Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Bakhru, Hassaram

Publications and source records attributed to Bakhru, Hassaram.

12 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Comparison of Radiation Effects in Custom-and Commercially-Fabricated Resistive Memory Devices

The radiation response of TaO x -based RRAM devices fabricated in academic (Set A) and industrial (Set B) settings was compared. Ionization damage from a 60 Co gamma source did not cause any changes in device resistance for either device type, up to 45 Mrad(Si). Displacement damage from a heavy ion beam caused the Set B in the high resistance state to decrease in resistance at 1 x 10 21 oxygen displacements per cm 3 ; meanwhile, the Set A devices did not exhibit any decrease in resistance due to displacement damage. Both types of devices exhibited an increase in resistance around 3 x 10 22 oxygen displacements per cm 3 , possibly due to damage at the oxide/metal interfaces. These extremely high levels of damage represent near-total atomic disruption, and if this level of damage were ever reached, other circuit elements would likely fail before the RRAM devices in this study. Overall, both sets of devices were much more resistant to radiation effects than other devices reported in the literature. Displacement damage effects were only observed in the Set A devices once the displacement-induced oxygen vacancies surpassed the intrinsic vacancy concentration in the devices, suggesting that high oxygen vacancy concentration played a role in the devices’ high tolerance to displacement damage.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Lead-related quantum emitters in diamond

Here, we report on quantum emission from Pb-related color centers in diamond following ion implantation and high-temperature vacuum annealing. First-principles calculations predict a negatively charged Pb-vacancy (PbV) center in a split-vacancy configuration, with a zero-phonon transition around 2.4 eV. Cryogenic photoluminescence measurements performed on emitters in nanofabricated pillars reveal several transitions, including a prominent doublet near 520 nm. The splitting of this doublet, 5.7 THz, exceeds that reported for other group-IV centers. These observations are consistent with the PbV center, which is expected to have a combination of narrow optical transitions and stable spin states, making it a promising system for quantum network nodes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Ar+-Implanted Si-Waveguide Photodiodes for Mid-Infrared Detection

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible Ar+-implanted Si-waveguide p-i-n photodetectors operating in the mid-infrared (2.2 to 2.3 µm wavelengths) are demonstrated at room temperature. Responsivities exceeding 21 mA/W are measured at a 5 V reverse bias with an estimated internal quantum efficiency of 3.1%–3.7%. The dark current is found to vary from a few nanoamps down to less than 11 pA after post-implantation annealing at 350 °C. Linearity is demonstrated over four orders of magnitude, confirming a single-photon absorption process. The devices demonstrate a higher thermal processing budget than similar Si+-implanted devices and achieve higher responsivity after annealing up to 350 °C.

Souhan, Brian↗
DOE OSTI2015

Radiation damage by light- and heavy-ion bombardment of single-crystal LiNbO₃

In this work, a battery of analytical methods including in situ RBS/C, confocal micro-Raman, TEM/STEM, EDS, AFM, and optical microscopy were used to provide a comparative investigation of light- and heavy-ion radiation damage in single-crystal LiNbO₃. High (~MeV) and low (~100s keV) ion energies, corresponding to different stopping power mechanisms, were used and their associated damage events were observed. In addition, sequential irradiation of both ion species was also performed and their cumulative depth-dependent damage was determined. It was found that the contribution from electronic stopping by high-energy heavy ions gave rise to a lower critical fluence for damage formation than for the case of low-energy irradiation. Such energy-dependent critical fluence of heavy-ion irradiation is two to three orders of magnitude smaller than that for the case of light-ion damage. In addition, materials amorphization and collision cascades were seen for heavy-ion irradiation, while for light ion, crystallinity remained at the highest fluence used in the experiment. The irradiation-induced damage is characterized by the formation of defect clusters, elastic strain, surface deformation, as well as change in elemental composition. In particular, the presence of nanometric-scale damage pockets results in increased RBS/C backscattered signal and the appearance of normally forbidden Raman phonon modes. The location of the highest density of damage is in good agreement with SRIM calculations. (author)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Si⁺-implanted Si-wire waveguide photodetectors for the mid-infrared

CMOS-compatible Si⁺-implanted Si-waveguide p-i-n photodetectors operating at room temperature and at mid-infrared wavelengths from 2.2 to 2.3 µm are demonstrated. Responsivities of 9.9 ± 2.0 mA/W are measured at a 5 V reverse bias with an estimated internal quantum efficiency of 2.7 – 4.5%. The dark current is found to vary from a few microamps down to less than a nanoamp after a post-implantation annealing of 350°C. The measured photocurrent dependence on input power shows a linear correspondence over more than three decades, and the frequency response of a 250 µm-length p-i-n device is measured to be ~1.7 GHz for a wavelength of λ = 2.2 µm, thus potentially opening up new communication bands for photonic integrated circuits.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Synthesis and properties of ferromagnetic nanostructures embedded within a high-quality crystalline silicon matrix via ion implantation and nanocavity assisted gettering processes

