Improved double-gate armchair silicene nanoribbon field-effect-transistor at large transport bandgap

The electrical characteristics of a double-gate armchair silicene nanoribbon field-effect-transistor(DG ASi NR FET)are thoroughly investigated by using a ballistic quantum transport model based on non-equilibrium Green's function(NEGF) approach self-consistently coupled with a three-dimensional(3D) Poisson equation. We evaluate the influence of variation in uniaxial tensile strain, ribbon temperature and oxide thickness on the on-off current ratio, subthreshold swing, transconductance and the delay time of a 12-nm-length ultranarrow ASi NR FET. A novel two-parameter strain magnitude and temperature-dependent model is presented for designing an optimized device possessing balanced amelioration of all the electrical parameters. We demonstrate that employing Hf O2 as the gate insulator can be a favorable choice and simultaneous use of it with proper combination of temperature and strain magnitude can achieve better device performance.Furthermore, a general model power(GMP) is derived which explicitly provides the electron effective mass as a function of the bandgap of a hydrogen passivated ASi NR under strain.     

Fabrication of a liquid-gated enzyme field effect device for sensitive glucose detection

This study presents fabrication of a liquid-gated enzyme field effect device and its implementation as a glucose biosensor. The device consisted of four electrodes on a glass substrate with a channel functionalized by carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes-polyaniline nanocomposite (MWCNTCOOH/PAn) and glucose oxidase. The resistance of functionalized channel increased with increasing the concentration of glucose when an electric field was applied to the liquid gate. The most effective and stable performance was obtained at the applied electric field of 100 mV. The device resistance, R, exhibited a linear relationship with the logarithm of glucose concentration in the range between 0.005 and 500 mM glucose. The detection limit (S/N = 3) for glucose was about 0.5 μM. Large effective area and good conductivity properties of MWCNTCOOH/PAn nanocomposite were the key features of the fabricated sensitive and stable glucose biosensor.     

An air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell with a finny anode

Using COMSOL multiphysics software and a previously validated 3D numerical model, performances of a novel air-breathing microfluidic fuel cell (MFFC) are discussed. The microfluidic fuel cell employs a simple structure composed of a flow channel with sloped upper wall, a gas diffusion cathode and a finny anode. Furthermore it can reduce the losses related to mixing in fuel-electrolyte interface and also promote the replenishment of the depletion layer on anode surfaces. Thus, high fuel utilization can be achieved. Numerical simulations show that the fuel utilization can be up to 70%.     

Tight-binding study of quantum transport in nanoscale GaAs Schottky MOSFET

This paper explores the band structure effect to elucidate the feasibility of an ultra-scaled GaAs Schottky MOSFET (SBFET) in a nanoscale regime. We have employed a 20-band sp3d5s* tight-binding (TB) approach to compute E K dispersion. The considerable difference between the extracted effective masses from the TB approach and bulk values implies that quantum confinement affects the device performance. Beside high injection velocity, the ultra-scaled GaAs SBFET suffers from a low conduction band DOS in the Γ valley that results in serious degradation of the gate capacitance. Quantum confinement also results in an increment of the effective Schottky barrier height (SBH). Enhanced Schottky barriers form a double barrier potential well along the channel that leads to resonant tunneling and alters the normal operation of the SBFET. Major factors that may lead to resonant tunneling are investigated. Resonant tunneling occurs at low temperatures and low drain voltages, and gradually diminishes as the channel thickness and the gate length scale down. Accordingly, the GaAs (100) SBFET has poor ballistic performance in nanoscale regime.     

Double step buried oxide (DSBO) SOI-MOSFET: A proposed structure for improving self-heating effects

For the first time, a novel structure named as double step buried oxide silicon-on-insulator-MOSFET (DSBO-SOI) is proposed, which can combine the advantages of both SOI structure and bulk structure. Design consideration for a 30 nm channel length SOI-MOSFET employing double step buried oxide (DSBO) is presented. The electrical characteristics and temperature distribution are analyzed and compared with ultra-thin body silicon-on-insulator (UTB-SOI) MOSFET. The DSBO devices are shown to have better leakage and sub-threshold characteristics. Furthermore, the channel temperature is reduced during high-temperature operation and drain current increase suggesting that DSBO can mitigate the self-heating penalty effectively. Our results suggest that DSBO is an alternative to silicon dioxide as the buried dielectric in SOI, and expands the application of SOI to high temperature.     

A first-principles study on DNA sequencing using graphene quantum dot

In this paper, we propose a new device based on graphene quantum dot (GQD) to interrogate nucleotide in a DNA molecule. We have conducted non-equilibrium Green’s function together with the density functional theory simulations to show zero transmission curves for a system which includes nucleobases. The simulation results indicates several characteristic peaks in the electron transmission curve for any single base on the quantum dot which can be utilized to distinguish between bases. Number and positions of the peaks, as well as their amplitude, depend on the type of the bases and their relative position to the dot. Thus, this structure shows remarkable distinction characteristic in zero bias transmission curve and can yield minimal ambiguity in the adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine nucleotide detection. Due to stacking of nucleobases on the graphene and consequent attenuation in directional fluctuations, stable measurement is also expected.     

Immobilization of glucose oxidase on ZnO nanorods decorated electrolyte-gated field effect transistor for glucose detection

In this paper, we report on growth of ZnO nanorods on the surface of gold interdigital electrodes and its implementation as a conductive n-type channel for the fabrication of a liquid-gated field effect transistor. Glucose oxidase was immobilized on the surface of the ZnO nanorods and the fabricated device was used as a four-electrode glucose biosensor. The resistance of the conductive channel was affected by addition of glucose. The applied bias voltage to the gate in the fabricated device affects the channel resistance in the same manner as the increase of enzymatic products during the glucose oxidation. Large effective area, good conductivity, and biocompatibility properties of ZnO nanorods are the key features in this highly sensitive and stable biosensor. Our measurements showed that the threshold voltage of transistor was about 0.75 V. The current increased in the presence of the glucose and exhibited a dynamic linear range with the logarithm of glucose concentration in the range between 0.01 and 5 mM. The detection limit was about 3.8 μM.     

An interesting route using electron-beam lithography and photolithography to pattern submicron interdigitated electrodes array for sensing applications

Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society - Increasing the interest in the silicon-based devices resulted in developing new methods and techniques to achieve advanced and more reliable designs and...     

A capillary force model for interactions between two spheres

Based on the method of energy principle, an analytical approach for computing the capillary force for sphere/sphere geometry is presented in this paper. In modeling the capillary force, we consider spheres with both equal and non-equal radii, for both symmetric and asymmetric configurations at liquid/solid interfaces. We use numerical analysis to investigate the validity and efficiency of the derived model. The effect of various parameters including humidity, distance between two spheres, radii of spheres and contact angles on the meniscus force are investigated. Finally the results obtained from the model are compared with experimental measurements, and the accuracy and precision of the presented approach is verified.