IR spectroscopy has been used to investigate the properties of H and D in single crystals of the transparent conducting oxides, SnO2, and In2O3. H introduces several O-H stretching lines and also the broad absorption arising from free carriers. IR spectroscopy has been used to identify the sources of n-type conductivity, its thermal stability, and the reactions of H-containing defects. The properties of OH and OD centers in TiO2, while studied for decades, reveal new surprises and properties that are in sharp contrast to the shallow, H-related donors seen in SnO2 and In2O3. Recent theory and EPR experiments find that electrons in TiO2 become self-trapped at Ti sites to form small polarons. The OD center in TiO2 shows a multiline vibrational spectrum with an unusual temperature dependence that can be explained by a small polaron model with the donor electron self-trapped at different Ti sites near the OD oscillator.
Uniaxial-stress experiments performed for the 3306 cm−1 vibrational line assigned to the interstitial-hydrogen, shallow-donor center in In2O3 reveal its symmetry and transition-moment direction. The defect alignment that can be produced by a [001] stress applied at 165 K is due to a process that is also a hydrogen-diffusion jump, providing a microscopic determination of the diffusion constant for H in In2O3 and its mechanism. Our experimental results strongly complement the theoretical predictions for the structure and diffusion of the interstitial hydrogen donor center in In2O3.
The introduction of a large concentration of H into VO2 is known to suppress the insulating phase of the metal-insulator transition that occurs upon cooling below 340 K. We have used infrared spectroscopy and complementary theory to study the properties of interstitial H and D in VO2 in the dilute limit to determine the vibrational frequencies, thermal stabilities, and equilibrium positions of isolated interstitial H and D centers. The vibrational lines of several OH and OD centers were observed to have thermal stabilities similar to that of the hydrogen that suppresses the insulating phase. Theory associates two of the four possible OH configurations for Hi in the insulating VO2 monoclinic phase with OH lines seen by experiment. Furthermore, theory predicts the energies and vibrational frequencies for configurations with Hi trapped near a substitutional impurity and suggests such defects as candidates for additional OH centers that have been observed.
Root cause analysis of parametric failures in mixed-signal IC designs has been a challenging topic due to the marginality of failure modes. This work presents two case studies of offset voltage (Vos) failures which are commonly seen in mixed-signal IC designs. Nanoprobing combined with Cadence simulation becomes a powerful methodology in fault isolation. Large Vos is typically caused by the mismatch of electrical properties of the components on two balanced rails. In our first case, we present a case-study of nanoprobing combined with bench test and Cadence simulation to debug the root cause of a class-D amplifier voltage offset related yield loss from mixedsignal design sensitivity. Bench electrical measurements confirm the dependency of offset voltage (Vos) on boost voltage (VBST) and amplifier gain settings, which isolates the root cause from mismatch in amplifier gain resistors. The bench measurements match extremely well when an extra parasitic resistance is added to the input of the amplifier in the Cadence simulation. Kelvin 4 points nanoprobing on the amplifier input matching resistors confirmed a 40% mismatch as a result of both layout sensitivity and fabrication. This case highlights that the role of nanoprobing combined with Cadence simulation is not only valuable in physical failure root cause analysis but also in providing guidance to a potential process fix for current and future designs. In our second case, a decrease in offset voltage (Vos) is found through bench validation by reducing the supply voltage (VDD), suggesting a new mismatch mechanism related to the body-source bias. Nanoprobing of the input PMOS transistors clearly shows humps in the subthreshold region of IV characteristics, and the severity of humps increases with body-source bias. Vos derived from the nanoprobing results aligns well with the bench data, suggesting hump effect to be the root cause of Vos deviation. This study suggests that by combining Cadence simulation and nanoprobing in the failure analysis process of parametric failures, suspicious problematic devices can be identified more easily, greatly reducing the need for trial and error.
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