4358 results about "Charge carrier" patented technology

In electronic displays or imaging units, the control of pixels is achieved by an array of transistors. These transistors are in a thin film form and arranged in a two-dimensional configuration to form switching circuits, driving circuits or even read-out circuits. In this invention, thin film transistors and circuits with indium oxide-based channel layers are provided. These thin film transistors and circuits may be fabricated at low temperatures on various substrates and with high charge carrier mobilities. In addition to conventional rigid substrates, the present thin film transistors and circuits are particularly suited for the fabrication on flexible and transparent substrates for electronic display and imaging applications. Methods for the fabrication of the thin film transistors with indium oxide-based channels are provided.

To provide a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor having excellent electric characteristics and high reliability and a manufacturing method of the semiconductor device with high mass productivity. The summary is that an inverted-staggered (bottom-gate) thin film transistor is included in which an oxide semiconductor film containing In, Ga, and Zn is used as a semiconductor layer, a channel protective layer is provided in a region that overlaps a channel formation region of the semiconductor layer, and a buffer layer is provided between the semiconductor layer and source and drain electrodes. An ohmic contact is formed by intentionally providing the buffer layer having a higher carrier concentration than the semiconductor layer between the semiconductor layer and the source and drain electrodes.

A photovoltaic device and related methods. The device has a structured material positioned between an electron collecting electrode and a hole collecting electrode. An electron transporting/hole blocking material is positioned between the electron collecting electrode and the structured material. In a specific embodiment, negatively charged carriers generated by optical absorption by the structured material are preferentially separated into the electron transporting/hole blocking material. In a specific embodiment, the structured material has an optical absorption coefficient of at least 10³ cm⁻¹ for light comprised of wavelengths within the range of about 400 nm to about 700 nm.

The present disclosure provides a carrier channel with an element concentration gradient distribution. The carrier channel includes a substrate and a carrier channel structure. The carrier channel structure is stacked on the substrate, wherein a ratio of a height and a width of the carrier channel is greater than 1, and the carrier channel is crystallized from the contact surface by a rapid melting growth process, thus the carrier channel structure has the element concentration gradient distribution.

In a substrate vertical transistor cells are formed and are arranged, in a transistor cell array, row by row in an x direction and column by column in a y direction. Lower source/drain regions of the transistor cells are connected to a common connection plate. Upper source/drain regions of the transistor cells impart a contact connection for instance to a storage capacitor of a DRAM memory cell. Active trenches running between the transistor cells with word lines are formed along the x direction. The word lines form gate electrodes in sections. A potential at the gate electrode controls a conductive channel in an active region arranged in each case between the upper and the lower source/drain connection region. According to the invention, the active regions of adjacent transistor cells are sections of a contiguous layer body and are connected to one another. An accumulation of charge carriers in the active region and floating body effects are avoided without increasing the area requirement of a transistor cell.

This invention provides an amorphous oxide semiconductor thin film, which is insoluble in a phosphoric acid-based etching solution and is soluble in an oxalic acid-based etching solution by optimizing the amounts of indium, tin, and zinc, a method of producing the amorphous oxide semiconductor thin film, etc. An image display device (1) comprises a glass substrate (10), a liquid crystal (40) as a light control element, a bottom gate-type thin film transistor (1) for driving the liquid crystal (40), a pixel electrode (30), and an opposing electrode (50). The amorphous oxide semiconductor thin film (2) in the bottom gate-type thin film transistor (1) has a carrier density of less than 10⁺¹⁸ cm⁻³, is insoluble in a phosphoric acid-based etching liquid, and is soluble in an oxalic acid-based etching liquid.

An embodiment is to include an inverted staggered (bottom gate structure) thin film transistor in which an oxide semiconductor film containing In, Ga, and Zn is used as a semiconductor layer and a buffer layer is provided between the semiconductor layer and a source and drain electrode layers. The buffer layer having higher carrier concentration than the semiconductor layer is provided intentionally between the source and drain electrode layers and the semiconductor layer, whereby an ohmic contact is formed.

