MICRO-PLASMA FET

(MOPFET)

Presented by,
S Nitisha (M130151EC)
OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Definitions
• Plasma Generation
• Fabrication Process Flow
• Operational Principle
• Current Equation
• Electrical Characteristics
• COMSOL simulations
• Hybrid pi – model
• Performance of device in harsh environments
• Applications
• Conclusions
INTRODUCTION

• Semiconductor devices do not tolerate harsh environments

such as heat and radiation

• They short out when excited to heat or radiation

• MOPFETs are immune to these conditions by deploying the

components of ionized gases as charge carriers

• Immunity of MOPFETs to extreme heat and radiation is due to

the small interaction cross section between gas molecules
and radiation
DEFINITIONS

• Plasma – “ionized form of a gas”

• Microplasma – plasmas of small dimensions ranging from ten
to thousands of micrometres
• MOPFET – Metal Oxide Plasma Field Effect Transistor employs
microplasma to generate charge carriers in the channel which
contribute to the drain to source current controlled by the gate
voltage
PLASMA GENERATION
 There are two approaches to generate
plasma
• Using strong electric field between drain
and source
• Using a separate device nearby
 Gases that ionize into positive ions are
chosen because they are more stable than
negative ions
 Examples of plasma gases are Noble gases
such as He, Ne, Ar, Xe
 Depending on the density of plasma the
MOPFET may be designed to operate as an
enhancement mode or as a depletion mode
device
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 1

• MOPFETs are fabricated on glass substrates because glass

is a good insulator and hence results in less leakage current
compared to the devices based on silicon substrate.
• A 4”X4” glass of thickness 2.5mm is considered as the
substrate
• Technique used for cleaning - RCA
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 2

• A 50nm HfO2 layer is deposited on the substrate

• Technique used for deposition is Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)

• Purpose of this layer is for selective etching

• HfO2 is used as an etch stop layer for processing SiO2 in

reactive ion etching (RIE)
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 3

• Technique used for deposition is Plasma enhanced chemical

vapour deposition (PECVD)
• Temperature – 300 degree centigrade
• Deposition rate – 61 nm/minute
• Purpose – to define ledges on the device
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 4

• The first metallization layer is deposited by sputtering 100nm

of chromium
• Patterned using Photolithography
• Etched in Cr – 14 etchant
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 5

• The patterned PR and Cr are used to dry etch the underlying

SiO2 to form ledges
• Etching technique used is Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)
• RIE : CF4/O2 recipe is used at 200W and 75mtorr

• The ALD HFO2 underneath the PECVD SiO2 act as a very

reliable etch stopant
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 6

• After the PR is stripped off 50nm thick layer of Al2O3 is

deposited at 200 degree centigrade
• This is patterned using BOE (Buffered Oxide Etch)
• Purpose - to form insulating regions above S/D electrodes
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 7

• 2μm polysilicon is sputtered to form the sacrificial layer

• A photolithography and RIE are followed to pattern the
polysilicon into stubs just above the active device region
FABRICATION OF MOPFET – STEP 8,9,10

Ref: Faisal K. Chowdhury1, Yuying Zhang1, and M. Tabib-Azar, “FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION
OF 3D MICRO-PLASMA FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS” MEMS 2013, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 667-672
SECTIONAL VIEW OF MOPFET
ENHANCEMENT & DEPLETION MODES
 D-MOPFET
• When the plasma ion density is sufficiently high, the gate electrode
field effect depletes the D-S channel to reduce the channel
conductance
• Accordingly the conductive path provided by the plasma ions gets
switched off by supply of voltage to the gate electrode

 E-MOPFET
• When the starting ion density is low, D-S voltage ionizes the gas
molecules
• The gate electrode in this case changes the “starter ion”
concentration and modifies the ionization voltage
• Thus, the same transistor operates as E-MOPFET when the plasma
density is low, but sufficient to enable Vds to ionize near-by gas
molecules and increase the D-S channel conductance.
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES

• Helium plasma is generated by a separate torch placed

over the device
• In this configuration the drain source electrodes last
much longer compared to internal generation of plasmas
• In the latter case, the drain source electrodes are directly
involved in generating the plasma, they become
aggressively sputtered and deteriorate much faster
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES

Ref: Yuying Zhang,Pradeep Pai, Faisal K. Chowdhury and Massood Tabib-Azar, “Operation
Principles of Micro-Plasma Field-Effect Transistors” 2013 Transducers & Eurosensors
XXVII: The 17th International Conference on Digital Object Identifier, 2013, pp. 578 – 581
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES

