Pranab Biswas

Lead-free epitaxial ferroelectric material integration on semiconducting (100) Nb-doped SrTiO3 for low-power non-volatile memory and efficient ultraviolet ray detection

We report lead-free ferroelectric based resistive switching non-volatile memory (NVM) devices with epitaxial (1-x)BaTiO3-xBiFeO3 (x = 0.725) (BT-BFO) film integrated on semiconducting (100) Nb (0.7%) doped SrTiO3 (Nb:STO) substrates. The piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) measurement at room temperature demonstrated ferroelectricity in the BT-BFO thin film. PFM results also reveal the repeatable polarization inversion by poling, manifesting its potential for read-write operation in NVM devices. The electroforming-free and ferroelectric polarization coupled electrical behaviour demonstrated excellent resistive switching with high retention time, cyclic endurance, and low set/reset voltages. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was utilized to determine the band alignment at the BT-BFO and Nb:STO heterojunction, and it exhibited staggered band alignment. This heterojunction is found to behave as an efficient ultraviolet photo-detector with low rise and fall time. The architecture also demonstrates half-wave rectification under low and high input signal frequencies, where the output distortion is minimal. The results provide avenue for an electrical switch that can regulate the pixels in low or high frequency images. Combined this work paves the pathway towards designing future generation low-power ferroelectric based microelectronic devices by merging both electrical and photovoltaic properties of BT-BFO materials.

Effect of band offset on carrier transport and infrared detection in InP quantum dots/Si nano-heterojunction grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition technique

Epitaxy of III-V semiconductors on Si gets recent interest for next generation system on heterogeneous chip on wafer. The understanding of band offset is thus necessary for describing the charge transport phenomenon in these heterojunctions. In this work, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy has been used to determine the band offsets in a heterojunction made of InP quantum dots on Si. The valence and conduction band offset was found to be 0.12 eV and 0.35 eV, respectively, with a type-II band lineup. Deviation from theoretical prediction and previously published reports on quasi similar systems have been found and analyzed on the basis of the effect of strain, surface energy, shift in the electrostatic dipole and charge transfer at the interface. The carrier transport mechanisms along with different device parameters in the heterojunction have been studied for a temperature range of 180–300 K. This heterojunction is found to behave as an efficient infrared photodetector with an ON/OFF ratio of 21 at a reverse bias of 2 V. The corresponding rise and decay time was found to be 132 ms and 147 ms, respectively.

Photovoltaic and photo-capacitance effects in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin film

A polycrystalline BiFeO3 film on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si was fabricated using the spin coating technique. The film shows diode-like characteristics with and without poling measured under dark conditions. However, it exhibits a switchable photovoltaic effect with light illumination under poled conditions. The measured photovoltaic effect revealed an open circuit voltage of ∼0.47 V and a short circuit current of 3.82 μA/cm2 under the illumination of 165 mW/cm2 irradiance. The studies clarified the dominant role of the depolarization field rather than the interface in the photovoltaic characteristics of the BiFeO3 film. Significantly, the photo-capacitance effect was demonstrated with a substantial enhancement in capacitance (∼45%) in Au/BiFeO3/Pt geometry, which could open up a new window for BiFeO3 applications.

GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor based nonvolatile memory devices embedded with ZnO quantum dots

Ultrathin InP passivated GaAs non-volatile memory devices were fabricated with chemically synthesized 5 nm ZnO quantum dots embedded into ZrO2 high-k oxide matrix deposited through metal organic chemical vapor deposition. In these memory devices, the memory window was found to be 6.10 V and the obtained charge loss was only 15.20% after 105 s. The superior retention characteristics and a wide memory window are achieved due to presence of ZnO quantum dots between tunneling and control oxide layers. Room temperature Coulomb blockade effect was found in these devices and it was ascertained to be the main reason for low leakage. Electronic band diagram with program and erase operations were described on the basis of electrical characterizations.

Charge storage properties of InP quantum dots in GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor based nonvolatile flash memory devices

Metal organic vapor phase epitaxially grown 5 nm InP quantum dots (QDs) were embedded as charge storage elements between high-k control and tunneling dielectric layers in GaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor based nonvolatile memory devices. The QDs trap more electrons resulting in a large memory window (6.3 V) along with low leakage due to Coulomb blockade effect. 16.5% charge loss was found even after 105 s indicating its good charge storing potential. The programming and erasing operations were discussed with proposed band diagram.

Study of ferroelectric characteristics of diisopropylammonium bromide films

Organic molecular ferroelectrics are highly desirable due to their numerous advantages. In the present work, a thick film of diisopropylammonium bromide organic molecular ferroelectric is fabricated on the ITO/glass substrate. The grown film shows preferential orientation along the c-axis with a ferroelectric transition at 419 K. The piezoresponse force microscopic measurements are done in a dual ac resonance tracking mode for its switching characteristics. The amplitude and phase images of the oppositely written domain patterns exhibit a clear contrast with 180° phase difference. The dynamical spectroscopic studies reveal a butterfly loop in amplitude and hysteretic character of the phase which are the expected characteristics features of ferroelectrics. In addition, the macroscopic polarization versus electric field hysteresis gives an additional proof for ferroelectric character of the film with the maximum polarization of 3.5 μC/cm2. Overall, we have successfully fabricated diisopropylammonium bromide...

