Enabling spatially-resolved mapping of electric activity in operational devices at atomic-resolution

Introduction

Advanced materials are at the core of innovation in the 21st century for a wide range of industries, including semiconductors, consumer electronics, automotive, and aerospace. Demands for products with increased functionality, performance, and reduced power consumption are driving the need for new device structures and materials.

Device Structures and Materials

Designing, characterizing, and testing two-terminal devices such as:

1. MIM (metal-insulator-metal) capacitors for high-performance DRAM capacitors
2. MSM (metal-semiconductor-metal) select elements for advanced non-volatile memory

are key for improved materials stack design and integration.

Project Overview

In ELECTRON, I will develop a technique that allows for the direct imaging of "brain-like" functions in operational RRAM devices. I aim to achieve operando electron beam-induced current imaging (EBIC) inside a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) by using amplifiers to measure electrical currents in a contacted working device exposed to a microscope's electron beam.

Mapping Electrical Activity

This technique will enable a unique and previously non-existent way to visualize electric activity in working devices while being sensitive to:

• Electric potential
• Electric field
• Work function
• Conductivity
• Temperature

under simultaneous external stimuli (i.e., heating, biasing, gas).

Expertise and Goals

I propose this project based upon the internationally recognized expertise of my group in the development of situ/operando TEM, specifically the ability to operate and electrically contact stack devices inside an electron microscope, and my experience in MEMS-based chip platform design (Nature Communications, 4445(2018)).

The goal is to push the spatial resolution of STEM-(SE)EBIC to reach atomic-resolution dimensions while probing industry-relevant electronic devices under realistic conditions.