AFOSR

AOARD Physics & Electronics

16 March 2011

Gregg Jessen
Program Manager
AFOSR/AOARD
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Distribution A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 88ABW-2011-0761
 2011 AFOSR SPRING REVIEW
AOARD Physics & Electronics
NAME: Gregg Jessen

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PORTFOLIO:

Physics and electronics in Asia. Covers theoretical and experimental
aspects of new technologies in the areas of electronic devices, optical
devices, nanotechnology and enabling materials over the entire
electro-magnetic spectrum. Provide support for domestic programs
as needed.
Scope
Needs
Strategy for sub-area selection: Opportunity!
1. Interesting new science
2. Customer/need driven
3. Funds Funds Interest

LIST SUB-AREAS IN PORTFOLIO:

Thin-film transistors, tunable metamaterials, wide-bandgap materials,
reliability physics, bio-inspired nano-fabrication, topological insulators
2
 Challenges and Opportunities

Projects
• CSWAP (Cost, Size, Weight, and Power) is a
continuous challenge Topological
Insulators
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials metamaterials

• Scaling challenges in terms of both device

physics and techniques to produce ultra-low Bio-inspired
dimensions nanostructures

• Improving performance of low-cost devices

ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 3
 AOARD Physics & Electronics
Program Trends
• Low-cost, high performance electronics: (InGa)ZnO
TFTs
• Novel fabrication techniques: Bio-nano devices
• Topological insulators
• Reliability physics (MURI and support projects)
• Actively tunable metamaterials – plasma, capacitor,
FET, slow light
• Wireless interconnects: Open ring resonators
• E/M simulation: Inverse scattering algorithms
m-plan

•
homoepi

Materials growth and characterization: Widebandgap

• THz sources
• Graphene FETs, CNT films
4
 Challenges and Opportunities

• For physics and electronics, CSWAP (Cost, Size, Projects

Weight, and Power) is a continuous challenge
Topological
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting Insulators
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction
Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials
metamaterials
• Scaling challenges in terms of both device
physics and techniques to produce ultra-low
Bio-inspired
dimensions
nanostructures
• Cost of production and improving device
performance for economical devices
ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 5
 Topological Insulators
“Exploration of New Principles in Spintronics Based on Spin Hall Insulators”

Challenges/ New class of materials that are internally insulating with a spin polarized conductive surface.
Opportunities: Entirely new classes of electronic devices are possible.
New Science: Finding materials with large enough bandgap to observe physics at room temperature.
Directly measuring spin polarized states remains a goal for everyone in the field.

• Search for new topological insulator

materials
• Exploring ternary chalcogenides
based on theoretical predictions
• Address material quality issues
interfering with advanced transport
measurements
• Could fabricate TI-ferromagnet
devices
• Spintronics, sensitive microwave
Spin-Filtered
detectors, quantum computing
Surface State Prof. Yoichi Ando 6
Osaka University, Japan
 Topological Insulators: Recent Results
• Most insulating TI materials to date! • Found new TI material: TlBiSe2
• Bulk defects mask surface spin • Largest bandgap to date!  0.35 eV
• Observed surface quantum oscillation • Room temperature physics possible!
ARPES measurement

TlBiSe2

EG

7
Prof. Yoichi Ando
Phys. Rev. B (Dec. 2010) Phys. Rev. Lett. (Sept. 2010)
Osaka University
 Challenges and Opportunities

• For physics and electronics, CSWAP (Cost, Size, Projects

Weight, and Power) is a continuous challenge
Topological
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting Insulators
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction
Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials
metamaterials
• Scaling challenges in terms of both device
physics and techniques to produce ultra-low
Bio-inspired
dimensions
nanostructures
• Cost of production and improving device
performance for economical devices
ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 8
 Actively Tunable Metamaterials
“Plasma Metamaterials for Arbitrary Complex-Amplitude Wave Filters”

Challenges/ Metamaterials offer potential for synthetic materials with programmable properties. Many
Opportunities: theoretical predictions exist. Materials with real-time tunable properties can be realized.
New Science: Design tunable complex permittivity/permeability leveraging expertise in plasma physics as
a function of applied voltage, pressure, gas, etc. RF band-structure properties unknown.

double- • Arrays formed by micro-cavity plasmas

and double helical plasmas on
helix microstrip waveguides
• Tune real and imaginary portions of
permittivity by changing voltage and
gas pressure/composition
• Control amplitude and phase
independently by switching periodicity
microplasma array • Demonstrated band-pass and phase-
delay tunability in X-band range
• Materials can be flexible and
accommodate multi-input/output
• Applications include band-pass/stop
filters, arbitrary complex-value
converters, phase-shifters

