Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Benoit H. Lessard
Summary: Silicon phthalocyanines are emerging n-type semiconductors with low synthetic complexity and versatile axial groups, making them suitable for use in organic photovoltaics and organic thin-film transistors. Their properties can be fine-tuned without affecting their orbital levels or absorption properties, allowing for integration through solution processing or vapor deposition. These exciting materials show promising future in the field of OTFTs and OPVs.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anzhi Yan, Chunlin Wang, Jianlan Yan, Zhenze Wang, Enyi Zhang, Yu Dong, Zhao-Yi Yan, Tian Lu, Tianrui Cui, Ding Li, Penghui Shen, Yuxin Jin, Houfang Liu, Yi Yang, Tian-Ling Ren
Summary: This article focuses on the potential development trends and bottlenecks of high-performance thin-film transistor integrated circuits (TFT ICs), exploring their structure, performance evaluation, and advantages over silicon-based chips. The use of hydrogenated amorphous silicon, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon, and amorphous oxide semiconductors in TFT ICs is discussed, as well as the potential of emerging low-dimensional materials as channel materials.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Tonglin L. Newsom, Christopher R. Allemang, Tae H. Cho, Neil P. Dasgupta, Rebecca L. Peterson
Summary: By depositing both ZTO channel and Al2O3 gate dielectric layer using ALD without breaking vacuum, we achieved TFTs with a steep SS of 59.9mV center dot dec(-1), close to the Boltzmann limit at room temperature. The measured SS value extracted an extremely low interface trap density of 9.59 x 10(9) cm(-2)eV(-1), which was corroborated by the high-low frequency capacitance method. Compared with other TFT processes, both higher-k gate dielectric and in situ ALD process are required to obtain the low SS value. The TFT made with in situ dielectric deposition demonstrated a maximum linear mobility of 19.2 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1), an ON/OFF current ratio > 10(8), and a threshold voltage of 1.3 V. The achieved sharp SS will enable low voltage electronics using this scalable ALD technology.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Gyo Kitahara, Mitsuhiro Ikawa, Satoshi Matsuoka, Shunto Arai, Tatsuo Hasegawa
Summary: Achieving steep and stable switching operations in polymer thin-film transistors (TFTs) requires whole optimizations for eliminating interfacial carrier traps, with inverted-coplanar-type TFTs composed of a highly lyophobic amorphous perfluoropolymer gate-dielectric interfaced with a push-coated semiconducting polymer layer showing bias-stress-free characteristics and minimized contact resistance. Additionally, utilizing a particular donor-acceptor copolymer with a self-passivation mechanism can lead to fairly sharp on/off switching TFTs with the smallest normalized subthreshold swing, paving the way for low-power and robust device operations in polymer-based flexible electronics.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
S. Arulkumar, S. Parthiban, J. Y. Kwon
Summary: The room temperature sputtered indium silicon oxide thin-films were annealed at various temperatures and studied for thin-film transistor (TFT) active channel layer application. The results showed that the annealing temperature had a significant influence on the structure and properties of the thin films, and the highest mobility was achieved at an annealing temperature of 200 degrees Celsius.
