Advanced semiconductor technology is depending on innovation and less on "classical" scaling. SiGe, Ge, and Related Compounds have become a key component of the arsenal in improving semiconductor performance. This issue of ECS Transactions discusses the technology to form these materials, process them, FET devices incorporating them, Surfaces and Interfaces, Optoelectronic devices, and HBT devices.

This volume systematically evaluates and reviews the properties of silicon germanium within a structured framework, relating them where appropriate to stoichiometry and strain. The invited contributions include concise discussion and expert guidance to the reference literature.

This thesis presents the SiGe source and drain (S/D) technology in the context of advanced CMOS, and addresses both device processing and epitaxy modelling. As the CMOS technology roadmap calls for continuously downscaling traditional transistor structures, controlling the parasitic effects of transistors, e.g. short channel effect, parasitic resistances and capacitances is becoming increasingly difficult. The emergence of these problems sparked a technological revolution, where a transition from planar to three-dimensional (3D) transistor design occurred in the 22nm technology node. The selective epitaxial growth (SEG) method has been used to deposit SiGe as stressor material in S/D regions to induce uniaxial strain in the channel region. The thesis investigates issues of process integration in IC production and concentrates on the key parameters of high-quality SiGe selective epitaxial growth, with a special focus on its pattern dependency behavior and on key integration issues in both 2D and 3D transistor structures, the goal being to improve future applications of SiGe SEG in advanced CMOS.

This proceedings volume archives the contributions of the speakers who attended the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Science and Technology of Semiconductor-On-Insulator Structures and Devices Operating in a Harsh Environment” held at the Sanatorium Puscha Ozerna, th th Kyiv, Ukraine, from 25 to 29 April 2004. The semiconductor industry has maintained a very rapid growth during the last three decades through impressive technological achievements which have resulted in products with higher performance and lower cost per function. After many years of development semiconductor-on-insulator materials have entered volume production and will increasingly be used by the manufacturing industry. The wider use of semiconductor (especially silicon) on insulator materials will not only enable the benefits of these materials to be further demonstrated but, also, will drive down the cost of substrates which, in turn, will stimulate the development of other novel devices and applications. In itself this trend will encourage the promotion of the skills and ideas generated by researchers in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and their incorporation in future collaborations.

Nanoelectronics is changing the way the world communicates, and is transforming our daily lives. Continuing Moore’s law and miniaturization of low-power semiconductor chips with ever-increasing functionality have been relentlessly driving R&D of new devices, materials, and process capabilities to meet performance, power, and cost requirements. This book covers up-to-date advances in research and industry practices in nanometrology, critical for continuing technology scaling and product innovation. It holistically approaches the subject matter and addresses emerging and important topics in semiconductor R&D and manufacturing. It is a complete guide for metrology and diagnostic techniques essential for process technology, electronics packaging, and product development and debugging—a unique approach compared to other books. The authors are from academia, government labs, and industry and have vast experience and expertise in the topics presented. The book is intended for all those involved in IC manufacturing and nanoelectronics and for those studying nanoelectronics process and assembly technologies or working in device testing, characterization, and diagnostic techniques.

This book provides a unique review of various aspects of metallic contamination in Si and Ge-based semiconductors. It discusses all of the important metals including their origin during crystal and/or device manufacturing, their fundamental properties, their characterization techniques and their impact on electrical devices’ performance. Several control and possible gettering approaches are addressed. The book offers a valuable reference guide for all researchers and engineers studying advanced and state-of-the-art micro- and nano-electronic semiconductor devices and circuits. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, it combines perspectives from e.g. material science, defect engineering, device processing, defect and device characterization, and device physics and engineering.

The industrial relevance of SiGe has increased dramatically in the last few years with the manufacture of heterojunction bipolar circuits for the commercial wireless and datacomms markets by IBM and TEMIC. Major high technology companies see the development and use of SiGe as an important part of their strategy, so that there is a strong impetus to improve its characterization and exploitation. This liberally illustrated and fully indexed volume distills in a homogeneous, structured way the expertise of some 40 invited authors to comprehensively review the whole range of properties as well as SiGe; C, self-assembled nanostructures, quantum effects and device trends.

The semiconductor industry is a fundamental building block of the new economy, there is no area of modern life untouched by the progress of nanoelectronics. The electronic chip is becoming an ever-increasing portion of system solutions, starting initially from less than 5% in the 1970 microcomputer era, to more than 60% of the final cost of a mobile telephone, 50% of the price of a personal computer (representing nearly 100% of the functionalities) and 30% of the price of a monitor in the early 2000's. Interest in utilizing the (sub-)mm-wave frequency spectrum for commercial and research applications has also been steadily increasing. Such applications, which constitute a diverse but sizeable future market, span a large variety of areas such as health, material science, mass transit, industrial automation, communications, and space exploration. Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for mm-Wave Systems Technology, Modeling and Circuit Applications provides an overview of results of the DOTSEVEN EU research project, and as such focusses on key material developments for mm-Wave Device Technology. It starts with the motivation at the beginning of the project and a summary of its major achievements. The subsequent chapters provide a detailed description of the obtained research results in the various areas of process development, device simulation, compact device modeling, experimental characterization, reliability, (sub-)mm-wave circuit design and systems.

This issue of ECS Transactions contains papers on silicon-on-insulator subjects including devices, device physics, modelling, simulations, microelectronics, photonics, nano-technology, integrated circuits, radiation hardness, material characterization, reliability, and sensors