from oxygenated aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films deposited on a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate using radio frequency sputtering were investigated. The annealed SBD devices exhibited a 10x increase in the on/off current ratio vs. non-annealed devices for measurement temperatures ranging from 300 K to 450 K. The ideality factor, derived from the current density–voltage (J-V) characterization, increased by a factor of ~2.2 after annealing, whereas the barrier height decreased from ~0.91 to ~0.68 eV. Additionally, Auger electron spectroscopy indicated decreased concentrations of atomic oxygen in the AlN thin film, from ~36% before, to ~24% after annealing. This may have contributed to the reduced barrier height and improved on/off ratio in the annealed AlN/SiC diodes.

Resistors in integrated circuits (ICs) are implemented using diffused methods fabricated in the base and emitter regions of bipolar transistor or in source/drain regions of CMOS. Deposition of thin films on the wafer surface is another choice to fabricate the thin-film resistors in ICs’ applications. In this study, Ni(55%)Cr(40%)Si(5%) (abbreviated as NiCrSi) in wt % was used as the target and the sputtering method was used to deposit the thin-film resistors on Al2O3 substrates. NiCrSi thin-film resistors with different thicknesses of 30.8 nm~334.7 nm were obtained by controlling deposition time. After deposition, the thin-film resistors were annealed at 400 °C under different durations in N2 atmosphere using the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The sheet resistance of NiCrSi thin-film resistors was measured using the four-point-probe method from 25 °C to 125 °C, then the temperature coefficient of resistance could be obtained. We aim to show that resistivity of NiCrSi thin-film resistors decreased with increasing deposition time (thickness) and the annealing process had apparent effect on the sheet resistance and temperature coefficient of resistance. We also aim to show that the annealed NiCrSi thin-film resistors had a low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) between 0 ppm/°C and +50 ppm/°C.

Photonic applications of up-conversion luminescence (UCL) suffer from poor external quantum yield owing to a low absorption cross-section of UCL nanoparticles (UCNPs) doped with lanthanide ions. In this regard, plasmonic nanostructures have been proposed for enhancing UCL intensity through strong electromagnetic local-field enhancement; however, their intrinsic ohmic loss opens additional nonradiative decay channels. Herein, we demonstrate that dielectric metasurfaces can overcome this disadvantage. A periodic array of amorphous-silicon nanodisks serves as a metasurface on which a layer of UCNPs is self-assembled. Sharp resonances supported by the metasurface overlap the absorption wavelength (λ = 980 nm) of UCNPs to excite them, resulting in the enhancement of UCL intensity. We further sharpen the resonances through rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of the metasurface, crystallizing silicon to reduce intrinsic optical losses. By optimizing the RTA condition (at 1000 °C for 20 min in N 2 /H 2 (3 vol %) atmosphere), the resonance quality factor improves from 17.2 to 32.9, accompanied by an increase in the enhancement factor of the UCL intensity from 86- to over 600-fold. Moreover, a reduction in the intrinsic optical losses mitigates the UCL thermal quenching under a high excitation density. These findings provide a strategy for increasing light-matter interactions in nanophotonic composite systems and promote UCNP applications.

Abstract: Herein a novel approach is reported to achieve tunable and high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) from the self‐grown spherical TiO2 quantum dots (QDs) on fluorine doped TiO2 (F‐TiO2) flowers, mesoporous in nature, synthesized by a simple solvothermal process. The strong PL emission from F‐TiO2 QDs centered at ≈485 nm is associated with shallow and deep traps, and a record high PL QY of ≈5.76% is measured at room temperature. Size distribution and doping of F‐TiO2 nanocrystals (NCs) are successfully tuned by simply varying the HF concentration during synthesis. During the post‐growth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) under vacuum, the arbitrary shaped F‐TiO2 NCs transform into spherical QDs with smaller sizes and it shows dramatic enhancement (≈163 times) in the PL intensity. Electron spin resonance (ESR) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirm the high density of oxygen vacancy defects on the surface of TiO2 NCs. Confocal fluorescence microscopy imaging shows bright whitish emission from the F‐TiO2 QDs. Low temperature and time resolved PL studies reveal that the ultrafast radiative recombination in the TiO2 QDs results in highly efficient PL emission. A highly stable, biologically inert, and highly fluorescent TiO2 QDs/flowers without any capping agent demonstrated here is significant for emerging applications in bioimaging, energy, and environmental cleaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hole mobility of ~650 cm2/V-s at ${N}_{\textsf {inv}}= \sim \textsf {0.4}\times \textsf {10}^{\textsf {12}}$ cm−2, a gate leakage current density of ~10−5 A/cm2 at ${V}_{G}= {V}_{\textsf {FB}}+ \textsf {1}$ V, and an equivalent oxide thickness of ~0.5 nm in Ge pMOSFETs are simultaneously achieved by using the GeON interfacial layer (IL) formed with NH3 plasma and microwave annealing (MWA) treatments. The high performance can be attributed to the O–N polar covalent bonds in GeON, which is efficiently annealed by the MWA to increase the Ge oxidation sate in the IL. Ge out diffusion or GeO desorption can be suppressed by an MWA thanks to less thermal budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have demonstrated the co-existence of reliable analog and digital switching characteristics with tantalum oxide based memristor by appropriate rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The device without RTA exhibits a digital SET and multilevel RESET for positive and negative sweeps, respectively. On the other hands, the device shows only analog switching characteristics such that current level increases and decreases gradually for successive positive and negative voltage sweeps, respectively, before any electroforming process with the RTA in the nitrogen ambient at the crystalline temperature of tantalum oxide which is 700 °C for 60 s. Once electroforming process is done, the device exhibits a reliable digital switching with SET at positive sweep and RESET at negative sweep voltages. In the analog state of the device we successfully emulate the synaptic characteristic of the device like spike-rate dependent plasticity (SRDP), pulse-paired facilitation (PPF) and post-tetanic potentiation (PTP). Finally, the Hermann Ebbinghaus forgetting curve is obtained from these devices. The conversion of the device from the digital SET and multilevel RESET to analogue switching is attributed to structural transition of amorphous tantalum oxide to polycrystalline tantalum oxide, different defect density and interface variation in the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tin monosulfide (SnS) thin film is one of the most promising absorbers layer for high efficiency solar cells using low cost earth-abundant materials. To fabricate high quality SnS thin films, a simple nanoparticle based approach was employed in this work for phase pure material preparation using non-toxic solvents. Uniform SnS thin films were fabricated via a spin-coating process using phase pure SnS-ORT nanoparticle precursor solutions based on a methanol solvent, followed by post-annealing for grain growth. SnS thin film solar cells were then fabricated and their photovoltaic performance was characterized. The best SnS solar cell fabricated with the as-prepared SnS films with a band gap energy of ~1.25 eV showed a conversion efficiency of 0.12%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial ZnO thin films grown by atomic layer deposition on GaN/Al2O3 substrates are implanted with Yb, Dy, and Pr ions to a fluence of 5 × 1014 at cm−2 and subsequently anneals at 800 °C using a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system. Structural properties of implanted and annealed ZnO films and the optical response are evaluated by channeling Rutherford backscattering (RBS/c) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), respectively. RTA leads to a partial removal of the post‐implantation defects with simultaneous native defects transformation and optical activation of RE ions. It is found that two groups of defects: defects formed during implantation process and native defects, play an important role in the luminescence in the visible region. The room temperature PL spectra obtained from annealed ZnO:RE films do not show sharp PL lines from transitions within the RE 4f shell, but show near band gap emission and defect related emission, which energy emission is controlled by the RE atoms. It suggests a presence of RE‐related complexes that are formed during high‐temperature annealing in oxygen atmosphere. The excitonic and defect emission modified by RE ions create an optical response of the system resulting in a specific color of the emitted light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of cyclic rapid thermal annealing of metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy grown single-crystal CdTe layers on (211) Si substrates are investigated. Typically, 5- $\mu \text{m}$ -thick CdTe layers were grown directly on the Si substrates after some substrate pretreatments but without growing other intermediate layers, and annealed ex-situ in a flowing hydrogen atmosphere. We varied the annealing temperature from 500 °C to 1000 °C, annealing times from 30 to 90 s, and the number of annealing cycles from 1 to 9. Improvement in the crystal quality was confirmed by the full-width at half-maximum values of double-crystal rocking curves for the annealing temperatures between 800 °C and 900 °C. Furthermore, the 4.2-K photoluminescence measurement and the current–voltage measurements revealed that the conductivity type and the resistivity of the crystals do not change after annealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, CMOS wafer level ring oscillator frequency variability improvement >40% is demonstrated by either spatial source/drain activation or ion implantation super scan in FinFET technology. Yield improvement (up to 17%) is verified with better within wafer uniformity and with no intrinsic device performance degradation. Furthermore, the combination of super scan and spatial source/drain activation is suggested for optimized variability improvement benefits from individual device type uniformity tuning (super scan) and all device type uniformity tuning (from spatial S/D activation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor with a novel ohmic contact formation process based on conventional pulsed laser annealing is proposed. Compared with the conventional rapid thermal annealing process, the laser annealing (LA) process not only improves the surface morphology of ohmic contact metal but also exhibits a higher OFF-state breakdown voltage. An excellent rms roughness of 16.5 nm is observed by atomic force microscope which is 16.3% of the reference one. In a device with a gate-to-drain distance of 5 $\mu \text{m}$ , a forward blocking voltage of 442 V is obtained at ${V}_{\textsf {GS}} = -\textsf {8}$ V which has a 37.3% improvement compared with the conventional