University of Twente Student Theses
The effect of cleaning on silicon-dopant evolutionary chips
Wildeboer, Jochem (2018) The effect of cleaning on silicon-dopant evolutionary chips.
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| Abstract: | More and more applications for artificial intelligence are discovered every day. One way to implement these is by using a neuromorphic computing approach: recreating brain-like systems. Doing this software-wise with traditional computers is power inefficient and slow. Recently, research has gone into using nanoscale physics to mimic brain-like structures, supplying a hardware-wise approach. Promising results at the University of Twente include reconfigurable logic gates in doped silicon structures. During the production process, surface contamination of the chips can occur. This contamination might influence the functioning of the devices, or even worse: be the cause of functionality in the devices. This thesis sets out to determine the surface contamination on silicon-dopant chips and investigates the effect of an combined $O_2$-etch and HF dip cleaning procedure. The contamination is determined to consist of oxygen, carbon, fluorine, palladium and sometimes nitrogen and aluminium. The cleaning procedure has shown to decrease the concentration of carbon and fluorine, and increase the roughness of the surface. An unexpected conduction path through the substrate was found during electrical measurements. For this conduction, two models are proposed, including Schottky barriers or PN-junctions. The one with Schottky barriers is the most likely, but further research is required to be conclusive. The findings provide precautions for upscaling and consistency, and information about Schottky barrier formation during the production process and dopant concentration at the edge of the dopant window. Suggestions for preventing the side-effect are separating the networks completely or adding a production step to prevent the Schottky barrier from forming. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | TNW: Science and Technology |
| Subject: | 33 physics, 53 electrotechnology |
| Programme: | Applied Physics BSc (56962) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/75716 |
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