{"title":"Design and optimization of variable gain LNA for IoT applications using meta-heuristics search algorithms","authors":"Dheeraj Kalra , Mayank Srivastava","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112125","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112125","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>In this paper, Variable Gain LNA (VG-LNA) parameters are optimized using the Particle Swarm Optimization<span> (PSO), Firefly<span> Algorithm (FA), and Genetic Algorithm (GA). A comparison of the three optimization techniques has been done and FA is depicting better results over GA and PSO. VG-LNA is composed of a Complementary Common Gate (CCG) and Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA). G</span></span></span><sub>m</sub><span><span><span>-boost topology helps in increasing the gain while the current reuse technique provides less </span>power consumption. </span>Optimization algorithms simulated on MATLAB and the result shows minimum Noise Fig. (NF) is 2.62 dB, maximum gain is 17.8 dB, S</span><sub>11</sub><span> i.e. input reflection coefficient is −13.5 dB and S</span><sub>22</sub><span> i.e. output reflection coefficient is −14.7 dB at 50 Ω impedance matching while Figure of Merit1 (FoM1) is 36.14 dB using FA. The FA optimized parameters when simulated on Cadence Virtuoso software using GPDK 45 nm CMOS technology for the frequency range of 26–32 GHz then results show a minimum NF of 2.6 dB at 30.9 GHz, maximum gain of 16.9 dB at 30.5 GHz, S</span><sub>11</sub> is −17.7 dB at 30.5 GHz, S<sub>22</sub> is −21.2 dB at 29 GHz and FoM1 of 34.19 dB. The layout of the realized circuit has an area of 231.695 μm*164.48 μm i.e. 0.03811mm<sup>2</sup>.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138513566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joseph P. Wright , Stephen A. Sarles , Jin-Song Pei
{"title":"DC operating points of Mott neuristor circuits","authors":"Joseph P. Wright , Stephen A. Sarles , Jin-Song Pei","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112124","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112124","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span>In 1960 Hewitt Crane conceptualized neuristors as electronic logic networks that could mimic action potential generation by biological neurons. In 2012 Mott memristors were presented as nano-scale electronic devices for physically constructing neuristor networks. Both the original Mott memristor model and the simplified model presented in 2020 are stiff nonlinear first-order ordinary </span>differential equations<span> (ODEs) that describe the voltage controlled threshold switching and current controlled negative differential resistance<span><span>, attributed to a Mott insulator-to-metal phase transition. By design, a Mott neuristor contains two identical Mott memristors plus linear resistors and capacitors (no inductors), which enables alternating threshold switching by the memristors to generate periodic (AC) output voltage spikes in response to a DC current or voltage input. This paper presents a steady-state analysis of dynamic neuristor models, including four-, five-, and six-state variables (each of which is a system of first-order ODEs involving the states) based on the original phenomenological model of the Mott memristor. Specifically, it reveals the unique stable operating points that occur for applied currents or voltages below the amounts needed to induce </span>resistive switching. These DC operating points represent the physically meaningful “OFF” states for the circuit when the neuristor does not output voltage spikes. Jacques Hadamard's mathematical criteria for a well-posed physical model (existence, uniqueness, continuity, stability) motivated the search for these DC operating points (OFF states), which are needed for efficiently initializing neuristor models before conducting dynamic neuristor simulations. The key result of our analysis is the neuristor steady-state eq. </span></span></span><span>(29)</span> which is useful for understanding neuristor OFF states as well as the role of negative-differential resistance (NDR) in the operation of the Mott memristor model and neuristor circuits. In addition to the steady-state analysis, three numerical examples of dynamic neuristor circuit operation are also given and MATLAB code for the dynamic four-state model is available for interested readers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135609572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Théo Levert , Alter Zakhtser , Julien Duval , Chloé Raguenez , Stéphane Verdier , Delphine Le Cunff , Jean-Hervé Tortai , Bernard Pelissier
