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Dear all,

I would like to invite you to my PhD final exam presentation on:

Nov 19 (Monday) at 8:30am in Birck 2001

Thanks, Muhammad Masuduzzaman Prof. Alam Group

Title: Physics of Defect Generation in High-k and Ferroelectric Materials and their Reliability Implications for Advanced Electronic Devices

Abstract: As SiO2-based classical transistor reaches its scaling limit, a broad range of alternate dielectric materials are being explored for classical CMOS as well as other emerging technologies. These include high-k materials for gate dielectric; low-k materials for interlayer; extreme high-k, ferroelectric materials for memory, embedded capacitor, and transistor applications; transparent conducting oxides for solar cell; metal-oxide phase changing materials for high speed transistor applications, etc. Despite their attractive features, poor reliability has been a persistent concern, and threatens the commercial adoption of these dielectrics. The purpose of the thesis is to develop a fundamental (microscopic) understanding of these macroscopic reliability phenomena in a systematic way. Our extensive work on this topic has led to (i) the discovery of the hot atom induced defect generation in ferroelectrics, analogous to the electronic hot carrier damage, (ii) explanation of anomalously large distributions of breakdown times in polycrystalline films in terms of defect kinetics at grain boundaries, (iii) interpretation of the role of correlated, push-pull soft breakdown within series capacitors in improving system reliability, and (iv) the development of a set of experimental tools for characterizing defects within a dielectric structure. The fundamental understanding of defect dynamics made possible by this thesis research opens up opportunities to improve reliability dramatically for a broad class of dielectric films relevant for classical and emerging technologies.

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