Prof. Osamu Sakai

9
Kyoto University
 Actively Tunable Metamaterials
“Plasma Metamaterials for Arbitrary Complex-Amplitude Wave Filters”

double-helix index plasma permittivity S21

pe 1
2

n     1 2
 1  j ( m /  )
15
He at 760Torr
He: 760 Torr

Ar:
Ar at 760Torr
200 Torr ne -3)
ne (cm
11 -3
10 1x10 cm
low-3
11
0.20
2x10 cm
Im(ε)
Im()

11
5x10 cm
-3
4
12 -3
1x10 cm 0.15
12 -3
2x10 cm
5 12 -3
5x10 cm
Ar:at50Torr

Im(S21)
Ar 50 Torr 13
1x10 cm
-3 0.10
13
2x10 cm
-3
1
Ar5Torr
Ar: at 5 Torr 13
5x10high
cm
-3
0.05
~10 µs
0 ~2 µs
-10 -5 0 5 10 3
Re() 0.00
Re(ε)
• Directly tunable permittivity via -0.05 2
voltage and gas pressure/composition -0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.2
• Tunable in µ-second regime Re(S21)
10
 Challenges and Opportunities

• For physics and electronics, CSWAP (Cost, Size, Projects

Weight, and Power) is a continuous challenge
Topological
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting Insulators
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction
Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials
metamaterials
• Scaling challenges in terms of both device
physics and techniques to produce ultra-low
Bio-inspired
dimensions
nanostructures
• Cost of production and improving device
performance for economical devices
ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 11
 Bio-Inspired Nanostructures
“New Functional Devices Using Bio-Nano Process”

Challenges/ Top down lithography approaches limited at extremely small scales. Combination of bottom-
Opportunities: up and top-down is required for next-generation devices.
New Science: Design new materials using biological self-assembly processes.

• Use supramolecular protein to

self assemble nanostructures
mRNA Polypeptide
Folding Protein • Uniform dimensions
Ribosome Assembly
• Low-temperature process
RNA polymerase
• Low-cost and easy process
DNA
Supramolecular protein
• Can be functionalized for site
selectivity (Ag, Ti, Si)
φ 7 nm • Ferritin can be used to
φ 12 nm incorporate Fe, Ni, and Co
• Core size controllable
Ferritin Prof. Uraoka
12
NAIST, Nara Japan
 Bio-Layer-By-Layer Method

• Method of stacking supramolecular proteins

to form advanced multi-layer structures
• Can be site-selective
• Can use a bio-mineralization process for
dielectric formation
binding
protein

nano-particle 2
nano-particle 1

mineralization

binding 13
binding
 Fabrication of MOS Capacitor

Bio-LBL Anneal in N2 SiO2 PECVD Ti electrode

removes ferritin deposition deposition
cobalt remains

Ti

20 nm SiO2
BND layer
3 nm SiO2
p-Si(100)
Al
14
Bio-LBL Capacitor!
 C-V characteristics of MOS capacitors

Without cobalt nanodot arrays With cobalt nanodot arrays

Charge injected into nanodots
Normalized Capacitance (V)

1.2

0.8

0.4

0
-10 0 10
Bias Voltage (V)

• Demonstration of device potential

• More complex heterostructures
Ni Co Fe
possible! 15
 Challenges and Opportunities

• For physics and electronics, CSWAP (Cost, Size, Projects

Weight, and Power) is a continuous challenge
Topological
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting Insulators
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction
Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials
metamaterials
• Scaling challenges in terms of both device
physics and techniques to produce ultra-low
Bio-inspired
dimensions
nanostructures
• Cost of production and improving device
performance for economical devices
ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 16
 ZnO Thin Film Transistors
“Unique Degradation Phenomena under Dynamically Stressed IGZO TFTs”

Challenges/ Due to electronic orbital properties of ZnO materials, low-cost electronic devices can be
Opportunities: fabricated on almost any surface with very high performance
New Science: The exact nature of the carrier transport at the grain boundaries in these devices is still
being studied. Physical causes of degradation and instabilities are also unknown.