device. The device with LA process has lower contact resistance at actual working temperature (above 125 °C). The current transport mechanism is dominated by thermionic field emission through the ohmic contact. Moreover, the degradation of dynamic ON-resistance is significantly suppressed due to lower surface states by protecting the bare AlGaN layer from directly exposing under high temperature ambient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the melting laser annealing can activate the heavily phosphorus-doped epitaxial Ge on silicon-on-insulator by chemical vapor deposition, the dopant segregation occurs after the rapid thermal process at 550 °C for 3 min even with SiO2 capping. However, the active dopant concentration can be recovered after the second laser annealing to melt Ge again due to higher P solubility in the liquid Ge than the solid Ge. The temperature distribution and the melt depth of epi-Ge is mainly determined by the laser fluence. Selective laser annealing is used to simultaneously reach low dopant concentration in the channel regions for good gate controllability, and high concentration in the source and drain regions with low parasitic resistance for the transistors. As a result, the low specific contact resistivity of $1.2\ \times \,\,10^{-8}\,\,\Omega $ cm2 using the Ni–Ge/n+Ge, the 21% current enhancement of the Ge + Si nFET as compared to the device without the selectively second laser annealing and the Ni–Ge contact, and the similar subthreshold slope after the selectively second laser annealing are achieved. The Si channel underneath the Ge channel also contributes about 38% of the total current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, we have presented results on the development of erasable gratings in silicon to facilitate wafer scale testing of photonics circuits via ion implantation of germanium. Similar technology can be employed to control the operating wavelength of ring resonators, which is very sensitive to fabrication imperfections. Ion implantation into silicon causes radiation damage resulting in a refractive index increase, and can therefore, form the basis of multiple optical devices. In this paper, we discuss design, modeling, and fabrication of ring resonators and their subsequent trimming using ion implantation of germanium into silicon, followed by either rapid thermal annealing or localized laser annealing. The results confirm the ability to permanently tune the position of the resonant wavelength to any point inside the free spectral range of the ring resonator, thus, greatly reducing the amount of power required for active tuning of these devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report studies on rapid thermal processed (RTP) antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) thin films grown on glass and Mo-coated glass substrates by chemical bath deposition. Structure, morphology, elemental composition, optical and electrical properties of the thin films processed at different temperatures (325–700 °C) for 1–5 min were evaluated. X-ray diffractometry and Raman spectral studies showed the crystalline nature of the thin films. XPS analysis demonstrated the elemental composition and chemical states. Optical band gap of the films was evaluated from the optical absorption spectra, and the bandgap values were in the range of 1.7–2.1 eV. All the RTP samples showed photocurrent response. Crystallinity and morphology of the films were modified by varying RTP temperature and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 thin films were grown on quartz and Ge(100) 1° off-axis substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at 500 °C. Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) shows n -type conductivity at room temperature (RT) and p -type conductivity at low temperatures, whereas undoped GaSb thin films exhibit p -type conductivity, irrespective of their growth methods and conditions. Their electrical properties were determined by rapid thermal annealing, which revealed that Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) contains two types of acceptors and two types of donors. The acceptors are considered to be Ga Sb and electrically active sites on dislocations originating at the Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) interface, while donors are believed to be Ga i and electrically active sites originating at the Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) interface. In these acceptors and donors, the shallow donor concentration is higher than the shallow acceptor concentration, and the shallow donor level is deeper than the shallow acceptor level. Thus, we concluded that Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) shows n -type conductivity at RT due to electrically active sites originating at the Ga 0.6 Sb 0.4 /Ge(100) interface and native defects originating from excess Ga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and physical properties of thin films of ternary photovoltaic absorber Cu 2 SnS 3 on soda-lime glass substrate deposited by cost effective spray pyrolysis following a hybrid thermal annealing (HTA) have been investigated. The advantage of HTA-sulfurization over standard thermal annealing (STA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) is established for Cu 2 SnS 3 (CTS). The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy reveals highly phase pure Cu 2 SnS 3 is produced through effective relaxation of compressive stress and increased crystallinity by the HTA-sulfurization step. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) reveals that the evolution of secondary phases, Cu x S y ( x, y : 116, 64; 2, 1; 1.8, 1; 51, 27; 6, 6 etc) could be effectively prevented by the HTA process over the STA and RTA. The optimized HTA-CTS thin films obtained are of p -type conductivity with the carrier concentration, resistivity and mobility of 5.5 × 10 20  cm −3 , 9.8 × 10 −3 Ω-cm and 1.15 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively. The optical band gap of about 1.65 eV with large absorption coefficient of 10 5  cm −1 demonstrates it as an ideal candidate for thin film solar cells. A solar cell configuration of glass/F:SnO 2 /CTS/CdS/ZnO:Al/Al shows an open circuit voltage of 225 mV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, stacked sidewall-damascene double-layer poly-silicon trigate field effect transistors (FETs) with and without rapid thermal annealing (RTA) are successfully demonstrated using a simple fabrication method. Devices with RTA exhibit superior electrical characteristics to those without RTA owing to better crystallinity. The better crystallinity of the device with RTA results from a larger grain size and fewer defects, leading to higher field-effect mobility \mu \text {FE} compared with devices without RTA. p-type stacked sidewall-damascene double-layer poly-Si trigate FETs with RTA show excellent electrical characteristics, including an extremely low drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) of 7 mV/V, a steep subthreshold swing of 136 mV/decade, and high \textI \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}/\text I \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF} current ratio of 1.1\times 10^7 . The fabricated n-type stacked sidewall-damascene double-layer poly-Si trigate FETs with RTA showed a low DIBL, subthreshold swing and an \textI \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}/\textI \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF} current ratio larger than seven orders of magnitude. Their simple fabrication method makes them a promising candidate for future monolithic 3D integrated-circuit applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance the thermal stability and thermochromic properties, three kinds of VO x -based thin films with different structures (single-layer, triple-layer and multi-layer, respectively) were designed in this study. All of them were prepared by room-temperature reactive magnetron sputtering and subsequently rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in nitrogen atmosphere. The optical properties and microstructure of VO x -based thin films were investigated. The results reveal that all samples are ascribed to pure VO 2 (M), and the VO x -based thin films exhibit superior thermochromic properties with the solar modulation (Δ T sol ) up to 12.75%, 15.65% and 18.02%, respectively. The phase transition temperature ( T c ) is as low as 54 °C for multi-layer thin films without doping, which indicates that the film design could effectively enhance optical switching and depress the T c . After thermal treatment in the air, the phase of V 2 O 5 appeared at 325 °C, 275 °C and 375 °C for single-layer, triple-layer and multi-layer thin films, respectively, which indicates the multi-layer thin films show the best thermal stability. According to the degradation mechanism in this paper, the unbalance of interfacial stress and oxygen vacancies in VO x thin film accelerated the oxidation process, which results in the disappearance of thermochromic properties. Furthermore, the multi-layer thin films still show superior Δ T sol of 16.56% and T c of 56 °C, when it was taken out at 400 °C and cooled quickly in air. Meanwhile, the annealing period could be reduced by 75% in comparison to cooling in vacuum chamber. Our research set forth a new avenue in enhancing the thermal stability and production efficiency, which can promote the practical applications of VO x -based thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the design and fabrication of AZO/n-Si Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with hydrogen plasma treatment on silicon surface and AlxOx guard ring were presented. The Si surface exhibited less interface defects after the cleaning process following with 30 w of H2 plasma treatment that improved the switching properties of the following formed SBDs. The rapid thermal annealing experiment also held at 400 °C to enhance the breakdown voltage of SBDs. The edge effect of the SBDs was also suppressed with the AlxOx guard ring structure deposited by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) at the side of the SBDs. Experimental results show that the reverse leakage current was reduced and the breakdown voltage increased with an addition of the AlxOx guard ring. The diode and fabrication technology developed in the study were applicable to the realization of SBDs with a high breakdown voltage (>200 V), a low reverse leakage current density (≤72 μA/mm2@100 V), and a Schottky barrier height of 1.074 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LNO (LaNiO 3 ) thin films were directly deposited onto Si substrates with a thin layer of amorphous natural oxide (SiO 2 ) using three different precursor solutions. Effects of the constitution of precursor solution and the annealing heating rate on the surface morphology and the orientation were investigated. The LNO film derived from the mixture of a methanol solvent and an acetylacetone chelating agent had the flat surface with no cracks and pinholes. The heating rate of rapid annealing process had a critical effect on the oriented growth of the LNO film, and its c -axis orientation degree increased with the annealing heating rate. The LNO film with the heating rate of 40 ℃/s exhibited the highest degree of c -axis orientation (99.57%) and the lowest resistivity (9.35 × 10 −4 Ω cm). It would be a potential bottom electrode and/or seed layer to integrate perovskite-type films on it for functional devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]