I-Che Lee

A Novel pH Sensor of Extended-Gate Field-Effect Transistors With Laser-Irradiated Carbon-Nanotube Network

The extended-gate field-effect transistors (EGFETs) with only the carbon-nanotube (CNT) thin film as both the sensing membrane and the contact electrode have been demonstrated for the first time to exhibit superior pH sensing characteristics. The continuous-wave laser was necessary to improve the pH sensitivity to be 50.9 mV/pH and the linearity values to be 0.9978 for pH = 3 to pH = 13 wide sensing range, respectively. It implied that the laser energy would unzip the chemically modified multiwalled CNTs (MWCNTs) into numerous graphite slices, resulting in the elevated sensing sites and the improved electrical and sensing properties. Therefore, the laser-irradiated MWCNT network is promising for the applications in the flexible and transparent pH-EGFETs.

Hot cracking of welds on heat treatable aluminium alloys

Abstract The Spot Varestraint test was used to evaluate the hot cracking susceptibility of several aluminium alloys namely 6061-T6, 6061-T6 (H), 7075-T6, 7075-T6 (H). The effects of augment strain, the number of thermal cycles and cold working (rolling) on the cracking susceptibility were investigated, and the total crack length was used to evaluate the hot cracking susceptibility. The results indicate that the number of thermal cycles is irrelevant to the hot cracking susceptibility in the weld fusion zone, but does affect this susceptibility in the heat affected zone (HAZ). More thermal cycles correspond to larger hot cracks in the HAZ, especially in the weld metal HAZ. The hot cracking susceptibility of materials increased with augment strain in both the fusion zone and the HAZ. Cold working of the materials can reduce their hot cracking susceptibility. The hot cracking susceptibility of 7075-T6 aluminium alloys is higher than that of 6061-T6. There was significant Cu segregation in the HAZ of 7075-T6 aluminium alloy, resulting in a higher susceptibility to hot cracking in this zone.

Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistors with Location-Controlled Crystal Grains Fabricated by Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Method

High-performance zinc oxide (ZnO) bottom-gate (BG) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a single vertical grain boundary in the channel have been successfully fabricated by a novel low-temperature (i.e., 85°C) hydrothermal method. The ZnO active channel was laterally grown with an aluminum-doped ZnO seed layer underneath the Ti/Pt film. Consequently, such BG-TFTs (W/L = 250 μm/10 μm) demonstrated the high field-effect mobility of 9.07 cm2/V - s, low threshold voltage of 2.25 V, high on/off-current ratio above 106, superior current drivability, indistinct hysteresis phenomenon, and small standard deviations among devices, attributed to the high-quality ZnO channel with the single grain boundary.

High-Performance Short-Channel Double-Gate Low-Temperature Polysilicon Thin-Film Transistors Using Excimer Laser Crystallization

In this letter, high-performance low-temperature polysilicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) with double-gate (DG) structure and controlled lateral grain growth have been demonstrated by excimer laser crystallization. Via a proper excimer laser condition, along with the a-Si step height beside the bottom gate, a superlateral growth of Si was formed in the channel length plateau. Therefore, the DG TFTs with lateral silicon grains in the channel regions exhibited better current-voltage characteristics, as compared with the conventional top-gate ones. The proposed DG TFTs (W/L = 1/1 mum) had the field-effect mobility exceeding 550 cm2/Vmiddots, an on/off current ratio that is higher than 108, superior short-channel characteristics, and higher current drivability. In addition, the device-to-device uniformity could be improved since grain growth could be artificially controlled by the spatial plateau structure.

Effects of crystallization mechanism on the electrical characteristics of green continuous-wave-laser-crystallized polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors

Thin film transistors (TFTs) with amorphous silicon films crystallized via continuous-wave green laser at a wavelength of 532 nm exhibit very different electrical characteristics in various crystallization regions, corresponding to the Gaussian energy density distribution of the laser beam. In the center region subjected to the highest energy density, the full melting scheme led to the best crystallinity of the polycrystalline silicon film, resulting in the highest field-effect mobility of 500 cm2 V−1 s−1. In contrast, the edge region that resulted in solid phase crystallization exhibited the worst mobility of 48 cm2 V−1 s−1 for the polycrystalline silicon TFTs.

