Low-field leakage current has been measured in thin oxides after exposure to ionising radiation. This Radiation Induced Leakage Current (RILC) can be described as an inelastic tunnelling process mediated by neutral traps in the oxide, with an energy loss of about 1 eV. The neutral trap distribution is influenced by the oxide field applied during irradiation, thus indicating that the precursors of the neutral defects are charged, likely to be defects associated with trapped holes. The maximum leakage current is found under zero-field condition during irradiation, and it rapidly decreases as the field is enhanced, due to a displacement of the defect distribution across the oxide towards the cathodic interface. The RILC kinetics are linear with the cumulative dose, in contrast with the power law found on electrically stressed device

Slow trapping phenomenon in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs has been extensively analyzed and described in this paper. Thanks to a detailed investigation, based on a combined pulsed and transient investigation of the current/voltage characteristics (carried out over on an 8-decade time scale), we report a detailed description of the properties of trap levels located in the gate–drain surface, and in the region under the gate of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. More specifically, the following, relevant results have been identified: (i) the presence of surface trap states may determine a significant current collapse, and reduction of the peak transconductance. During a current transient measurement, the emission of electrons trapped at surface states proceeds through hopping, as demonstrated by means of temperature-dependent measurements. The activation energy of the de-trapping process is equal to 99 meV. (ii) The presence of a high density of defects under the gate may induce a significant shift in the threshold voltage, when devices are submitted to pulsed transconductance measurements. The traps responsible for this process have an activation energy of 0.63 eV, and are detected only on samples with high gate leakage, since gate current allows for a more effective charging/de-charging of the defects.

Neural interfaces are a fundamental tool to interact with neurons and to study neural networks by transducing cellular signals into electronics signals and vice versa. State-of-the-art technologies allow both in vivo and in vitro recording of neural activity. However, they are mainly made of stiff inorganic materials that can limit the long-term stability of the implant due to infection and/or glial scars formation. In the last decade, organic electronics is digging its way in the field of bioelectronics and researchers started to develop neural interfaces based on organic semiconductors, creating more flexible and conformable neural interfaces that can be intrinsically biocompatible. In this manuscript, we are going to review the latest achievements in flexible and organic neural interfaces for the recording of neuronal activity.

This paper presents an extensive study of how a solar cell with low shunt resistance can affect the performance and reliability of a solar panel. The analysis is based on both simulations and experimental tests and provides the following results: 1) the cell with low shunt resistance significantly reduces the efficiency of a panel; 2) this is particularly pronounced if the shunted cell is partially shaded: in this case, the shunt resistance of the cell acts as a load for the entire panel; 3) in these conditions, the shunted cell can significantly degrade: in fact, the small-size shunt paths are crossed by a high current density, generated by the other cells in the panel, thus reaching high temperature levels. Stress tests have been also carried out to fully characterize the degradation process and its dynamics and to understand the physical origin of the failure of shunted cells.

The study of deep-level defects in semiconductors has always played a strategic role in the development of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Deep levels have a strong impact on many of the device properties, including efficiency, stability, and reliability, because they can drive several physical processes. Despite the advancements in crystal growth, wide- and ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors (such as gallium nitride and gallium oxide) are still strongly affected by the formation of defects that, in general, can act as carrier traps or generation-recombination centers (G-R). Conventional techniques used for deep-level analysis in silicon need to be adapted for identifying and characterizing defects in wide-bandgap materials. This topical review paper presents an overview of reviews of the theory of deep levels in semiconductors; in addition, we present a review and original results on the application, limits, and perspectives of two widely adopted common deep-level detection techniques, namely capacitance deep-level transient spectroscopy and deep-level optical spectroscopy, with specific focus on wide-bandgap semiconductors. Finally, the most common traps of GaN and β-Ga₂O₃ are reviewed.

In this work, we have focused our attention on MOSFETs, which are the real basic elements of all CMOS applications. We have studied the immediate and latent effects produced by heavy ion irradiation on MOSFETs with ultrathin gate oxide, even after electrical stresses subsequent to irradiation. We found that a single ion can generate a physically damaged region (PDR) localized in the Si-SiO/sub 2/ interface, which may hamper the surface channel formation. In order to generate a PDR the ion hit must be close enough to MOSFET borders, i.e., in correspondence with the STI or the LDD spacer. Consequently, if both MOSFET W and L are large enough only few ion hits may give place to a PDR, mitigating the radiation damage. Finally we have developed an original model to describe the impact of the PDR on channel conductance in the ohmic linear region. On the basis of this model, we predict a PDR size around 0.2-1 /spl mu/m.