Matching Items (13)
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- All Subjects: Monte Carlo
- All Subjects: Nanowires
- Creators: Vasileska, Dragica
- Creators: Zhang, Yong-Hang
Description
This work is focused on modeling the reliability concerns in GaN HEMT technology. The two main reliability concerns in GaN HEMTs are electromechanical coupling and current collapse. A theoretical model was developed to model the piezoelectric polarization charge dependence on the applied gate voltage. As the sheet electron density in the channel increases, the influence of electromechanical coupling reduces as the electric field in the comprising layers reduces. A Monte Carlo device simulator that implements the theoretical model was developed to model the transport in GaN HEMTs. It is observed that with the coupled formulation, the drain current degradation in the device varies from 2%-18% depending on the gate voltage. Degradation reduces with the increase in the gate voltage due to the increase in the electron gas density in the channel. The output and transfer characteristics match very well with the experimental data. An electro-thermal device simulator was developed coupling the Monte Caro-Poisson solver with the energy balance solver for acoustic and optical phonons. An output current degradation of around 2-3 % at a drain voltage of 5V due to self-heating was observed. It was also observed that the electrostatics near the gate to drain region of the device changes due to the hot spot created in the device from self heating. This produces an electric field in the direction of accelerating the electrons from the channel to surface states. This will aid to the current collapse phenomenon in the device. Thus, the electric field in the gate to drain region is very critical for reliable performance of the device. Simulations emulating the charging of the surface states were also performed and matched well with experimental data. Methods to improve the reliability performance of the device were also investigated in this work. A shield electrode biased at source potential was used to reduce the electric field in the gate to drain extension region. The hot spot position was moved away from the critical gate to drain region towards the drain as the shield electrode length and dielectric thickness were being altered.
ContributorsPadmanabhan, Balaji (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen M (Committee member) / Alford, Terry L. (Committee member) / Venkatraman, Prasad (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation aims to demonstrate a new approach to fabricating solar cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems with the potential to reduce their cost and complexity of manufacturing, called Monolithically Integrated Laterally Arrayed Multiple Band gap (MILAMB) solar cells. Single crystal semiconductor alloy nanowire (NW) ensembles are grown with the alloy composition and band gap changing continuously across a broad range over the surface of a single substrate in a single, inexpensive growth step by the Dual-Gradient Method. The nanowire ensembles then serve as the absorbing materials in a set of solar cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems.
Preliminary design and simulation studies based on Anderson's model band line-ups were undertaken for CdPbS and InGaN alloys. Systems of six subcells obtained efficiencies in the 32-38% range for CdPbS and 34-40% for InGaN at 1-240 suns, though both materials systems require significant development before these results could be achieved experimentally. For an experimental demonstration, CdSSe was selected due to its availability. Proof-of-concept CdSSe nanowire ensemble solar cells with two subcells were fabricated simultaneously on one substrate. I-V characterization under 1 sun AM1.5G conditions yielded open-circuit voltages (Voc) up to 307 and 173 mV and short-circuit current densities (Jsc) up to 0.091 and 0.974 mA/cm2 for the CdS- and CdSe-rich cells, respectively. Similar thin film cells were also fabricated for comparison. The nanowire cells showed substantially higher Voc than the film cells, which was attributed to higher material quality in the CdSSe absorber. I-V measurements were also conducted with optical filters to simulate a simple form of spectrum-splitting. The CdS-rich cells showed uniformly higher Voc and fill factor (FF) than the CdSe-rich cells, as expected due to their larger band gaps. This suggested higher power density was produced by the CdS-rich cells on the single-nanowire level, which is the principal benefit of spectrum-splitting. These results constitute a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the MILAMB approach to fabricating multiple cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaics. Future systems based on this approach could help to reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems and offer a low cost alternative to multi-junction tandems for achieving high efficiencies.
Preliminary design and simulation studies based on Anderson's model band line-ups were undertaken for CdPbS and InGaN alloys. Systems of six subcells obtained efficiencies in the 32-38% range for CdPbS and 34-40% for InGaN at 1-240 suns, though both materials systems require significant development before these results could be achieved experimentally. For an experimental demonstration, CdSSe was selected due to its availability. Proof-of-concept CdSSe nanowire ensemble solar cells with two subcells were fabricated simultaneously on one substrate. I-V characterization under 1 sun AM1.5G conditions yielded open-circuit voltages (Voc) up to 307 and 173 mV and short-circuit current densities (Jsc) up to 0.091 and 0.974 mA/cm2 for the CdS- and CdSe-rich cells, respectively. Similar thin film cells were also fabricated for comparison. The nanowire cells showed substantially higher Voc than the film cells, which was attributed to higher material quality in the CdSSe absorber. I-V measurements were also conducted with optical filters to simulate a simple form of spectrum-splitting. The CdS-rich cells showed uniformly higher Voc and fill factor (FF) than the CdSe-rich cells, as expected due to their larger band gaps. This suggested higher power density was produced by the CdS-rich cells on the single-nanowire level, which is the principal benefit of spectrum-splitting. These results constitute a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the MILAMB approach to fabricating multiple cells for spectrum-splitting photovoltaics. Future systems based on this approach could help to reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing spectrum-splitting photovoltaic systems and offer a low cost alternative to multi-junction tandems for achieving high efficiencies.
