Contact area

About: Contact area is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12358 publications have been published within this topic receiving 256401 citations. The topic is also known as: contact patch & contact region.

Method of forming contact areas between vertical conductors

Abstract: A method of forming a contact area between two vertical structures. A first layer of material conforming to an extending between vertical sidewalls is covered with a mask layer. The mask layer is patterned and etched to remove the horizontal region of the mask layer between the vertical sidewalls, thereby exposing the first layer of material at the desired location of the contact area, while retaining at least a portion of the vertical regions of the mask layer. Using the remaining vertical regions of the mask layer as etch mask, the exposed portions of the first layer are then etched away to form the contact area. Another aspect of the invention provides a method of making a DRAM that utilizes a capacitor insulating layer over the capacitor second conductor (or cell poly) to self-align the bit line contact to the capacitor second conductor. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, a capacitor is formed over a semiconductor wafer. The capacitor includes a first conductor, a dielectric layer on the first conductor and a second conductor on the dielectric layer. A capacitor insulating layer is formed on the second conductor. The capacitor insulating layer is patterned and etched to expose portions of the second conductor at the desired location of the bit line contact. Then, using the capacitor insulating layer as a hard mask, the exposed portions of the second conductor are etched away in the area in which the bit line contact will subsequently be formed.

The effect of carbon fiber reinforcement on contact area, contact pressure, and time-dependent deformation in polyethylene tibial components.

Abstract: To study the mechanical behavior of a commercially available UHMWPE reinforced with carbon fibers, measurements of contact area, contact pressure and time-dependent deformation were made on tibial components from a contemporary total knee replacement loaded to physiological levels. For comparison, similar measurements were performed on identical components manufactured from plain UHMWPE. Contact area and pressure results reflected the increased stiffness of the carbon-UHMWPE material, with smaller contact areas and generally higher contact pressures versus the plain UHMWPE at the same load. Stresses in both materials under the contact area approached or exceeded the yield stresses for the materials when the physiological load was high or the radius of the femoral component indenter decreased (similar to flexion of the knee). Time-dependent deformation over a 24 h period was reduced significantly in the carbon-UHMWPE components for a high physiological load.

Electrical devices from top-down structured platinum diselenide films

Abstract: Platinum diselenide (PtSe2) is an exciting new member of the two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) family. It has a semimetal to semiconductor transition when approaching monolayer thickness and has already shown significant potential for use in device applications. Notably, PtSe2 can be grown at low temperature making it potentially suitable for industrial usage. Here, we address thickness-dependent transport properties and investigate electrical contacts to PtSe2, a crucial and universal element of TMD-based electronic devices. PtSe2 films have been synthesized at various thicknesses and structured to allow contact engineering and the accurate extraction of electrical properties. Contact resistivity and sheet resistance extracted from transmission line method (TLM) measurements are compared for different contact metals and different PtSe2 film thicknesses. Furthermore, the transition from semimetal to semiconductor in PtSe2 has been indirectly verified by electrical characterization in field-effect devices. Finally, the influence of edge contacts at the metal–PtSe2 interface has been studied by nanostructuring the contact area using electron beam lithography. By increasing the edge contact length, the contact resistivity was improved by up to 70% compared to devices with conventional top contacts. The results presented here represent crucial steps toward realizing high-performance nanoelectronic devices based on group-10 TMDs. Transport measurements on channels of layered PtSe2 give insight into the realization of high-performance nanoelectronic PtSe2 devices. A team led by Niall McEvoy at Trinity College Dublin investigated the electrical contact properties of PtSe2 channels with controlled dimensions and thicknesses. Electron beam lithography was used to fabricate structures with different contact metals and different PtSe2 film thicknesses, and the corresponding contact resistivity and sheet resistance of the PtSe2 devices were extracted from transmission line method measurements. The charge-transport characteristics of the PtSe2 devices revealed that edge-contacted structures are able reduce the contact resistivity when compared to conventional devices with top contacts, thanks to enhancement of the carrier injection at the contacts. These results may pave the way to optimal design of PtSe2 nanoelectronic devices.