{"title":"Hybridization of ellipsometry and XPS energy loss: Robust band gap and broadband optical constants determination of SiGe, HfON and MoOx thin films","authors":"Théo Levert , Alter Zakhtser , Julien Duval , Chloé Raguenez , Stéphane Verdier , Delphine Le Cunff , Jean-Hervé Tortai , Bernard Pelissier","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112117","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In this study, we compare the robustness of optical constants and optical band gap determination of three different materials: SiGe, N-doped HfO<sub>2</sub> and MoO<sub>x</sub><span><span>, using the combination of two techniques: spectroscopic ellipsometry, and </span>energy loss signal (ELS) of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The determination of such physical properties is achieved through the hybridization of the two techniques based on multiple Tauc-Lorentz model, applied on the whole energy range of measurement.</span></p><p>Such use of hybridized data demonstrates a new robust method to determine the band gap of the studied materials, together with the optical indices (refractive index and extinction coefficient) on a wide energy range (up to 40 eV). This method provides an extension of determination of the relevant physical quantities compared to each technique on their own.</p><p>Moreover, this algorithm is tested on limit conditions, where the energy ranges of measurement of the two respective techniques presented no overlap. Yet the use of a unique physical model still allows us to calculate the different physical quantities even on the energy range where no measurement is performed, validating the semi-predictive nature of the hybrid technique. Additional measurements under different experimental configurations validate the extended scope of such hybrid technique.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92108554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Calabretta , V. Scuderi , C. Bongiorno , R. Anzalone , R. Reitano , A. Cannizzaro , M. Mauceri , D. Crippa , S. Boninelli , F. La Via
{"title":"Advanced approach of bulk (111) 3C-SiC epitaxial growth","authors":"C. Calabretta , V. Scuderi , C. Bongiorno , R. Anzalone , R. Reitano , A. Cannizzaro , M. Mauceri , D. Crippa , S. Boninelli , F. La Via","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>3C-SiC films grown on (111) Si substrates exhibit poor crystal quality and experience wafer cracks and bowing preventing access to bulk growth. This work reports innovative Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) growth methodology on 4 in. Si substrates which allowed the growth of 230 mm thick layer of (111) 3C-SiC through the melting of the Si substrate in the CVD chamber and the adoption of the resulting free standing 3C-SiC for the growth of bulk (111) 3C-SiC layer under high N fluxes. From the molten KOH etching and subsequent SEM investigation it has been ascertained that with a N<sub>2</sub> flux of 1600 sccm there is a significant reduction in the concentration of stacking faults (SFs) from (7.16 ± 0.04) × 10<sup>3</sup> cm<sup>−1</sup> to (0.4 ± 0.3) × 10<sup>3</sup> cm<sup>−1</sup>. This reduction is consistent with the cross section m-PL response displaying steep and uniform increase in the intensity of the band-edge signal a factor 10 higher on the surface with respect to the equal (100) 3C-SiC grown thickness. Furthermore, the emission attributed to point defects is considerably lower in (111) 3C-SiC. From Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) investigation it appears evident how the typical mechanism valid in (100) growths consisting in the mutual closure of SFs coming from opposing {111} planes that give rise to Lomer and l-shaped dislocations is replaced by a different panorama of evolution. Indeed, it is shown how the SFs shred but do not interrupt each other during growth. Furthermore, dropping in the number of atomic planes composing SFs layers appears to be a key phenomenon leading to both the shrinkage of the number of SF atomic layers as well as to the SF self-closure. High Angle Annular Dark Field-Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (HAADF-STEM) attested how the crystal tends to smooth out the lattice mismatch until the SF is suppressed. Because of the foregoing, the mechanisms of evolution of the defects in (111) 3C-SiC revealed in this study, demonstrates how the growth parameters must be matched with the kinetics of the defects in order to endorse (111) 3C-SiC adoption in high performing devices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167931723001818/pdfft?md5=db79438c2c09ef167cb61cb8c0cee2a3&pid=1-s2.0-S0167931723001818-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92108553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shambel Abate Marye, Ravi Ranjan Kumar, Artur Useinov, Niall Tumilty
{"title":"Thermal stability, work function and Fermi level analysis of 2D multi-layered hexagonal boron nitride films","authors":"Shambel Abate Marye, Ravi Ranjan Kumar, Artur Useinov, Niall Tumilty","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112106","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Thermal stability and Fermi level<span> analysis of commercial multilayer (ML) and as-grown 10 nm thick hexagonal boron nitride<span> (hBN) films on Cu foil by atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) by heating in N</span></span></span><sub>2</sub> and air at temperatures ≤900 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span><span> are studied. For all samples, progressive surface oxidation was observed correlating with higher hBN nucleation density. Thermal stability was measured in air from 200 </span><span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span> to 400 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span> (relative humidity <span><math><mo>∼</mo></math></span><span>65%) where commercial ML and APCVD material degraded; B</span><img>N peaks begin to be replaced by B<img>O peaks at temperatures <span><math><mo>></mo></math></span>300 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span>. It is shown that hBN thermal stability is sensitive to T<sub>growth</sub><span> and Cu foil surface preparation methods such as electropolishing (EP). We evaluate