2013-02-24

CMOS Compatible Nanoscale Vacuum Tube

02/19/2013

Jin-Woo
Jin Woo Han, Ph. D
NASA Ames Research Center

Electronic Revolution from Transistors

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Evolution of Electronics

Vacuum Triode (1906) Junction

Transistor (1948)

Abacus
Pentium (1995)
Mechanical Switch
Vacuum Tube
Transistor
Integrated
Pascal calculator Circuit
(1670)

Roman Analog
(1500) Eniac (1946)
17,000 Tubes
Babbage engine Tradic (1954) IBM (1983)
800 Transistors
(1830)
SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council
February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Operation Mechanism of Triode Devices

Vacuum Tube
e Current

Grid
Drain/Anode

Cathode Anode
Vacuum
ON
Transistor OFF
Gate
Gate/Grid Voltage
g
Source Drain
Switch
Silicon
Amplifier
SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council
February 19, 2013
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 2013-02-24

Back to the Past for Better Future

For low-standby power (~2007)
By MEMS technology

Nano-Electro-Mechanical For high mobility channel (~2004)

Switch By ALD technology

? For low gate delay

By MG technology
(~1990)

Gate

S D

Relay Vacuum Tube 1st Transistor 1st IC Now

1849 Late 19thCentury 1947 (William 1959 (Robert - Si substrate
- Babbage Engine - Expensive Shockely) Noyce) - SiO2 dielectric
- 8000relays/5tons - Bulky - Ge material - Si material - Poly-Si gate
- Short lifetime - Fragile - Instable - SiO2 dielectric
- Energy hungry - Al gate
SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council
February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Edison Effects (1883)

Hot filament
(Cathode)

Current

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Thermionic Emission
Heat-induced flow of electron from a surface of metal to a vacuum
Metal Workfunction
Minimum energy required for the electron overcomes the biding potential

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Vacuum Diode, Fleming Oscillation Valve

(1903)

John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945)

Fleming Oscillation Valve

First application of the Edison Effect used as a rectifier and detector

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Vacuum Triode, Audion (1906)

Grid

Cathode Anode

Lee de Forest (1873-1961)

Vacuum Triode
First device to provide power gain and radio transmitter.

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Transistor (1914)

John Bardeen, William Shockley, Walter Brattain

AT&T Bell Lab

Nobel Prize in 1956

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Integrated Circuit (1958)

J k Kilby
Jack Kilb (1923-2005)
(1923 2005)

Texas Instrument
Nobel Prize in 2000

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Evolution Scenario of Triode Devices

Vacuum Tube MOSFET Nano Vacuum Tube
+ Cheap
+ High gain + CMOS process
+ Integrated Circuit
+ High performance + Cheap !!
+ Reliable
+P
Premier
i audio
di +L
Long lifetime
lif ti
+ Low energy
- Bulky, Fragile + High power
+ Long lifetime
- Expensive + High performance
+ Variety applications
- Short Lifetime + Variety applications
- Low performance
- Power consumption + Premier audio
- Low breakdown
Vacuum ambient
<50nm
Cathode Anode
<5nm
Back gate

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Benefit of Vacuum Channel Speed

Vacuum Silicon crystal lattice

Ballistic Transport Lattice Scattering

c = 3 X 1010cm/s Velocity Saturation
= 5 X 107cm/s

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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Benefit of Vacuum Temperature Immunity

Crystal lattice scattering in semiconductor

Vacuum Channel is immune to high temperature.

Military applications

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Benefit of Vacuum Radiation Immunity

R di ti
Radiation iionization
i ti iin semiconductor
i d t

Vacuum Channel is immune to radiation.

Nuclear & space applications

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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Weakness of Vacuum Device - Bulky

Bulky Tube

Replacing a bad tubes ENIAC, Integration? Broken Tube

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council
February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Weakness of Vacuum Device Energy

Electron
Energy

Quantum
Well
Workfunction

Hot cathode

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

What If Nanoscale Vacuum Device ?

Conventional vacuum tube Nanoscale vacuum tube

Machining (mm scale) Wafer process (nm scale)

Discrete component Integrated vacuum circuit
Operation voltage > 100V Operation voltage <10V
Thermionic emission (heater) Field emission (cold cathode)
Short lifetime Long lifetime due to heating free
Glass package (fragile) Semiconductor package
High vacuum requirement Relaxed vacuum requirement

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling
Surface barrier Surface barrier bending
due to applied field

Thermal excitation Photo excitation Tunneling

Electron tunneling through a potential barrier, rather than escaping over it

Off-state On-state
Tunneling
E distance
E
Vacuum Vacuum

C C
VG < Vturn-on VG > Vturn-on

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

F-N Tunneling Equation

Field Emission Current Density
J = e + N (T , s ) D( F , s, )ds

N(T,S): electron density T: temperature

D(F,s,): tunneling probability F: applied field
s: kinetic energy : work function

Fowler-Nordheim Equation

e 3F 2 8 ( 2m )1 / 2 3 / 2
J= exp v ( y )
8ht ( y )2
3heF
J emission current density m mass of electron
e electron charge work function of the cathode
h Plancks constant y function of F and
F electric field at cathode t(y), v(y) approximated as constants

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Simplified F-N Tunneling Equation

b
I = aV 2 exp or ln 2 = ln( a ) b
I 1
V V V

6
Where: a = 1.56 10 exp 10.4
2

1.1 1/ 2 e tt g area
emitting a ea

emitter work function
b = 6.44 107 3 / 2 / field enhancement factor

Field Enhancement Factor

=F/V Anode
F: electric field at emitter tip
V voltage
V: lt b
between
t anode
d and d cathode
th d r
d r
Spacer
h
2 h
1
= r
h d
ln 4 2 Cathode
r
SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council
February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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Low Voltage Operation Small workfunction

1. Small workfunction of cathode

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Low Voltage Operation Large field enhancement

1. Large field enhancement factor

(sharp emitter tip & Short cathode to anode distance)

E
C G
D
G S

MOSFET
Vacuum channel transistor

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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Relaxed Vacuum Requirement

Mean free path of electrons in air
Vacuum range Pressure (mbar) Mean free path

Ambient pressure 1013 68nm

Low vacuum 300-1 0.1-100um

Medium vacuum 1-10-3 0.1-100mm

High vacuum 10-3-10-7 10cm-1km

Ultra high vacuum 10-7-10-12 1km-105km

Extremely high vacuum <10-12 >105km

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Image of the Vacuum Transistor

150 nm

25
current (A)

Collector current (A)

-6
20 10

15
-8
10
Collector c

10
-10
5 10

0
-12
10
-4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Gate voltage (V)

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Applications of Nano Vacuum Tube

High Performance
Premier Audio
Hifi into Smartphone

High Temperature Stability

Automobile Industry

High Radiation Immunity

Aerospace
A IIndustry
d

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

Subsequent Necessary Process

Vacuum Package Process Potent Option : Wafer bonding
Matured in MEMS Package

TSV wafer bonding Dicing

Wire bonding Packaging

MEMS Gyroscope
MEMS Accelerometer
MEMS Microphone

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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 2013-02-24

Thank you

SF Bay Area Nanotechnology Council

February 19, 2013
Texas Instrument

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