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Crystals
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Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation
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Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials for Energy Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 14688

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hongping Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Wide Bandgap Semiconductors and Future Lighting, Academy for Engineering & Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Interests: Wide-bandgap semiconductors; DFT calculation; SiC; Ga2O3; photoelectronic devices; power devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yuhang Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Semiconductor Manufacturing Research, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: wide band gap semiconductors; carbon nanotube; electric devices; atomic layer deposition
Dr. Jiao Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Semiconductor Manufacturing Research, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: semiconductor materials; carbon related materials; thin solid films; surface and interface analysis
Dr. Kai Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: ferromagnetic semiconductors; memristive devices; first principle calculation; density functional theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Semiconductor technology has brought great convenience to everyday life, and this improved technology has many benefits. Semiconductor substrates and related materials (gate dielectric, oxides, nitrides, etc.) are the foundation of the semiconductor industry. The properties and quality of semiconductor materials directly determine the performance of the devices fabricated at a later stage. The research and development of novel semiconductor materials, property characterization, performance simulation, and vigorous promotion of devices have led to an in-depth understanding of semiconductor materials, innovation in semiconductor growth technology, and the continuation of Moore's Law. This has inspired many researchers to work in the field of semiconductor material development and devices. The semiconductor market is steadily developing, and due to these advantages, engineers, researchers, and academics have found a good foothold for making innovative contributions to the research in this field.

This Special Issue will provide an excellent platform to examine new semiconductor research and development, and the contributors to this Special Issue can join together to demonstrate a sustainable future for the traditional field of semiconductors.

Fundamentally, this Special Issue seeks to highlight research on:

  • The fabrication and growth technology of semiconductors;
  • Characterization and analysis of the properties of semiconductor materials;
  • Simulation and theoretical analysis of semiconductor materials;
  • Correlation between material properties and device performance;
  • New applications of semiconductor material and devices.

Moreover, research papers, short communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Hongping Ma
Dr. Yuhang Liu
Dr. Jiao Xu
Dr. Kai Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • semiconductors
  • crystal growth
  • characterization techniques
  • material properties
  • semiconductor thin film
  • film deposition
  • simulation
  • semiconductor devices