MATERIALS SCIENCE IN SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Benjamin King, Andrew J. Daszczynski, Nicole A. Rice, Alexander J. Peltekoff, Nathan J. Yutronkie, Benoit H. Lessard, Jaclyn L. Brusso
Summary: Silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs) are a type of n-type or ambipolar organic semiconductors, and their threshold voltage (V-T) in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) can be reduced by introducing electron-withdrawing groups. However, dewetting phenomena can occur at specific substitution positions, affecting device performance. Improving long-term stability can be achieved by modifying substrates with silane-terminated poly(styrene) brushes to minimize changes in surface morphology.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Sungmin On, Young-Joon Kim, Han-Koo Lee, Hocheon Yoo
Summary: The study systematically investigated the chemical and morphological structure of small-molecule organic semiconductor heterostructures, demonstrating ambipolar and anti-ambipolar transistors with unique applications.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jun Tae Jang, Donguk Kim, Ju Heyuck Baeck, Jong Uk Bae, Jiyong Noh, Seok-Woo Lee, Kwon-Shik Park, Jeom Jae Kim, Soo Young Yoon, Changwook Kim, Yong-Sung Kim, Saeroonter Oh, Dae Hwan Kim
Summary: This study systematically investigates the influence of various cation compositions, oxygen, and hydrogen on the characteristics and stability of oxide semiconductor transistors using commercial-grade process technology. By controlling the fabrication process and incorporating different amounts of oxygen and hydrogen, the physical nature of the channel material is studied. The research reveals different microscopic physical phenomena within the transistor structure between different cation compositions.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Kishwar Mashooq, Jaesung Jo, Rebecca L. Peterson
Summary: This study focuses on the performance issues of p-type tin monoxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) and establishes numerical models to extract and improve its defect state distribution, providing a theoretical basis for enhancing transistor performance.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Rosemary R. Cranston, Mario C. Vebber, Jonatas Faleiro Berbigier, Nicole A. Rice, Claire Tonnele, Zachary J. Comeau, Nicholas T. Boileau, Jaclyn L. Brusso, Adam J. Shuhendler, Frederic Castet, Luca Muccioli, Timothy L. Kelly, Benoit H. Lessard
Summary: This study investigated eight axially substituted SiPcs and their application in solution-processed n-type OTFTs. It was found that the length of the alkyl chain affects device performance and thin-film morphology, and the effects of high-temperature annealing and spin coating time on film formation were explored. The study also revealed that thermal annealing and spin time significantly impact film crystallinity, morphology, and device performance, with bis(tri-n-butylsilyl oxide) SiPc showing the highest electron field-effect mobility among the studied materials.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Maria Isabel Pintor-Monroy, Martin Gregorio Reyes-Banda, Carlos Avila-Avendano, Manuel A. Quevedo-Lopez
Summary: In this study, a simple and cost-effective method for fabricating thin film transistors (TFTs) based on undoped amorphous Ga2O3 thin films deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering is discussed. The control of Ga2O3 thin film resistivity over a wide range is demonstrated by controlling the deposition power and pressure. These TFTs exhibit promising characteristics and have been evaluated as phototransistors under DUV radiation, showing high rejection ratio, responsivity, gain, detectivity, and photosensitivity.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Chenfang Sun, Tie Wang
Summary: The early determination of disease-related biomarkers can improve patient survival rate significantly. Therefore, explorations for new diagnosis technologies, such as optical and electrochemical methods, have been devoted to life and health monitoring. Organic thin-film transistor (OTFT), as a label-free, low-cost, facial, and rapid detection technology, has attracted significant attention. However, the reliability and accuracy of the biosensor need to be improved while ensuring sensitivity, selectivity, and stability.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Benjamin King, Owen A. Melville, Nicole A. Rice, Somayeh Kashani, Claire Tonnele, Hasan Raboui, Sufal Swaraj, Trevor M. Grant, Terry McAfee, Timothy P. Bender, Harald Ade, Frederic Castet, Luca Muccioli, Benoit H. Lessard
Summary: Silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs) have great potential as n-type or ambipolar organic semiconductors in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and organic photovoltaics. The impact of axial substituents on OTFT performance, particularly in terms of threshold voltage reduction, has been studied. The combination of DFT modeling for material selection and proper processing conditions for thin-film morphology yields high-performance n-type SiPc-based OTFTs.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Linfeng Lan, Chunchun Ding, Penghui He, Huimin Su, Bo Huang, Jintao Xu, Shuguang Zhang, Junbiao Peng
Summary: This study improves the stability of thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on oxide semiconductors by doping them with Pr4+ or Tb4+. It is found that Tb:In2O3 TFTs have better stability compared to Pr:In2O3 TFTs due to the smaller ion radius of Tb4+ and lower energy level.
