Impact of electrode roughness on metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes with atomic layer deposited Al2O3 tunnel barriers

Alimardani, Nasir; Cowell, E. William; Wager, John F.; Conley, John F.; Evans, David R.; Chin, Matthew L.; Kilpatrick, S. J.; Dubey, Madan

doi:10.1116/1.3658380

Cited by 62 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…ZrCuAlNi was suggested as an electrode due to its low roughness after growth, making it suitable for MIM devices 182,183 . However, it is not ideal due to formation of an interfacial compound at the interface with the insulator.…”

Section: Experimental Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rectenna device: From theory to practice (a review)

Donchev

Pang

Gammon

et al. 2014

MRS Energy & Sustainability

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The Rectenna (RECTifying antENNA), which was first demonstrated by William C. Brown in 1964 as a receiver for microwave power transmission, is now increasingly researched as a means of harvesting solar radiation. Tapping into the growing photovoltaic market, the attraction of the rectenna concept is the potential for devices that, in theory, are not limited in efficiency by the Shockley-Queisser limit. In this review, the history and operation of this 40-year old device concept is explored in the context of power transmission and the ever increasing interest in its potential applications at THz frequencies, through the infra-red and visible spectra. Recent modelling approaches that have predicted controversially high efficiency values at these frequencies are critically examined. It is proposed that to unlock any of the promised potential in the solar rectenna concept, there is a need for each constituent part to be improved beyond the current best performance, with the existing nanometer scale antennas, the rectification and the impedance matching solutions all falling short of the necessary efficiencies at THz frequencies. Advances in the fabrication, characterisation and understanding of the antenna and the rectifier are reviewed, and common solar rectenna design approaches are summarised. Finally, the socio-economic impact of success in this field is discussed and future work is proposed.

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Section: Experimental Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rectenna device: From theory to practice (a review)

Donchev

Pang

Gammon

et al. 2014

MRS Energy & Sustainability

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“…Structural defects at the interface [3,5], roughness of the metal substrate [4,10,11] and nonuniformity of the oxide thickness [3,7,8] are anticipated to be the critical factors, which may deteriorate the functionality of the oxide as a barrier. However, characterization of this impact is in its early stage and hence still uncertain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the structure of Al/Al 2 O 3 systems has actively been explored over the decades both theoretically [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and * manana.koberidze@aalto.fi experimentally [4,5,9,[20][21][22][23][24], an in-depth understanding of the interface properties is still an ongoing issue. Experimental observations have provided valuable information, for example, about the most probable crystallographic orientation relationship between Al and Al 2 O 3 at the interface [21,23], Al substrate roughness [4,20], the chemical state of the ions [25], oxide thickness distribution [9], bond lengths and coordinations of the atoms [5] at the interface, Al/O ratios for different oxide thicknesses [24], and different oxidation times and temperatures [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimental observations have provided valuable information, for example, about the most probable crystallographic orientation relationship between Al and Al 2 O 3 at the interface [21,23], Al substrate roughness [4,20], the chemical state of the ions [25], oxide thickness distribution [9], bond lengths and coordinations of the atoms [5] at the interface, Al/O ratios for different oxide thicknesses [24], and different oxidation times and temperatures [25]. However, experimental determination of the detailed atomic structures of the buried ultrathin interfaces is challenging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural details of Al/Al2O3 junctions and their role in the formation of electron tunnel barriers

2018

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We present a computational study of the adhesive and structural properties of the Al/Al 2 O 3 interfaces as building blocks of the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunnel devices, where electron transport is accomplished via tunneling mechanism through the sandwiched insulating barrier. The main goal of this paper is to understand, on the atomic scale, the role of the geometrical details in the formation of the tunnel barrier profiles. Initially, we concentrate on the adhesive properties of the interfaces. To provide reliable results, we carefully assess the accuracy of the traditional methods used to examine Al/Al 2 O 3 systems. These are the most widely employed exchangecorrelation functionals-local-density approximation and two different generalized gradient approximations; the universal binding-energy relation for predicting equilibrium interfacial distances and adhesion energies; and the ideal work of separation as a measure of junction stability. In addition, we show that the established interpretation of the computed ideal work of separation might be misleading in predicting the optimal interface structures. Finally, we perform a detailed analysis of the atomic and interplanar relaxations in each junction, and identify their contributions to the tunnel barrier parameters. Our results imply that the structural irregularities on the surface of the Al film have a significant contribution to lowering the tunnel barrier height, while atomic relaxations at the interface and interplanar relaxations in Al 2 O 3 may considerably change the width of the barrier and, thus, distort its uniformity. Both the effects may critically influence the performance of the MIM tunnel devices.

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“…These parameters are key issues for the generation of DC power; the higher the sensitivity the higher the DC signals, according to the relationships (1) and (2). The most explored high-frequency rectifiers able to operate up to optical frequencies are based on metal-insulator-metal 27,28 or metalinsulator-insulator-metal tunnel barriers. 29 However, the efficiency of those devices is low because of their poor diode-like behavior.…”

Section: B Diode-like Behavior and DC Power Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terahertz harvesting with shape-optimized InAlAs/InGaAs self-switching nanodiodes

et al. 2015

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In this letter, self-switching nanochannels have been proposed as an enabling technology for energy gathering in the terahertz (THz) regime. Such devices combine their diode-like behavior and high-speed of operation in order to generate DC electrical power from high-frequency signals. By using finite-element simulations, we have improved the sensitivity of L-shaped and V-shaped nanochannels based on InAlAs/InGaAs samples. Since those devices combine geometrical effects with their rectifying properties at zero-bias, we have improved their performance by optimizing their shape. Results show nominal sensitivities at zero-bias in the order of 40 V−1 and 20 V−1, attractive values for harvesting applications with square-law rectifiers.

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Impact of electrode roughness on metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes with atomic layer deposited Al2O3 tunnel barriers

Cited by 62 publications

References 17 publications

The rectenna device: From theory to practice (a review)

The rectenna device: From theory to practice (a review)

Structural details of Al/Al2O3 junctions and their role in the formation of electron tunnel barriers

Terahertz harvesting with shape-optimized InAlAs/InGaAs self-switching nanodiodes

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