ContributorsCaselli, Derek (Author) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Thesis advisor) / Tao, Meng (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In semiconductor physics, many properties or phenomena of materials can be brought to light through certain changes in the materials. Having a tool to define new material properties so as to highlight certain phenomena greatly increases the ability to understand that phenomena. The generalized Monte Carlo tool allows the user to do that by keeping every parameter used to define a material, within the non-parabolic band approximation, a variable in the control of the user. A material is defined by defining its valleys, energies, valley effective masses and their directions. The types of scattering to be included can also be chosen. The non-parabolic band structure model is used. With the deployment of the generalized Monte Carlo tool onto www.nanoHUB.org the tool will be available to users around the world. This makes it a very useful educational tool that can be incorporated into curriculums. The tool is integrated with Rappture, to allow user-friendly access of the tool. The user can freely define a material in an easy systematic way without having to worry about the coding involved. The output results are automatically graphed and since the code incorporates an analytic band structure model, it is relatively fast. The versatility of the tool has been investigated and has produced results closely matching the experimental values for some common materials. The tool has been uploaded onto www.nanoHUB.org by integrating it with the Rappture interface. By using Rappture as the user interface, one can easily make changes to the current parameter sets to obtain even more accurate results.
ContributorsHathwar, Raghuraj (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen M (Committee member) / Saraniti, Marco (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
One of the challenges in future semiconductor device design is excessive rise of power dissipation and device temperatures. With the introduction of new geometrically confined device structures like SOI, FinFET, nanowires and continuous incorporation of new materials with poor thermal conductivities in the device active region, the device thermal problem is expected to become more challenging in coming years. This work examines the degradation in the ON-current due to self-heating effects in 10 nm channel length silicon nanowire transistors. As part of this dissertation, a 3D electrothermal device simulator is developed that self-consistently solves electron Boltzmann transport equation with 3D energy balance equations for both the acoustic and the optical phonons. This device simulator predicts temperature variations and other physical and electrical parameters across the device for different bias and boundary conditions. The simulation results show insignificant current degradation for nanowire self-heating because of pronounced velocity overshoot effect. In addition, this work explores the role of various placement of the source and drain contacts on the magnitude of self-heating effect in nanowire transistors. This work also investigates the simultaneous influence of self-heating and random charge effects on the magnitude of the ON current for both positively and negatively charged single charges. This research suggests that the self-heating effects affect the ON-current in two ways: (1) by lowering the barrier at the source end of the channel, thus allowing more carriers to go through, and (2) via the screening effect of the Coulomb potential. To examine the effect of temperature dependent thermal conductivity of thin silicon films in nanowire transistors, Selberherr's thermal conductivity model is used in the device simulator. The simulations results show larger current degradation because of self-heating due to decreased thermal conductivity . Crystallographic direction dependent thermal conductivity is also included in the device simulations. Larger degradation is observed in the current along the [100] direction when compared to the [110] direction which is in agreement with the values for the thermal conductivity tensor provided by Zlatan Aksamija.
ContributorsHossain, Arif (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Ahmed, Shaikh (Committee member) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Nanowires (NWs) have attracted many interests due to their advance in synthesis and their unique structural, electrical and optical properties. NWs have been realized as promising candidates for future photonic platforms. In this work, erbium chloride silicate (ECS), CdS and CdSSe NWs growth by vapor-liquid-solid mechanism and their characterization were demonstrated. In the ECS NWs part, systematic experiments were performed to investigate the relation between growth temperature and NWs structure. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence characterization were used to study the NWs morphology, crystal quality and optical properties. At low growth temperature, there was strong Si Raman signal observed indicating ECS NWs have Si core. At high growth temperature, the excess Si signal was disappeared and the NWs showed better crystal quality and optical properties. The growth temperature is the key parameter that will induce the transition from Si/ECS core-shell NWs structure to solid ECS NWs. With the merits of high Er concentration and long PL lifetime, ECS NWs can serve as optical gain material with emission at 1.5 μm for communications and amplifiers. In the CdS, CdSSe NWs part, the band gap engineering of CdSSe NWs with spatial composition tuning along single NWs were demonstrated. The first step of realizing CdSSe NWs was the controlled growth of CdS NWs. It showed that overall pressure would largely affect the lengths of the CdS NWs. NWs with longer length can be obtained at higher pressure. Then, based on CdS NWs growth and by adding CdSe step by step, composition graded CdSSe alloy NWs were successfully synthesized. The temperature control over the source vapor concentration plays the key role for the growth.