• In separate medium configuration, the MOPFET’s

behaviour is very similar to Langmuir Probe
• Langmuir probes consists of two electrodes that when
immersed in the plasma can be used to measure plasma
conductance
• There are three regimes in the Langmuir I-V
characteristics: depletion, accumulation and saturation
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES

• Gate voltage rearranges the distribution of charge carriers in

the ionized gas
• When a positive MOPFET gate voltage is applied with respect
to the source, the ions are repelled and the electrons are
attracted to the gate region.
• When a negative gate voltage is applied, the ions are
attracted to the gate region while the electrons are repelled.
These positive ions contribute to the flow of current between
the drain and source
LANGMUIR PROBE VS. MOPFET

Ref: Yuying Zhang,Pradeep Pai, Faisal K. Chowdhury and Massood Tabib-Azar, “Operation
Principles of Micro-Plasma Field-Effect Transistors” 2013 Transducers & Eurosensors
XXVII: The 17th International Conference on Digital Object Identifier, 2013, pp. 578 – 581
CURRENT EQUATION
• The equation for terminal characteristics of a MOPFET
operating in the accumulation region is given by:

 Where, Vds is the drain to source voltage

m=
Ii is the current in the depletion region
Mi is the mass of the ions
Me is the mass of the electrons
K is the Boltzmann constant
Te is the electron temperature
q is the charge of electron
V0 is the intrinsic plasma potential
VG is the gate voltage
α and β are the fitting parameters
For helium plasma m = 137
ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RF PLASMA

Experimental I-V characteristics

EXPERIMENTAL & CALCULATED I-VS

Ii = 5.68 μA
Te = 97,000K
V0 = 20V
α = 0.021 V-1
β = 0.005 V-1
DC PLASMA
• The setup for DC plasma consisted of two Keithley 237 SMUs
where one SMU controlled the drain-source voltage and
measured the drain current where the second SMU controlled
the gate voltage.
COMSOL SIMULATION FOR VG=-50V
• The mechanism of electronic versus ionic control of the
channel conductance of MOPFETs is shown through
simulation using COMSOL Multiphysics
COMSOL SIMULATION FOR VG= OV
COMSOL SIMULATION FOR VG=50V
HYBRID PI - MODEL
MOPFET IN A NUCLEAR REACTOR
• Ne filled MOPFET is exposed to 90kW nuclear reactor and their
switching characteristics were recorded as a function of radiation
time.
• The switch-on voltage varied by less than 5% throughout the 120
minutes of exposure.
MOPFET IN A HEATER
• At high temperature of about 100 degree Centigrade,
the switch-on characteristics decreases by less than
1% and 4% when temperature was increased to 200
degree Centigrade.
APPLICATIONS

• Nuclear Power stations

• Outer space explorations
• Combustion engines
• Chemical furnaces
• Defence electronics – currently running project
under DARPA
CONCLUSIONS

• A hopeful technology that would enable a

revolutionary new class of electronics and signal
processing devices
• capable of switching high-carrier densities
(1018/cm³) with speeds of 100ps or faster
• Has a promising future in DoD and other
electronics which work in extreme conditions
REFERENCES
• Y. Wen, F. K. Chowdhury and M. Tabib-Azar, "Microplasma Field Effect Transistors," In
Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Mems), 2012 IEEE 25 th International Conference
On DOI, 2012, pp. 293-296
• Yuying Zhang,Pradeep Pai, Faisal K. Chowdhury and Massood Tabib-Azar, “Operation
Principles of Micro-Plasma Field-Effect Transistors” In Solid-State Sensors, Actuators
and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS & EUROSENSORS XXVII), 2013 Transducers &
Eurosensors XXVII: The 17th International Conference on Digital Object Identifier,
2013, pp. 578 – 581
• H. Rahaman, B.-J. Lee, I. Petzenhauser, K. Frank, J. Urban, and R. Stark, "Switching
characteristics of micro plasmas in a planar electrode gap, “Applied Physics Letters, vol.
90, p. 131505, 2007
• Faisal K. Chowdhury1, Yuying Zhang1, and M. Tabib-Azar, “FABRICATION AND
CHARACTERIZATION OF 3D MICRO-PLASMA FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS”
MEMS 2013, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 667-672
• M.Lieberman And A. Lichtenberg, Principles Of Plasma Discharges And Materials
Processing: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.
• Mingming Cai, F. K. Chowdhury, and M.Tabib-Azar, "Microplasma field effect
devices,“ in Sensor, Taipei,2012.
Thank You