as-grown material for different T</span><sub>growth</sub> conditions (1000 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span>, 1030 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span>, 1050 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span> and 1060 <span><math><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></math></span><span>) by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) to locate and understand subsequent Fermi level and work function variation, confirming our material is in general n-type, which becomes increasingly so as thermal stability regresses. To this effect, we observe a work function increase of 0.45 eV as B</span><img><span><span>O increases with in-situ anneal temperature. An average electron affinity of 2.13 eV and 1.7 eV is determined for commercial hBN and APCVD material, respectively. Further work is required by material scientists to optimize the </span>material properties of CVD hBN.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92066703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Can Liu , Kaige Wang , Qing Li , Fazhan Zhao , Kun Zhao , Hongtu Ma
{"title":"Novel methods for locating and matching IC cells based on standard cell libraries","authors":"Can Liu , Kaige Wang , Qing Li , Fazhan Zhao , Kun Zhao , Hongtu Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112107","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In the domain of hardware assurance, reverse engineering (RE) is essential for ensuring the security and reliability of integrated circuits (ICs). A potential approach in the crucial step of netlist extraction involves matching patterns<span> in IC images to standard cell libraries. However, the morphological variations in images of cells and intra-cell similarities present significant challenges to effective matching. This paper introduces a new matching dataset of cells in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images and standard cells, including 579 SEM cells, two standard cell libraries, and 508 types of standard cells. Furthermore, we propose a novel matching method reliant on standard cell libraries. This method generates templates using the feature information of standard cells and conducts matching by comparing the similarity between the feature vector sets of an SEM cell and the templates, achieving a 100% accuracy rate on the matching dataset. Given that the matching method relies on accurate cell localization<span>, we propose two methods of merging bounding boxes. These methods can convert the object detector's detection results on patches into localization results on the entire image, achieving 99.48% accuracy and 99.31% recall on the image of the matching dataset. Finally, We consolidate these methods into a comprehensive workflow for automating the extraction of cell information in large-scale IC images.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92066702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Study on three-dimensional dielectrophoresis microfluidic chip for separation and enrichment of circulating tumor cells","authors":"Linxia Jiang , Feng Liang , Mingxuan Huo, Meiqi Ju, Jiajun Xu, Shaowei Ju, Lihong Jin, Bingjun Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112100","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) which means tumor cells shed into the peripheral blood of humans, are one of the important indicators in the early and accurate detection of malignancy.</p></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><p><span>This paper is based on the principle of dielectrophoresis, the design and performance research of microfluidic </span>microarray<span> separating and enriching CTCs was carried out, and the separation and enriching of CTCs was realized by ultilizing the difference in dielectrophoretic force and the movement trajectories between CTCs and leukocytes.</span></p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Chip structure design and optimization based on the COMSOL software simulation tool, through the separation experiment of human breast cancer cell MCF-7 and white blood cells, 60 kHz was selected as the frequency of cell separation experiment. Taking human liver cancer cell SMMC-7721 and human leukocyte mixture as the research object, the chip separation and enrichment experiment of CTCs was conducted. At 5 V voltage and 60 kHz frequency, the maximum separation flux of three-dimensional dielectrophores is microfluidic chip for human liver cancer cell SMMC-7721 reached 1.1 mL/h, and the separation efficiency was about 94%.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The results of this research have important implications for separating, sorting and detecting CTCs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49724120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Facile and direct 3D printing of smart glove for gesture monitoring","authors":"Zaiwei Zhou , Wanli Zhang , Yue Zhang , Xiangyu Yin , Xin-Yuan Chen , Bingwei He","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112102","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span><span><span>The distinctive characteristics of electrically conductive fabrics<span>, including their flexibility, breathability, and comfort, have led to their recognition as a viable substitute for </span></span>silicon wafers<span> in wearable electronics. However, the difficulty of constructing sensors with three-dimensional (3D) structure on woven fabrics