The present invention provides a thin film amorphous silicon-crystalline silicon back heterojunction and back surface field device configuration for a heterojunction solar cell. The configuration is attained by the formation of heterojunctions on the back surface of crystalline silicon at low temperatures. Low temperature fabrication allows for the application of low resolution lithography and/or shadow masking processes to produce the structures. The heterojunctions and interface passivation can be formed through a variety of material compositions and deposition processes, including appropriate surface restructing techniques. The configuration achieves separation of optimization requirements for light absorption and carrier generation at the front surface on which the light is incident, and in the bulk, and charge carrier collection at the back of the device. The shadowing losses are eliminated by positioning the electrical contacts at the back thereby removing them from the path of the incident light. Back contacts need optimization only for maximum charge carrier collection without bothering about shading losses. A range of elements/alloys may be used to effect band-bending. All of the above features result in a very high efficiency solar cell. The open circuit voltage of the back heterojunction device is higher than that of an all-crystalline device. The solar cell configurations are equally amenable to crystalline silicon wafer absorber as well as thin silicon layers formed by using a variety of fabrication processes. The configurations can be used for radiovoltaic and electron-voltaic energy conversion devices.

The nitride-based semiconductor device includes a carrier traveling layer 1 composed of non-doped Al_xGa_1-xN (0≦X<1); a barrier layer 2 formed on the carrier traveling layer 1 and composed of non-doped or n-type Al_YGa_1-YN (0<Y≦1, X<Y) having a lattice constant smaller than that of the carrier traveling layer 1; a threshold voltage control layer 3 formed on the barrier layer 2 and composed of a non-doped semiconductor having a lattice constant equal to that of the carrier traveling layer 1; and a carrier inducing layer 4 formed on the threshold voltage control layer 3 and composed of a non-doped or n-type semiconductor having a lattice constant smaller than that of the carrier traveling layer 1. The nitride-based semiconductor device further includes a gate electrode 5 formed in a recess structure, a source electrode 6 and a drain electrode 7.

A photodetector capable of normal incidence detection over a broad range of long wavelength light signals to efficiently convert infrared light into electrical signals. It is capable of converting long wavelength light signals into electrical signals with direct normal incidence sensitivity without the assistance of light coupling devices or schemes. In the apparatus, stored charged carriers are ejected by photons from quantum dots, then flow over the other barrier and quantum dot layers with the help of an electric field produced with a voltage applied to the device, producing a detectable photovoltage and photocurrent. The photodetector has multiple layers of materials including at least one quantum dot layer between an emitter layer and a collector layer, with a barrier layer between the quantum dot layer and the emitter layer, and another barrier layer between the quantum dot layer and the collector.

To offer a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor having excellent characteristics and high reliability and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device without variation. The summary is to include an inverted-staggered (bottom-gate structure) thin film transistor in which an oxide semiconductor film containing In, Ga, and Zn is used for a semiconductor layer and a buffer layer is provided between the semiconductor layer and source and drain electrode layers. An ohmic contact is formed by intentionally providing a buffer layer containing In, Ga, and Zn and having a higher carrier concentration than the semiconductor layer between the semiconductor layer and the source and drain electrode layers.

A method and system for providing a magnetic element is disclosed. The method and system include providing a pinned layer, a magnetic current confined layer, and a free layer. The pinned layer is ferromagnetic and has a first pinned layer magnetization. The magnetic current confined layer has at least one channel in an insulating matrix and resides between the pinned layer and the free layer. The channel(s) are ferromagnetic, conductive, and extend through the insulating matrix between the free layer and the pinned layer. The size(s) of the channel(s) are sufficiently small that charge carriers can give rise to ballistic magnetoresistance in the magnetic current confined layer. The free layer is ferromagnetic and has a free layer magnetization. Preferably, the method and system also include providing a second pinned layer and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the second pinned layer and the free layer. In this aspect, the magnetic element is configured to allow the free layer magnetization to be switched using spin transfer.

A photovoltaic device and related methods. The device has a nanostructured material positioned between an electron collecting electrode and a hole collecting electrode. An electron transporting/hole blocking material is positioned between the electron collecting electrode and the nanostructured material. In a specific embodiment, negatively charged carriers generated by optical absorption by the nanostructured material are preferentially separated into the electron transporting/hole blocking material. In a specific embodiment, the nanostructured material has an optical absorption coefficient of at least 10³ cm⁻¹ for light comprised of wavelengths within the range of about 400 nm to about 700 nm.

By recessing a semiconductor layer, preferably by locally oxidizing the semiconductor layer, a stress-inducing material and/or a dopant species may be introduced into the thinned semiconductor layer in the vicinity of a gate electrode structure by means of a subsequent epitaxial growth process. In particular, the stress-inducing material formed adjacent to the gate electrode structure exerts compressive or tensile stress, depending on the type of material deposited, thereby also enhancing the mobility of the charge carriers in a channel region of the transistor element.