• Orbital symmetry makes carrier

transport properties robust in
[ 5 nm]

presence of disorder/defects
• Large bandgap (3.4 eV) – Transparent,
high breakdown
• Compatible with printable, flexible,
[µm] large area processing
• Cheap and abundant
• High-performance thin film devices
with large range of applications

Prof. Yukihara Uraoka

17
NAIST, Nara, Japan
 TFT Electrical Characterization
Transition Time Dependence
Vg pulse Vg pulse
500 ns 500 ns
Vmax Vmax
Vmin Vmin
100 ns 100 ns
-4 -4
10 10
Drain Current [A]

Drain Current [A]

-6 -6
10 10
-8 Stress time (s) -8 Stress time (s)
10 Before 10 Before
-10 1 -10 1
10 10 10 10
-12 100 -12 100
10 1000 10 1000
10000 10000
-14 -14
10 10
-20 -10 0 10 20 -20 -10 0 10 20
Gate Voltage [V] Gate Voltage [V]

Falling edge of the pulse accelerates degradation 18

 TFT Reliability Physics
High-Energy-Electron Defect Formation
Initial Switching to ＋Vg Switching to －Vg
Gate Insulator

IGZO

S D Metal

G
Glass sub. S D S D
S D
EC EC EC
Channel Channel Channel

• Switch from +Vg  -Vg: electrons gain higher energy and

create defects at interfaces
• SIMS measurements show H decrease after stress; hot
19
electrons could interact with defect-passivating H and release it
 Challenges and Opportunities

• For physics and electronics, CSWAP (Cost, Size, Projects

Weight, and Power) is a continuous challenge
Topological
• Limitations are fundamental capacitance limiting Insulators
speed, fundamental understanding of
particle/quasi-particle interaction
Actively
• Design of new materials to perform new functions tunable
and availability of such materials
metamaterials
• Scaling challenges in terms of both device
physics and techniques to produce ultra-low
Bio-inspired
dimensions
nanostructures
• Cost of production and improving device
performance for economical devices
ZnO TFTs
• Fundamental physical understanding of failure
mechanisms of electronic devices UF Reliability
MURI 20
 “A 21st Century Approach to Reliability”
University of Florida Reliability MURI

Challenges/ Device reliability remains a critical issue for all DoD applications. Physical understanding
Opportunities: and lifetime prediction are notoriously difficult.
New Science: New integrating models are being built to incorporate materials physics, E/M, carrier
transport which are material independent. New nondestructive noise measurement
techniques can yield information about trap energy level and spatial location.

• Device reliability historically is

an ENGINEERING approach
• NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
EA = ?
• We require ability to PREDICT
EA = 2.0 eV
based on FUNDAMENTAL
PHYSICS
• UF approach uses object-
oriented simulator to integrate
theory and experiment

*2007 Mantech. Singhal, et al. Nitronex

• Developing interesting low-
frequency noise
Prof. Mark Law
U. of Florida, Gainesville
characterization technique 21
Defect spectroscopy using noise
“A 21st Century Approach to Reliability”

• 1/f noise is an indicator of

interface quality and defects
• Lorentzian noise is an
excellent point defect probe
• Non-destructive technique
• Sensitive to pre- and post-
stress measurements
• Applicable to all devices
• Early predictor for reliability:
Large changes in noise are
observed even for modest
stress test conditions

Prof. Gijs Bosman 22

U. of Florida, Gainesville
 Recent Transitions
AOARD Discoveries Supported by Others

• Metamaterials Program – AFRL/RX (Thorp, Urbas)

– Plasma metamaterials; Kyoto University, Japan
– Nonlinear optical pulsed controlled metamaterials; IIT Kanpur, India
– Slow-wave metamaterials; Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
– Electrically tunable; Macquarie University, RMIT; Australia
– Fiber Optic metamaterials; University of Sydney; Australia
– Microwave absorbers; Nanyang Tech.; Singapore

• Nano-bio processing – AFRL/RX (Grote)

– New device fabrication techniques; NAIST, Nara, Japan

• WBG pulsed CL – DARPA/MTO (Albrecht)

– Advanced materials characterization physics, Tohoku U., Japan
23
 Transformational Opportunities
Ubiquitous Sensing Paradigm Shift
Low-Cost Crowd-sourcing Composite Data
Electronics „Internet of Things‟ Reconstruct Environment

http://www.garagesalepreview.com/ifixit-completes-early-teardown-of-iphone-4/

http://s849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51/apigee/?action=view&current=flickr-photo-map-world.png

24
Humans as Sensors
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/143833998_bc7dd42e4c.jpg http://uwnews.org/photos.asp?articleID=37724&spid=37725
 AOARD Physics & Electronics
Summary
• AOARD Physics & Electronics Strategy:
– Focus on challenges outlined in TD mission statements such
as CTCs and Layered Sensing vision
– Seeks to exploit transformational opportunities
• Current Areas Discussed:
– Enabling Physics and Materials: Topological Insulators
– Actively Tunable Metamaterials: Plasma based
– Low Cost Devices and Integration Techniques: Bio-nano, ZnO
– Reliability: ZnO, MURI

• New opportunities observed for „low-grade‟ electronics

• Portfolio always adapts to new opportunities
25
AOARD Physics & Electronics
Summary

Thank You!
Questions?

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