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 3293 KiB  
Article
Influence of Rapid Thermal Annealing on the Characteristics of Sn-Doped Ga2O3 Films Fabricated Using Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition
by Yi Shen, Hong-Ping Ma, Zhen-Yu Wang, Lin Gu, Jie Zhang, Ao Li, Ming-Yang Yang and Qing-Chun Zhang
Crystals 2023, 13(2), 301; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13020301 - 11 Feb 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2972
Abstract
In this work, Sn-doped Ga2O3 films fabricated using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition were treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The RTA influence on the chemical state, surface morphology, energy band alignment, and electrical properties of Sn-doped Ga2O3 [...] Read more.
In this work, Sn-doped Ga2O3 films fabricated using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition were treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The RTA influence on the chemical state, surface morphology, energy band alignment, and electrical properties of Sn-doped Ga2O3 films were thoroughly investigated. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that Sn atoms were successfully doped into these films. Moreover, energy band alignments were obtained by the energy-loss peak of the O 1s spectrum and valence band spectra and thoroughly discussed. X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements indicated that the Sn-doping level affects the interfacial microstructure and surface morphology. As the Sn content increases, the film thickness decreases while the roughness increases. Finally, the leakage current-voltage (I-V) characteristics proved that the Sn-doped Ga2O3 films have a large breakdown field. In I-V tests, all metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors exhibited a hard breakdown. This research demonstrates a method for manufacturing high-performance optoelectronic devices with desired properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation)
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12 pages, 4339 KiB  
Article
Study on the Surface Structure of N-Doped 4H-SiC Homoepitaxial Layer Dependence on the Growth Temperature and C/Si Ratio Deposited by CVD
by Zhuorui Tang, Lin Gu, Hongping Ma, Kefeng Dai, Qian Luo, Nan Zhang, Jiyu Huang and Jiajie Fan
Crystals 2023, 13(2), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13020193 - 21 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3357
Abstract
The quality of the N-doped 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layers grown via hot-wall horizontal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was evaluated at various C/Si ratios (1.0–1.2) and growth temperatures (1570–1630 °C). The microstructure and morphology of the epilayers were studied through a comparative analysis of the [...] Read more.
The quality of the N-doped 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layers grown via hot-wall horizontal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was evaluated at various C/Si ratios (1.0–1.2) and growth temperatures (1570–1630 °C). The microstructure and morphology of the epilayers were studied through a comparative analysis of the AFM patterns under different growth conditions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy revealed the quality of the 4H-SiC epilayers and the amount of N-doping. It was found that an increase in the C/Si ratio enabled obtaining a quite smooth epitaxial layer surface. Moreover, only the 4H-SiC crystal type was distinguished in the epilayers. In addition, the epitaxial quality was gradually improved, and the amount of defect-related C-C bonds significantly dropped from 38.7% to 17.4% as the N doping content decreased from 35.3% to 28.0%. An increase in the growth temperature made the epitaxial layer surface smoother (the corresponding RMS value was ~0.186 nm). According to the Raman spectroscopy data, the 4H-SiC forbidden mode E1(TO) in the epilayers was curbed at a higher C/Si ratio and growth temperature, obtaining a significant enhancement in epitaxial quality. At the same time, more N dopants were inserted into the epilayers with increasing temperature, which was opposite to increasing the C/Si ratio. This work definitively shows that the increase in the C/Si ratio and growth temperature can directly enhance the quality of the 4H-SiC epilayers and pave the way for their large-scale fabrication in high-power semiconductor devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation)
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9 pages, 2569 KiB  
Article
Influence of Temperature and Flow Ratio on the Morphology and Uniformity of 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layers Growth on 150 mm 4° Off-Axis Substrates
by Zhuorui Tang, Lin Gu, Hongping Ma, Chaobin Mao, Sanzhong Wu, Nan Zhang, Jiyu Huang and Jiajie Fan
Crystals 2023, 13(1), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13010062 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3008
Abstract
The homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC films was conducted on 4H-SiC 150 mm 4° off-axis substrates by using a home-made hot-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Special attention was paid to the influence of the growth temperature on the surface morphology, growth rate, doping [...] Read more.
The homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC films was conducted on 4H-SiC 150 mm 4° off-axis substrates by using a home-made hot-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Special attention was paid to the influence of the growth temperature on the surface morphology, growth rate, doping efficiency, and structural uniformity of the films. Among the above factors, growth temperature and flow ratio were shown to be the essential parameters to produce high-quality homoepitaxial layers. Furthermore, a two-side flow tunnel was introduced to control the growth temperature nonuniformity in the reactor. The influence of flow ratio on the epitaxial layer uniformity was also studied. It was found that the surface roughness increased with the increasing temperature, achieving its minimum value of 0.183 nm at 1610 °C. Besides that, the film growth rate decreased with the increase in growth temperature, whereas the degrees of thickness non-uniformity, N2 doping non-uniformity, and doping efficiency increased. Meanwhile, both the thickness and doping uniformity can be improved by adjusting H2 and N2 flow ratios, respectively. In particular, the use of the H2 ratio of 1.63 and N2 ratio of 0.92 enabled one to increase the degree of uniformity of thickness and doping by 0.79% (standard deviation/mean value) and 3.56% (standard deviation/mean value), respectively, at the growth temperature of 1630 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation)
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9 pages, 1881 KiB  
Article
Synthesis, Crystal and Electronic Structure of the New Ternary Compound Ca3InAs3
by Wanyue Peng, Sviatoslav Baranets and Svilen Bobev
Crystals 2022, 12(10), 1467; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12101467 - 17 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1902
Abstract
Crystals of a new ternary compound in the Ca-In-As family, Ca3InAs3, have been successfully synthesized via flux growth techniques. This is only the third known compound between the respective elements. As elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements, Ca3 [...] Read more.
Crystals of a new ternary compound in the Ca-In-As family, Ca3InAs3, have been successfully synthesized via flux growth techniques. This is only the third known compound between the respective elements. As elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements, Ca3InAs3 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma (No. 62, Pearson symbol oP28) with unit cell parameters a = 12.296(2) Å, b = 4.2553(7) Å, and c = 13.735(2) Å. The smallest building motifs of the structure are InAs4 tetrahedra, which are connected to one another by shared As corners, forming infinite [InAs2As2/2] chains. The latter propagate along the crystallographic b-axis. The As-In-As bond angles within the InAs4 tetrahedra deviate from the ideal 109.5° value and range from 98.12(2)° to 116.53(2)°, attesting to a small distortion from the regular tetrahedral geometry. Electronic structure calculations indicate the opening of a bandgap, consistent with the expected (Ca2+)3(In3+)(As3–)3 formula breakdown based on conventional oxidation numbers. The calculations also show that the Ca–As interactions are an intermediate between covalent and ionic, while providing evidence of strong covalent features of the In–As interactions. Weak s-p hybridization of In states was observed, supporting the experimentally found deviation of the InAs4 moiety from the ideal tetrahedral symmetry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation)
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9 pages, 1900 KiB  
Concept Paper
Operation Mechanisms of Flexible RF Silicon Thin Film Transistor under Bending Conditions
by Haotian Ye, Kuibo Lan, Zhenqiang Ma and Guoxuan Qin
Crystals 2022, 12(11), 1609; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12111609 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2213
Abstract
We fabricate a flexible silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) on a plastic substrate as a key component and representative example to analyze the major influencing factors of flexible devices under bending conditions. Experimental and two-dimensional device modeling results reveal that bending radius and device [...] Read more.
We fabricate a flexible silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) on a plastic substrate as a key component and representative example to analyze the major influencing factors of flexible devices under bending conditions. Experimental and two-dimensional device modeling results reveal that bending radius and device dimensions have a significant influence on the radio-frequency (RF) performance of the flexible silicon nanomembrane (SiNM) TFT under bending conditions. Carrier mobility and electric field extracted from the model, together with theoretical analysis, were employed to study the performance dependence and the operation mechanisms of the bended TFTs. The carrier mobility and electric field are increased monotonically with larger bending strains, which lead to better RF performance. They also showed a consistent change trend with different device parameters (e.g., gate length, oxide thickness). Flexible SiNM TFTs with a smaller gate length and a larger gate dielectric thickness are shown to have better RF performance robustness with bending strains. The analysis provides a guideline for the study of flexible electronics under bending conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Material Growth, Characterization, and Simulation)
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