Article
Polymer Science
Zhengran He, Ziyang Zhang, Kyeiwaa Asare-Yeboah, Sheng Bi, Jihua Chen, Dawen Li
Summary: This study demonstrated the use of a metal-containing semicrystalline polymer as an additive to mediate the thin film morphology of solution-grown, small-molecule organic semiconductors, resulting in improved performance of organic thin film transistors.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
I Carlomagno, I Lucarini, V Secchi, F. Maita, D. Polese, S. Mirabella, G. Franzo, A. Notargiacomo, G. Di Santo, S. Gonzalez, L. Petaccia, L. Maiolo
Summary: ZnO nanorods can be enhanced in their optical and conductive performances through Excimer Laser Annealing (ELA), which results in reducing crystallite size and lattice parameter, improving UV/visible emission ratio, and increasing carrier mobility.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Adriano Cola, Lorenzo Dominici, Antonio Valletta
Summary: This study demonstrates the optical doping functionalities achieved by manipulating the interaction between deep levels and free carriers in semi-insulating CdTe diodes. A line-shaped optical beam focused on the cathode contact area induces a stable and controllable space charge, which can be imaged in real-time through the Pockels effect. A simple method is proposed to retrieve the two-dimensional electric field components. Numerical simulations confirm the experimental findings and provide insights into the underlying mechanism and critical parameters enabling the optical writing functionalities.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Houaida Becharguia, Mounira Mahdouani, Ramzi Bourguiga, Paolo Branchini, Andrea Fabbri, Stefania De Rosa, Sabrina Calvi, Luigi Mariucci, Antonio Valletta, Luca Tortora
Summary: The electrical properties of DNTT-TFTs were investigated under different light illumination conditions, and an analytical model was used to accurately reproduce the electrical characteristics and extract the dependence of contact resistance on illumination conditions.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Roberta Condo, Elisabetta Carli, Alessandro Cioffi, Maria Elena Cataldi, Vincenzo Quinzi, Adriano Casaglia, Aldo Giancotti, Paola Pirelli, Ivano Lucarini, Francesco Maita, Luca Maiolo, Gianluca Mampieri
Summary: Fluoride-based mouthwashes and gels are effective preventive measures against demineralization and caries, but they can reduce the corrosion resistance of orthodontic alloys. In vitro experiments showed that stainless steel wires are less affected by fluorinated mouthwashes, while alloys gradually elute more metals when exposed for a prolonged period. Nickel-titanium wires are more sensitive to some mouthwashes, and household fluorinated gels can have significant negative effects on ions' elution and surface changes, reducing the wires' corrosion resistance and appearance.
Article
Optics
Daniela Lorenzo, Fabrizio Riminucci, Mariachiara Manoccio, Gianluca Balestra, Daniela Simeone, David Maria Tobaldi, Marco Esposito, Adriana Passaseo, Vittorianna Tasco, Massimo Cuscuna
Summary: This study presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the coating of Al plasmonic nanostructures with a conformal layer of high-refractive-index molybdenum oxide. The thin coating helps to narrow the gap between closely coupled nanodisks to the sub-5-nm range, allowing for a significant enhancement and confinement of electromagnetic fields. This alternative solution to lithographic approaches is advantageous for improving the long-term stability of aluminum nanostructures.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Walter Fuscaldo, Francesco Maita, Luca Maiolo, Romeo Beccherelli, Dimitrios C. Zografopoulos
Summary: In this study, the dielectric properties of three commercially available high-permittivity Rogers laminates were characterized in the sub-terahertz range using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurements. A transmission-line model was developed to obtain reflectance spectra by fitting the frequency-dispersive complex relative permittivity of the substrates. The results showed that the thermoset microwave laminate TMM10i exhibited lower frequency dispersion and overall dielectric losses, making it a promising candidate for low-profile and broadband components in novel terahertz applications.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Francesco Maita, Veronica Piccialli, Flavia Pensa, Marco Scatto, Massimiliano Ruggeri, Luca Maiolo
Summary: Wearable electronics are revolutionizing the smart sensor industry, offering solutions for various applications from biomedical to gaming and fashion. Physical sensors play a crucial role in providing fast and reliable feedback on human motion and detecting vital physiological parameters. Thermoplastic materials are widely used for their sensitivity, high stretchability, chemical resistance, and low-cost manufacturing processes in wearable physical sensors.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
P. Fiorenza, L. Maiolo, G. Fortunato, M. Zielinski, F. La Via, F. Giannazzo, F. Roccaforte