ContributorsNing, Hao (Author) / Ning, Cunzheng (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation addresses challenges pertaining to multi-junction (MJ) solar cells from material development to device design and characterization. Firstly, among the various methods to improve the energy conversion efficiency of MJ solar cells using, a novel approach proposed recently is to use II-VI (MgZnCd)(SeTe) and III-V (AlGaIn)(AsSb) semiconductors lattice-matched on GaSb or InAs substrates for current-matched subcells with minimal defect densities. CdSe/CdTe superlattices are proposed as a potential candidate for a subcell in the MJ solar cell designs using this material system, and therefore the material properties of the superlattices are studied. The high structural qualities of the superlattices are obtained from high resolution X-ray diffraction measurements and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images. The effective bandgap energies of the superlattices obtained from the photoluminescence (PL) measurements vary with the layer thicknesses, and are smaller than the bandgap energies of either the constituent material. Furthermore, The PL peak position measured at the steady state exhibits a blue shift that increases with the excess carrier concentration. These results confirm a strong type-II band edge alignment between CdSe and CdTe. The valence band offset between unstrained CdSe and CdTe is determined as 0.63 eV±0.06 eV by fitting the measured PL peak positions using the Kronig-Penney model. The blue shift in PL peak position is found to be primarily caused by the band bending effect based on self-consistent solutions of the Schrödinger and Poisson equations. Secondly, the design of the contact grid layout is studied to maximize the power output and energy conversion efficiency for concentrator solar cells. Because the conventional minimum power loss method used for the contact design is not accurate in determining the series resistance loss, a method of using a distributed series resistance model to maximize the power output is proposed for the contact design. It is found that the junction recombination loss in addition to the series resistance loss and shadowing loss can significantly affect the contact layout. The optimal finger spacing and maximum efficiency calculated by the two methods are close, and the differences are dependent on the series resistance and saturation currents of solar cells. Lastly, the accurate measurements of external quantum efficiency (EQE) are important for the design and development of MJ solar cells. However, the electrical and optical couplings between the subcells have caused EQE measurement artifacts. In order to interpret the measurement artifacts, DC and small signal models are built for the bias condition and the scan of chopped monochromatic light in the EQE measurements. Characterization methods are developed for the device parameters used in the models. The EQE measurement artifacts are found to be caused by the shunt and luminescence coupling effects, and can be minimized using proper voltage and light biases. Novel measurement methods using a pulse voltage bias or a pulse light bias are invented to eliminate the EQE measurement artifacts. These measurement methods are nondestructive and easy to implement. The pulse voltage bias or pulse light bias is superimposed on the conventional DC voltage and light biases, in order to control the operating points of the subcells and counterbalance the effects of shunt and luminescence coupling. The methods are demonstrated for the first time to effectively eliminate the measurement artifacts.
ContributorsLi, Jingjing (Author) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Thesis advisor) / Tao, Meng (Committee member) / Schroder, Dieter (Committee member) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This thesis mainly focuses on the study of quantum efficiency (QE) and its measurement, especially for nanowires (NWs). First, a brief introduction of nano-technology and nanowire is given to describe my initial research interest. Next various fundamental kinds of recombination mechanisms are described; both for radiative and non-radiative processes. This is an introduction for defining the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). A relative IQE measurement method is shown following that. Then it comes to the major part of the thesis discussing a procedure of quantum efficiency measurement using photoluminescence (PL) method and an integrating sphere, which has not been much applied to nanowires (NWs). In fact this is a convenient and useful approach for evaluating the quality of NWs since it considers not only the PL emission but also the absorption of NWs. The process is well illustrated and performed with both wavelength-dependent and power-dependent measurements. The measured PLQE is in the range of 0.3% ~ 5.4%. During the measurement, a phenomenon called photodegradation is observed and examined by a set of power-dependence measurements. This effect can be a factor for underestimating the PLQE and a procedure is introduced during the sample preparation process which managed to reduce this effect for some degree.
ContributorsChen, Dongzi (Author) / Ning, Cun-Zheng (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Thermal effects in nano-scaled devices were reviewed and modeling methodologies to deal with this issue were discussed. The phonon energy balance equations model, being one of the important previous works regarding the modeling of heating effects in nano-scale devices, was derived. Then, detailed description was given on the Monte Carlo (MC) solution of the phonon Boltzmann Transport Equation. The phonon MC solver was developed next as part of this thesis. Simulation results of the thermal conductivity in bulk Si show good agreement with theoretical/experimental values from literature.
