The past three decades have been a period where useful current and voltage instabilities in solids have progressed from exciting research problems to a wide variety of commercially available devices. Materials and electronics research has led to devices such as the tunnel (Esaki) diode, transferred electron (Gunn) diode, avalanche diodes, real-space transfer devices, and the like. These structures have proven to be very important in the generation, amplification, switching, and processing of microwave signals up to frequencies exceeding 100 GHz. In this treatise we focus on a detailed theoretical understanding of devices of the kind that can be made unstable against circuit oscillations, large amplitude switching events, and in some cases, internal rearrangement of the electric field or current density distribution. The book is aimed at the semiconductor device physicist, engineer, and graduate student. A knowledge of solid state physics on an elementary or introductory level is assumed. Furthermore, we have geared the book to device engineers and physicists desirous of obtaining an understanding substantially deeper than that associated with a small signal equivalent circuit approach. We focus on both analytical and numerical treatment of specific device problems, concerning ourselves with the mechanism that determines the constitutive relation governing the device, the boundary conditions (contact effects), and the effect of the local circuit environment.

Phase transitions in disordered systems and related dynamical phenomena are a topic of intrinsically high interest in theoretical and experimental physics. This book presents a unified view, adopting concepts from each of the disjoint fields of disordered systems and nonlinear dynamics. Special attention is paid to the glass transition, from both experimental and theoretical viewpoints, to modern concepts of pattern formation, and to the application of the concepts of dynamical systems for understanding equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties of fluids and solids. The content is accessible to graduate students, but will also be of benefit to specialists, since the presentation extends as far as the topics of ongoing research work.

This book aims to cover different aspects of Bias Temperature Instability (BTI). BTI remains as an important reliability concern for CMOS transistors and circuits. Development of BTI resilient technology relies on utilizing artefact-free stress and measurement methods and suitable physics-based models for accurate determination of degradation at end-of-life and understanding the gate insulator process impact on BTI. This book discusses different ultra-fast characterization techniques for recovery artefact free BTI measurements. It also covers different direct measurements techniques to access pre-existing and newly generated gate insulator traps responsible for BTI. The book provides a consistent physical framework for NBTI and PBTI respectively for p- and n- channel MOSFETs, consisting of trap generation and trapping. A physics-based compact model is presented to estimate measured BTI degradation in planar Si MOSFETs having differently processed SiON and HKMG gate insulators, in planar SiGe MOSFETs and also in Si FinFETs. The contents also include a detailed investigation of the gate insulator process dependence of BTI in differently processed SiON and HKMG MOSFETs. The book then goes on to discuss Reaction-Diffusion (RD) model to estimate generation of new traps for DC and AC NBTI stress and Transient Trap Occupancy Model (TTOM) to estimate charge occupancy of generated traps and their contribution to BTI degradation. Finally, a comprehensive NBTI modeling framework including TTOM enabled RD model and hole trapping to predict time evolution of BTI degradation and recovery during and after DC stress for different stress and recovery biases and temperature, during consecutive arbitrary stress and recovery cycles and during AC stress at different frequency and duty cycle. The contents of this book should prove useful to academia and professionals alike.

Plasma and Current Instabilities in Semiconductors details the main ideas in the physics of plasma and current instabilities in semiconductors. The title first covers plasma in semiconductors, and then proceeds to tackling waves in plasma. Next, the selection details wave instabilities in plasma and drift instabilities. The text also discusses hot electrons, along with the instabilities due to inter-valley electron transfer. The next chapters talks about avalanche and recombination instabilities. The last chapter deals with plasma streams. The book will be of great use to student and professional electronics engineers and technicians.

Silicon technology today forms the basis of a world-wide, multi-billion dollar component industry. The reason for this expansion can be found not only in the physical properties of silicon but also in the unique properties of the silicon-silicon dioxide interface. However, silicon devices are still subject to undesired electrical phenomena called "instabilities". These are due mostly to the imperfect nature of the insulators used, to the not-so-perfect silicon-insulator interface and to the generation of defects and ionization phenomena caused by radiation. The problem of instabilities is addressed in this volume, the third of this book series. Vol.3 updates and supplements the material presented in the previous two volumes, and devotes five chapters to the problems of radiation-matter and radiation-device interactions. The volume will aid circuit manufacturers and circuit users alike to relate unstable electrical parameters and characteristics to the presence of physical defects and impurities or to the radiation environment which caused them.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

This book covers advances in Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and will prove useful to researchers and professionals in the semiconductor devices areas. NBTI continues to remain as an important reliability issue for CMOS transistors and circuits. Development of NBTI resilient technology relies on utilizing suitable stress conditions, artifact free measurements and accurate physics-based models for the reliable determination of degradation at end-of-life, as well as understanding the process, material and device architectural impacts. This book discusses: Ultra-fast measurements and modelling of parametric drift due to NBTI in different transistor architectures: planar bulk and FDSOI p-MOSFETs, p-FinFETs and GAA-SNS p-FETs, with Silicon and Silicon Germanium channels. BTI Analysis Tool (BAT), a comprehensive physics-based framework, to model the measured time kinetics of parametric drift during and after DC and AC stress, at different stress and recovery biases and temperature, as well as pulse duty cycle and frequency. The Reaction Diffusion (RD) model is used for generated interface traps, Transient Trap Occupancy Model (TTOM) for charge occupancy of the generated interface traps and their contribution, Activated Barrier Double Well Thermionic (ABDWT) model for hole trapping in pre-existing bulk gate insulator traps, and Reaction Diffusion Drift (RDD) model for bulk trap generation in the BAT framework; NBTI parametric drift is due to uncorrelated contributions from the trap generation (interface, bulk) and trapping processes. Analysis and modelling of Nitrogen incorporation into the gate insulator, Germanium incorporation into the channel, and mechanical stress effects due to changes in the transistor layout or device dimensions; similarities and differences of (100) surface dominated planar and GAA MOSFETs and (110) sidewall dominated FinFETs are analysed.

This book provides a single-source reference to one of the more challenging reliability issues plaguing modern semiconductor technologies, negative bias temperature instability. Readers will benefit from state-of-the art coverage of research in topics such as time dependent defect spectroscopy, anomalous defect behavior, stochastic modeling with additional metastable states, multiphonon theory, compact modeling with RC ladders and implications on device reliability and lifetime.

Flexibility and stretchability of electronics are crucial for next generation electronic devices that involve skin contact sensing and therapeutic actuation. This handbook provides a complete entrée to the field, from solid-state physics to materials chemistry, processing, devices, performance, and reliability testing, and integrated systems development. This work shows how microelectronics, signal processing, and wireless communications in the same circuitry are impacting electronics, healthcare, and energy applications. Key Features: • Covers the fundamentals to device applications, including solid-state and mechanics, chemistry, materials science, characterization techniques, and fabrication; • Offers a comprehensive base of knowledge for moving forward in this field, from foundational research to technology development; • Focuses on processing, characterization, and circuits and systems integration for device applications; • Addresses the basic physical properties and mechanics, as well as the nuts and bolts of reliability and performance analysis; • Discusses various technology applications, from printed electronics to logic and memory devices, sensors, actuators, displays, and energy storage and harvesting. This handbook will serve as the one-stop knowledge base for readership who are interested in flexible and stretchable electronics.