Investigation of Vertical Current Phenomena in the Insulator/Oxide Semiconductor Heterojunction Using XPS Analysis and an Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Treatment System

Abstract

Transferring charge carriers through an insulator film between two metal electrodes is a major issue in various electronic devices, including metal/insulator/metal (MIM) diodes and resistive switching memories. Recently, a concept has been proposed that can unidirectionally control the direction and magnitude of the vertical current in a metal/ insulator/oxide semiconductor/metal (MIOSM) structure by utilizing a bulk-limited conduction mechanism, which depends on the trap and subgap states in the insulator. This shows the potential to expand the processing window of conventional electronic devices, which follow the electrode-limited conduction mechanism, but is still insufficient to provide direct evidence that the flow of the electrical current in the MIOSM structure is due to the bulk-limited conduction within the insulator. In this study, we fabricated P ++ Si/AlO x /Al (MIM) and P ++ Si/AlO x /a-IGZO/Al (MIOSM) thin film diodes using a solution-processed aluminum oxide as an insulator layer, which has relatively rich subgap states. After the AlO x thin film was fabricated, atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP) treatment was performed for different times on the AlO x thin film. Through XPS analysis of AlO x , we confirmed the correlation between the atmospheric plasma treatment time on the insulator, and the defect state was thereby controlled. Furthermore, we observed that this correlation directly affects the I−V curves of MIM and MIOSM diodes. These results provide a clue for employing an approach of the current flow through an insulating film to applications such as rectifiers, switching devices, amplifiers, and oxide thin film diodes.

Tunneling Electron-Mediated Electrochemical Activation of Peroxydisulfate for the Removal of Refractory Pollutants

“…This process of hot electron transport within the insulator CB is susceptible to notable kinetic energy loss, attributed to inelastic electron–phonon scattering. Consequently, the electrons may undergo thermalization to the edge of the insulator CB before traversing the barrier. , As such, in the n + Si/Al 2 O 3 -E-PS system, direct tunneling of electrons accounts for the majority of the e solv – formation. FN-tunneled electrons have several possible routes, but only a fraction of them can contribute to e solv – formation .…”

Bottom‐Gate Approach for All Basic Logic Gates Implementation by a Single‐Type IGZO‐Based MOS Transistor with Reduced Footprint

“…The Ni/Au metal electrode‐IGZO channel contact was also investigated . As shown in Figure S7 (Supporting Information), both the role of the IGZO thickness and the resistance of the metal‐IGZO contact were investigated.…”

Ionovoltaics in energy harvesting and applications: A journey from early development to current state‐of‐the‐art

“…61 A porous semiconductor based on CuO nanowires was fabricated, and its electrical properties were controlled by atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment (Figure 12A). [117][118][119][120] Increasing the carrier concentration of CuO nanowires by prolonging the APP time led to an improvement in the output performance of the waterinfiltration-induced ionovoltaic device (Figure 12B,C). The output voltage and current were easily amplified when the devices were connected in series and parallel (Figure 12D), and only 5 μL of NaCl solution was infiltrated into each device.…”