Integrating magnetic functionalities with silicon holds the promise of developing, in the most dominant semiconductor, a paradigm-shift information technology based on the manipulation and control of electron spin and charge. Here, we demonstrate an ion implantation approach enabling the synthesis of a ferromagnetic layer within a defect free Si environment by exploiting an additional implant of hydrogen in a region deep below the metal implanted layer. Upon post-implantation annealing, nanocavities created within the H-implanted region act as trapping sites for gettering the implanted metal species, resulting in the formation of metal nanoparticles in a Si region of excellent crystal quality. This is exemplified by the synthesis of magnetic nickel nanoparticles in Si implanted with H{sup +} (range: ∼850 nm; dose: 1.5 × 10{sup 16 }cm{sup −2}) and Ni{sup +} (range: ∼60 nm; dose: 2 × 10{sup 15 }cm{sup −2}). Following annealing, the H implanted regions populated with Ni nanoparticles of size (∼10–25 nm) and density (∼10{sup 11}/cm{sup 2}) typical of those achievable via conventional thin film deposition and growth techniques. In particular, a maximum amount of gettered Ni atoms occurs after annealing at 900 °C, yielding strong ferromagnetism persisting even at room temperature, as well as fully recovered crystalline Si environments adjacent to these Ni nanoparticles. Furthermore, Ni nanoparticles capsulated within a high-quality crystalline Si layer exhibit a very high magnetic switching energy barrier of ∼0.86 eV, an increase by about one order of magnitude as compared to their counterparts on a Si surface or in a highly defective Si environment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Current leakage relaxation and charge trapping in ultra-porous low-k materials

Time dependent dielectric failure has become a pivotal aspect of interconnect design as industry pursues integration of sub-22 nm process-technology nodes. Literature has provided key information about the role played by individual species such as electrons, holes, ions, and neutral impurity atoms. However, no mechanism has been shown to describe how such species interact and influence failure. Current leakage relaxation in low-k dielectrics was studied using bipolar field experiments to gain insight into how charge carrier flow becomes impeded by defects within the dielectric matrix. Leakage current decay was correlated to injection and trapping of electrons. We show that current relaxation upon inversion of the applied field can be described by the stretched exponential function. The kinetics of charge trapping events are consistent with a time-dependent reaction rate constant, k=k{sub 0}⋅(t+1){sup β−1}, where 0 < β < 1. Such dynamics have previously been observed in studies of charge trapping reactions in amorphous solids by W. H. Hamill and K. Funabashi, Phys. Rev. B 16, 5523–5527 (1977). We explain the relaxation process in charge trapping events by introducing a nonlinear charge trapping model. This model provides a description on the manner in which the transport of mobile defects affects the long-tail current relaxation processes in low-k films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Detection and profiling of carbon via the {sup 13}C(P,{gamma}){sup 14}N resonant reaction

We have tested and standardized the profiling of {sup 13}C in various substrates, including silicon, by use of the {sup 13}C(p,{gamma}){sup 14}N resonance at 1.748 MeV. Depth resolution and interference factors will be shown. The large background due to silicon is not a significant difficulty for atomic concentrations of {sup 13}C which are greater than 1%. Background from elements heavier than Si are present but not significant. We show the mechanical details and results of the analysis program ALLPROF which also develops depth profiles for the light elements H, Li, {sup 11}B, {sup 13}C, {sup 14}N, {sup 15}N, F, Na, Al and P. By extension, the program and our system can profile natural B, C and N via the assumed natural ratio of isotopes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

A full range detector for the HIRRBS high resolution RBS magnetic spectrometer

The UAlbany HIRRBS (High Resolution RBS) system has been updated for better use in rapid analysis. The focal plane detector now covers the full range from U down to O using a linear stepper motor to translate the 1-cm detector across the 30-cm range. Input is implemented with zero-back-angle operation in all cases. The chamber has been modified to allow for quick swapping of sample holders, including a channeling goniometer. A fixed standard surface-barrier detector allows for normal RBS simultaneously with use of the magnetic spectrometer. The user can select a region on the standard spectrum or can select an element edge or an energy point for collection of the expanded spectrum portion. The best resolution currently obtained is about 2-to-3 keV, probably representing the energy width of the incoming beam. Calibration is maintained automatically for any spectrum portion and any beam energy from 1.0 to 3.5 MeV. Element resolving power, sensitivity and depth resolution are shown using several examples. Examples also show the value of simultaneous conventional RBS.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2011

Method For Silicon Surface Texturing Using Ion Implantation

As the semiconductor industry continues to show more interest in the photovoltaic market, cheaper and readily integrable methods of silicon solar cell production are desired. One of these methods - ion implantation - is well-developed and optimized in all commercial semiconductor fabrication facilities. Here we have developed a silicon surface texturing technique predicated upon the phenomenon of surface blistering of H-implanted silicon, using only ion implantation and thermal annealing. We find that following the H implant with a second, heavier implant markedly enhances the surface blistering, causing large trenches that act as a surface texturing of c-Si. We have found that this method reduces total broadband Si reflectance from 35% to below 5percent;. In addition, we have used Rutherford backscattering/channeling measurements investigate the effect of ion implantation on the crystallinity of the sample. The data suggests that implantation-induced lattice damage is recovered upon annealing, reproducing the original monocrystalline structure in the previously amorphized region, while at the same time retaining the textured surface.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