ENGINEERING TRIPOS PART IIB – 2012/2013

Module 4B6 - Solid State Devices and Chemical/Biological Sensors

AIMS

The aim of this module is to introduce the student to the theory, and design of MOS Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), based on both single crystal and thin-film materials. This will be followed by application examples, including chemical/biological sensors in sensor technologies,ferroelectric and magnetic random access memories (FRAM and MRAM) in non-volatile memory technologies, and active matrix liquid crystal displays and micromechanical displays in display technologies. Emphasis will be placed on both device physics and application technology.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

• MOS Devices Introduction (3L)
  Properties of MOS Capacitors, Capacitance - voltage characteristics; MOSFET structures and operation.
  
  
• MOS Devices & Thin Film Transistors (5L)
  Short channel and hot electron effects; Applications and future trends in miniaturising single crystal devices; Amorphous and polycrystalline silicon and other thin-film transistors. Organic thin-film transistors, Ion-sensitive thin, film trasistors and biosensors.
  
  
• Non-Volatile Memory Devices and Displays (5L)
  Ferroelectrics and ferroelectric random access memories; Giant magneto-resistance (GMR) and magnetic random access memories. Directly driven liquid crystal displays; Active matrix liquid crystal displays and projectors; Micromechanical projectors; Other types of displays and emerging technologies.

OBJECTIVES

On completion of the module the student should:

• Understand MOSFET theory and standard approximations;
• Be able to correlate material properties and conduction mechanisms with the MOSFET electrical characteristics, for single crystal, amorphous and polycrystalline devices;
• Understand the basic properties of ferroelectrics and its application for memory devices.
• Understand the concept of giant magneto-resistance and its applications including non-volatile memory devices
• Understand the operation of liquid crystal displays;
• Understand the construction and operation of micromechanical displays, and other emerging display technologies.

References

• Lecture Notes.
• S M Sze;" Physics of Semiconductor", John Wiley,1981, Chapters 7 and 8 (note that there is rather more than covered in the lectures).
• J Singh : Semiconductor Devices", John Wiley 2001
• Article "Thin -Film Transistors", by P Migliorato, in Encylopedia of Physical Science and Technology, (Excluding the mathematical derivations), distributed at the lectures.
• J F Scott: "Ferroelectric Memories", Springer, 2000.

Please see the Booklist for Group B Courses for references for this module.

Last updated: September 2012