ContributorsYoo, Seung Kyung (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Ferry, David (Committee member) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Semiconductor nanowires have the potential to emerge as the building blocks of next generation field-effect transistors, logic gates, solar cells and light emitting diodes. Use of Gallium Nitride (GaN) and other wide bandgap materials combines the advantages of III-nitrides along with the enhanced mobility offered by 2-dimensional confinement present in nanowires. The focus of this thesis is on developing a low field mobility model for a GaN nanowire using Ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) techniques. A 2D Schrödinger-Poisson solver and a one-dimensional Monte Carlo solver is developed for an Aluminum Gallium Nitride/Gallium Nitride Heterostructure nanowire. A GaN/AlN/AlGaN heterostructure device is designed which creates 2-dimensional potential well for electrons. The nanowire is treated as a quasi-1D system in this work. A self-consistent 2D Schrödinger-Poisson solver is designed which determines the subband energies and the corresponding wavefunctions of the confined system. Three scattering mechanisms: acoustic phonon scattering, polar optical phonon scattering and piezoelectric scattering are considered to account for the electron phonon interactions in the system. Overlap integrals and 1D scattering rate expressions are derived for all the mechanisms listed. A generic one-dimensional Monte Carlo solver is also developed. Steady state results from the 1D Monte Carlo solver are extracted to determine the low field mobility of the GaN nanowires.
ContributorsKumar, Viswanathan Naveen (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Zhao, Yuji (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Self-heating degrades the performance of devices in advanced technology nodes. Understanding of self-heating effects is necessary to improve device performance. Heat generation in these devices occurs at nanometer scales but heat transfer is a microscopic phenomena. Hence a multi-scale modeling approach is required to study the self-heating effects. A state of the art Monte Carlo device simulator and the commercially available Giga 3D tool from Silvaco are used in our study to understand the self heating effects. The Monte Carlo device simulator solves the electrical transport and heat generation for nanometer length scales accurately while the Giga 3D tool solves for thermal transport over micrometer length scales. The approach used is to understand the self-heating effects in a test device structure, composed of a heater and a sensor, fabricated and characterized by IMEC. The heater is the Device Under Test(DUT) and the sensor is used as a probe. Therefore, the heater is biased in the saturation region and the sensor is biased in the sub-threshold regime. Both are planar MOSFETs of gate length equal to 22 nm. The simulated I-V characteristics of the sensor match with the experimental behavior at lower applied drain voltages but differ at higher applied biases.
The self-heating model assumes that the heat transport within the device follows Energy Balance model which may not be accurate. To properly study heat transport within the device, a state of the art Monte Carlo device simulator is necessary. In this regard, the Phonon Monte Carlo(PMC) simulator is developed. Phonons are treated as quasi particles that carry heat energy. Like electrons, phonons obey a corresponding Boltzmann Transport Equation(BTE) which can be used to study their transport. The direct solution of the BTE for phonons is possible, but it is difficult to incorporate all scattering mechanisms. In the Monte Carlo based solution method, it is easier to incorporate different relevant scattering mechanisms. Although the Monte Carlo method is computationally intensive, it provides good insight into the physical nature of the transport problem. Hence Monte Carlo based techniques are used in the present work for studying phonon transport. Monte Carlo simulations require calculating the scattering rates for different scattering processes. In the present work, scattering rates for three phonon interactions are calculated from different approaches presented in the literature. Optical phonons are also included in the transport problem. Finally, the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for silicon is calculated in the range from 100K to 900K and is compared to available experimental data.
The self-heating model assumes that the heat transport within the device follows Energy Balance model which may not be accurate. To properly study heat transport within the device, a state of the art Monte Carlo device simulator is necessary. In this regard, the Phonon Monte Carlo(PMC) simulator is developed. Phonons are treated as quasi particles that carry heat energy. Like electrons, phonons obey a corresponding Boltzmann Transport Equation(BTE) which can be used to study their transport. The direct solution of the BTE for phonons is possible, but it is difficult to incorporate all scattering mechanisms. In the Monte Carlo based solution method, it is easier to incorporate different relevant scattering mechanisms. Although the Monte Carlo method is computationally intensive, it provides good insight into the physical nature of the transport problem. Hence Monte Carlo based techniques are used in the present work for studying phonon transport. Monte Carlo simulations require calculating the scattering rates for different scattering processes. In the present work, scattering rates for three phonon interactions are calculated from different approaches presented in the literature. Optical phonons are also included in the transport problem. Finally, the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for silicon is calculated in the range from 100K to 900K and is compared to available experimental data.
ContributorsShaik, Abdul Rawoof (Author) / Vasileska, Dragica (Thesis advisor) / Ferry, David (Committee member) / Goodnick, Stephan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016