Low temperature passivation of silicon surfaces for enhanced performance of Schottky-barrier MOSFET.

By using a simple device architecture along with a simple process design and a low thermal-budget of a maximum of 100 °C for passivating metal/semiconductor interfaces, a Schottky barrier MOSFET device with a low subthreshold slope of 70 mV deccould be developed. This device is enabled after passivation of the metal/silicon interface (found at the source/drain regions) with ultra-thin SiOfilms, followed by the e-beam evaporation of high- quality aluminum and by using atomic-layer deposition for HfOas a gate oxide. All of these fabrication steps were designed in a sequential process so that a gate-last recipe could minimize the defect density at the aluminum/silicon and HfO/silicon interfaces, thus preserving the Schottky barrier height and ultimately, the outstanding performance of the transistor.

Standardized Figures of Merit for Proper Benchmarking of Photocatalytic Inactivation of Bacteria Using Thin Films Based on TiO Nanostructures.

The study of photocatalysts fixed to surfaces for the inactivation of bacteria in wastewater has increased in recent years. However, there are no standardized methods to analyze the photocatalytic antibacterial activity of these materials, and no systematic studies have attempted to relate this activity to the number of reactive oxygen species generated during UV-light irradiation. Additionally, studies regarding photocatalytic antibacterial activity are usually carried out with varying pathogen concentrations, UV light doses, and catalyst amounts, making it difficult to compare results across different materials.

Enhanced photocatalytic bacterial inactivation of atomic-layer deposited anatase-TiO thin films on rutile-TiO nanotubes.

In this work, experimental conditions were established to fabricate self-ordered rutile-TiO nanotube arrays, coated with a conformal anatase-TiO thin layer using atomic layer deposition. E. coli inactivation tests showed a considerable increase in photocatalytic activity using rutile-TiO nanotubes coated with anatase-TiO compared to that using single rutile or anatase TiO nanotubes only.