significantly limits their sensitivity and sensing range. Layer-by-layer </span></span>3D printing<span> of entire smart textile<span> sensing components has enabled the development of high-performance sensors with enhanced sensitivity and sensing range. This research endeavors to produce a smart glove with superior performance by incorporating strain and pressure sensors by 3D printing a composite </span></span></span>conductive ink<span>, consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphene nanosheets<span> (GNSs), fumed silica (FSiO</span></span></span><sub>2</sub>) and Ecoflex, and encapsulated ink directly onto a commercially available fabric glove. The 3D structure of the sensing layer and the sensing material were intentionally designed to achieve desired performance. The smart glove demonstrates a high gauge factor (GF ∼ 35) and a strain range of 0–50% for strain detection. Additionally, it exhibits a high sensitivity of ∼0.07 kPa<sup>−1</sup><span><span> and a sensing range of 1000 kPa for pressure examination, which facilitates precise detection of finger bending angles and fingertip contact pressures. The smart glove also shows excellent linearity, repeatable resistance response, favorable cycling characteristics in both strain and pressure detecting, and were unaffected by temperature and humidity. The combination of the smart glove with a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deep learning model achieves a high accuracy (100%) for dynamic </span>gesture recognition<span> and manipulator control, demonstrating their potential for smart wearable electronics and human-computer interaction.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49724132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Simulation-based investigation of junction-controlled narrow-band Si photodetector with vertical structure","authors":"Guang-bin Zhang , Yu-jian Liu , Li Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Junction-controlled narrow-band Schottky photodetectors<span><span> are very attractive in the optoelectronic<span> systems that operate in a small spectral range, due to its high </span></span>noise immunity, simple structure, and self-powered work mode. In this work, simulation was carried out to study the working mechanism of the junction-controlled narrow-band photodetector based on a vertical </span></span>silicon<span><span> Schottky structure. It is showed that the spectral response of the device is mainly dominated by the quasi-neutral region instead of the </span>depletion region<span><span> of the Schottky structure. Widening quasi-neutral region can obviously red-shift the peak wavelengths of both quasi-neutral region and depletion region, and suppress the device response to short wavelength light. As the doping concentration of the silicon substrate increases, a similar phenomenon can be observed due to the decrease of the diffusion length. Furthermore, increasing </span>surface recombination velocity also can effectively reduce the quantum efficiency of the device at the wavelength <1060 nm. These results signify that junction-controlled narrow-band photodetectors of long-wavelength light can be realized by a variety of simple and feasible methods, indicating their promising application in future photoelectric systems.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48795204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anhan Liu , Zhan Hou , Fan Wu , Xiaowei Zhang , Shingo Nakamura , Tomomi Irita , Akinari Sugiyama , Takashi Nishikawa , He Tian
{"title":"Evaluation of etching performance of single etching gases for high-κ films","authors":"Anhan Liu , Zhan Hou , Fan Wu , Xiaowei Zhang , Shingo Nakamura , Tomomi Irita , Akinari Sugiyama , Takashi Nishikawa , He Tian","doi":"10.1016/j.mee.2023.112087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2023.112087","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span>The continuous advancement of CMOS technology has put forward higher requirements for </span>dielectric<span> etching processes. However, conventional mixed etching gases fail to elucidate the contribution of each gas. The role of single etching gas in the etching process remains elusive. In this work, we investigated the etching characteristics of high-κ thin films using a variety of single fluorine-based or chlorine-based gases. We further analyzed the underlying reasons for the observed differences in etching behaviors with different gases. Our findings demonstrate that BCl</span></span><sub>3</sub> is the optimal single etching gas for HfO<sub>2</sub> and Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> films with a fast and stable etching rate, while the films etched by Cl<sub>2</sub>, BCl<sub>3</sub>, CF<sub>4</sub>, CHF<sub>3</sub>, and C<sub>4</sub>F<sub>8</sub> exhibited varying degrees of etching residuals. The outstanding etching performance of BCl<sub>3</sub><span> is attributed to the interaction between physical bombardment and chemical reactions. Furthermore, we propose a set of evaluation methods for etching residues and mechanisms. These results provide valuable insights into the etching process and facilitate the selection of appropriate etching gases for high-κ films in advanced semiconductor process nodes.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":18557,"journal":{"name":"Microelectronic Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49724133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}