High-Performance Polycrystalline-Silicon Nanowire Thin-Film Transistors With Location-Controlled Grain Boundary via Excimer Laser Crystallization

High-performance polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) nanowire (NW) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are demonstrated using excimer laser crystallization to control the locations of grain boundaries two-dimensionally. Via the locally increased thickness of the amorphous-silicon (a-Si) film as the seeds, the cross-shaped grain boundary structures were produced among these thicker a-Si grids. The NW TFTs with one primary grain boundary perpendicular to the channel direction could be therefore fabricated to achieve an excellent field-effect mobility of 346 cm2/V · s and an on/off current ratio of 3 × 109. Furthermore, the grain-boundary-location-controlled NW TFTs also exhibited better reliability due to the control of grain boundary locations. This technology is thus promising for applications of low-temperature poly-Si TFTs in system-on-panel and 3-D integrated circuits.

Effect of post-weld heat treatments on microstructure and mechanical properties of electron beam welded flow formed maraging steel weldment

Abstract Seamless tubing of C-250 maraging steel manufactured by the flow forming technique was joined by the electron beam welding process. Various post-welding heat treatments were conducted to improve the overall mechanical properties of the welded tubing. For the 480°C/6 h/air cooling post-weld aging treated maraging steel, a significant increment of 11% reversion austenite was present in the weld metal. Only the tensile strength of this aging treated metal met the required specification while its percentage elongation reached only 50% of the specification, attaining only 35% of the strength of the parent metal. For the post-welded solution + aging treated maraging steel, only the yield strength met the specification. Moreover, a significant amount of reversion austenite pools was also present at the grain boundaries of the material located at the weld metal. Although the homogenisation treatment could improve the hardness of the weld metal, it failed to have the tensile strength of the steel met the specification.

Enhanced efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cells by excimer laser irradiated carbon nanotube network counter electrode

The carbon nanotube network decorated with Pt nanoparticles (PtCNT) irradiated by excimer laser as counter electrode (CE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been systematically demonstrated. The conversion efficiency would be improved from 7.12% to 9.28% with respect to conventional Pt-film one. It was attributed to the enhanced catalytic surface from Pt nanoparticles and the improved conductivity due to the adjoining phenomenon of PtCNTs irradiated by laser. Moreover, the laser annealing could also promote the interface contact between CE and conductive glass. Therefore, such a simple laser-irradiated PtCNT network is promising for the future flexible DSSCs applications.

A Novel Scheme for Fabricating CMOS Inverters With Poly-Si Nanowire Channels

A novel complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor inverter with poly-Si nanowire channels is proposed and demonstrated in this letter. The scheme employs a clever tilted-angle implant process in the fabrication; therefore, the formation of the source and drain of both p-channel and n-channel devices requires only one lithographic step. The fabricated n-channel and p-channel field-effect transistors in the inverters show a high ON/OFF current ratio, an acceptable subthreshold swing, and a symmetric driving current, thus enabling the realization of excellent characteristics of the inverters.

Polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors with location-controlled crystal grains fabricated by excimer laser crystallization

In this paper, location-controlled silicon crystal grains are fabricated by the excimer laser crystallization method which employs amorphous silicon spacer structure and prepatterned thin films. The amorphous silicon spacer in nanometer-sized width formed using spacer technology is served as seed crystal to artificially control superlateral growth phenomenon during excimer laser irradiation. An array of 1.8-μm-sized disklike silicon grains is formed, and the n-channel thin-film transistors whose channels located inside the artificially-controlled crystal grains exhibit higher performance of field-effect-mobility reaching 308cm2∕Vs as compared with the conventional ones. This position-manipulated silicon grains are essential to high-performance and good uniformity devices.