Summary: The interfacial electrical properties and oxide field strength of deposited oxide SiO2 on 3C-SiC can be improved by post-oxide deposition annealing. The density of electrically active stacking faults in 3C-SiC is reduced after appropriate annealing. These results pave the way for an ideal SiO2/3C-SiC system for power device applications.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Roberta Condo, Gianluca Mampieri, Alessandro Cioffi, Paola Pirelli, Aldo Giancotti, Luca Maiolo, Francesco Maita, Annalisa Convertino, Ivano Lucarini, Andrea Notargiacomo, Julietta Rau, Marco Fosca, Giuseppe Marzo
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between reflectivity, hardness, and chemical composition of dispersed phases in orthodontic composites. The results show that different materials have different reflectivity, which is related to their internal composition and hardness. The study suggests that UV-Vis analysis can provide important insights into the internal material composition of orthodontic composites and indirectly provide information about their mechanical properties.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Adriano Cola, Lorenzo Dominici, Antonio Valletta
Summary: The spatial distribution of the electric field in radiation detectors is crucial for their operation. By using the Pockels effect, we investigated the local perturbation of the electric field in a Schottky CdTe detector after optical exposure. Our electro-optical imaging setup and processing routine allowed us to extract electric-field vector maps and observe their dynamics during voltage bias-optical exposure. This approach provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms affecting non-equilibrium electric-field distribution in CdTe Schottky detectors and has the potential to improve detector performance.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Chiara Ceriani, Mattia Scagliotti, Tommaso Losi, Alessandro Luzio, Sara Mattiello, Mauro Sassi, Nicolo Pianta, Matteo Rapisarda, Luigi Mariucci, Mario Caironi, Luca Beverina
Summary: Conjugated semiconducting polymers are important materials for various applications, and the development of efficient synthetic protocols and solvent-free processing can greatly improve sustainability and reduce costs. The use of an aqueous dispersion of food-grade surfactant lecithin enables the synthesis and processing of semiconducting polymers with high yield and quality, comparable to materials synthesized and processed using volatile organic solvents.
ADVANCED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Sabrina Calvi, Laura Basirico, Sara M. Carturan, Ilaria Fratelli, Antonio Valletta, Alberto Aloisio, Stefania De Rosa, Felix Pino, Marcello Campajola, Andrea Ciavatti, Luca Tortora, Matteo Rapisarda, Sandra Moretto, Matteo Verdi, Stefano Bertoldo, Olivia Cesarini, Paolo Di Meo, Massimo Chiari, Francesco Tommasino, Ettore Sarnelli, Luigi Mariucci, Paolo Branchini, Alberto Quaranta, Beatrice Fraboni
Summary: This article presents a flexible, fully organic detector for proton beams. The detector operates in the indirect mode and consists of a polysiloxane-based scintillating layer coupled to an organic phototransistor. It demonstrates mechanical flexibility and low power operation with a limit of detection of 0.026 Gy min(-1). A kinetic model is proposed to accurately reproduce the dynamic response of the device under irradiation. This proton detector shows promise as a real-time particle detection tool for various applications, including experimental scientific research and theranostics.
NPJ FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Mattia Scagliotti, Antonio Valletta, Sabrina Calvi, Luigi Mariucci, Matteo Rapisarda
Summary: In recent years, the demand for light detectors capable of detecting low light intensities as low as pW/cm(2) has increased. Organic-based sensors have gained popularity due to their desirable properties such as flexibility, lightweight, low cost, and low temperature processability. Low-intensity light signal detectors find applications in fields such as proton therapy for prostate cancer treatment and robotics, where light detection is needed in both high and low illumination environments.
IEEE SENSORS LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Francesco Maita, Luca Maiolo, Ivano Lucarini, Jose Ignacio Del Rio De Vicente, Antonio Sciortino, Mario Ledda, Valentina Mussi, Antonella Lisi, Annalisa Convertino
Summary: Microelectrode array (MEA) is the key method to study electrical activity in a population of electrogenic cells. This study reports the development of a MEA using disordered silicon nanowires (SiNWs) to successfully capture the electrical signals generated by the corticotrope AtT-20 cells. This extends the usefulness of MEA technology in investigating electrical communication in pituitary gland cells and provides new perspectives in recording electrical activity of excitable cells.
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Aerospace
A. Di Marco, F. Muleri, S. Fabiani, F. La Monaca, J. Rankin, P. Soffitta, L. Baldini, E. Costa, E. Del Monte, R. Ferrazzoli, C. Lefevre, L. Maiolo, F. Maita, A. Manfreda, A. Morbidini, B. D. Ramsey, A. Ratheesh, C. Sgro, A. Trois, A. F. Tennant, M. C. Weisskopf, S. L. Dell
Summary: This article presents the status of the IXPE mission, including the installation of flight nuclides, on-ground environmental testing, and in-orbit measurements during science operations.
SPACE TELESCOPES AND INSTRUMENTATION 2022: ULTRAVIOLET TO GAMMA RAY
(2022)