Effect of band alignment on photoluminescence and carrier escape from InP surface quantum dots grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on Si

A detailed analysis of photoluminescence (PL) from InP quantum dots (QDs) grown on Si has been carried out to understand the effect of substrate/host material in the luminescence and carrier escape process from the surface quantum dots. Such studies are required for the development of monolithically integrated next generation III-V QD based optoelectronics with fully developed Si microelectronics. The samples were grown by atmospheric pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition technique, and the PL measurements were made in the temperature range 10–80 K. The distribution of the dot diameter as well as the dot height has been investigated from atomic force microscopy. The origin of the photoluminescence has been explained theoretically. The band alignment of InP/Si heterostructure has been determined, and it is found be type II in nature. The positions of the conduction band minimum of Si and the 1st excited state in the conduction band of InP QDs have been estimated to understand the carrier escape p...

Anomalous diffusion of Ga and As from semi-insulating GaAs substrate into MOCVD grown ZnO films as a function of annealing temperature and its effect on charge compensation

The diffusion behavior of arsenic (As) and gallium (Ga) atoms from semi-insulating GaAs (SI-GaAs) into ZnO films upon post-growth annealing vis-a-vis the resulting charge compensation was investigated with the help of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The films, annealed at 600 oC and 700 oC showed p-type conductivity with a hole concentration of 1.1 × 1018 cm−3 and 2.8 × 1019 cm−3 respectively, whereas those annealed at 800 oC showed n-type conductivity with a carrier concentration of 6.5 × 1016 cm−3. It is observed that at lower temperatures, large fraction of As atoms diffused from the SI-GaAs substrates into ZnO and formed acceptor related complex, (AsZn–2VZn), by substituting Zn atoms (AsZn) and thereby creating two zinc vacancies (VZn). Thus as-grown ZnO which was supposed to be n-type due to nonstoichiometric nature showed p-type behavior. On further increasing the annealing temperature to 800 oC, Ga atoms diffused more than As atoms and substitute Zn atoms...

Dipole pinning effect on photovoltaic characteristics of ferroelectric BiFeO3 films

Ferroelectric bismuth ferrite is an attractive candidate for switchable devices. The effect of dipole pinning due to the oxygen vacancy layer on the switching behavior of the BiFeO3 thin film fabricated by the chemical solution deposition method was studied after annealing under air, O2, and N2 environment. The air annealed film showed well defined and dense grains leading to a lower leakage current and superior electrical properties compared to the other two films. The photovoltage and transient photocurrent measured under positive and negative poling elucidated the switching nature of the films. Though the air and O2 annealed films showed a switchable photovoltaic response, the response was severely affected by oxygen vacancies in the N2 annealed film. In addition, the open circuit voltage was found to be mostly dependent on the polarization of BiFeO3 rather than the Schottky barriers at the interface. This work provides an important insight into the effect of dipole pinning caused by oxygen vacancies on the switchable photovoltaic effect of BiFeO3 thin films along with the importance of stoichiometric, defect free, and phase pure samples to facilitate meaningful practical applications.Ferroelectric bismuth ferrite is an attractive candidate for switchable devices. The effect of dipole pinning due to the oxygen vacancy layer on the switching behavior of the BiFeO3 thin film fabricated by the chemical solution deposition method was studied after annealing under air, O2, and N2 environment. The air annealed film showed well defined and dense grains leading to a lower leakage current and superior electrical properties compared to the other two films. The photovoltage and transient photocurrent measured under positive and negative poling elucidated the switching nature of the films. Though the air and O2 annealed films showed a switchable photovoltaic response, the response was severely affected by oxygen vacancies in the N2 annealed film. In addition, the open circuit voltage was found to be mostly dependent on the polarization of BiFeO3 rather than the Schottky barriers at the interface. This work provides an important insight into the effect of dipole pinning caused by oxygen vacancies o...

Fabrication and characterization of p-Si/n-ZnO heterojunction ultraviolet photodetector

This work deals with the fabrication and characterization of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) based on Si(p)/ZnO(n) heterojunction diodes. Zinc oxide films were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technique at a growth temperature of 450 °C. The non-stoichiometric nature with oxygen vacancy implies the n-type conductivity of as-grown ZnO. The optical bandgap was found to be 3.37 eV which was direct in nature. The ideality factor of the diode was calculated as 3.57. At a reverse bias of 3V the detector showed an on/off ratio of 16. The rise and decay time of transient response were 242 ms and 354 ms, respectively.