Title : Nanoscale air channel devices for emerging IC applications
Abstract:
This talk will focus on a novel device named nanoscale air channel device (NACD), which has potential applications in ICs. Our work firstly focused on fabricating sub-10-nm air channel devices with ultra-low operating voltage, which can be utilized as an electrical element in high-speed and low-power ICs. The devices were fabricated with the aid of photolithography and focused ion beam (FIB) etching technology. On account of the extremely shrinking of nano-gap, record-high emission currents of 355.6 μA at 1 V were realized in air with a threshold voltage as low as 0.588 V. Then, based on the similar processes, nanoscale air channel Hall sensors were proposed and fabricated. Hall measurements were performed showed the linearity error was less than 5%, and the voltage-related sensitivity was 0.28 V/VT. The performance of the sensor was similar to that of the common micron-sized Hall sensor, but with the benefits of small size and easy integration. Lastly, the radiation hardness property of the NACD was demonstrated for future in-space applications. TID and SEE effects of the NACD were studied by using X-ray as the TID radiation source and a pulse laser as the SEE radiation source to simulate the radiation environment in space. No significant performance degradation was observed when the total dose of X-ray reached 1 Mrad (Si), and slight alterations were attributed to the accumulation of positive charge in the oxide. Furthermore, the SET and SEL phenomena were not detected under pulse laser energy up to 5 nJ, due to the SEEs-immune structure of NACD. Our work paves the way for the integration of NACDs, which in turn provides the possibility for NACDs to be applied in high-speed, low-power, and extreme environments.
The NACD shows high temperature stability and resistance to radiation effects , which can adapt to extreme working environments and is competitive in military and aerospace devices. Only electron emission was used to obtain complementary logic structures with functions similar to CMOS, and the NACD’s use in logic circuits was demonstrated . More detailed results and discussion will be elaborated in the talk.
Audience Take Away:
- Novel nanoelectronics devices, nanoscale air channel device (NACD)
- Fabrication technologies and characteristics of NACD
- The potential application of NACD towards space exploration
