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ECE Ph.D. Defense

<p> &nbsp;</p> <table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 624px"> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING</strong></p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>DISSERTATION DEFENSE</strong></p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>&ldquo;Fast Transients in Non-Volatile Resistive Memory </strong><strong>Switches with Tantalum Pentoxide Solo Electrolyte&rdquo;</strong></p> <p align="center"> <strong>By</strong></p> <p align="center"> <strong>Pragua Rasmi Shrestha</strong></p> <h3> Advisor:&nbsp; Dr. Helmut Baumgart</h3> <h3> Committee:&nbsp; Drs. Namkoong, Hao, Joshi, Cheung</h3> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p> <strong>*****************************************************************************************</strong></p> <p> <strong>Friday, March 22, 2013&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:00 A.M.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kaufman 103</strong></p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p> <p> The semiconductor electronics industry has followed Moore&rsquo;s law austerely since 1965 for almost five decades fueling the microelectronics revolution and major technological advancements.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Presently, and contrary to earlier predictions by researchers, Moore&rsquo;s Law has not yet reached the physical limits of scaling, commonly known as reaching Moore&rsquo;s wall, but it may not remain valid for&nbsp;&nbsp; another 15 to 20 years. Over the recent decades the semiconductor industry has proven to be spectacularly successful, particularly by scaling the geometry of devices ever smaller. Currently, microelectronics fabrication has reached deep into nanotechnology regime with the leading semiconductor companies fabricating IC chips at gate lengths of 22 nm. The device scaling has been very effective in boosting productivity yielding astonishing integration levels while simultaneously dropping dramatically the price per bit.&nbsp;&nbsp; However, the future of device scaling remains unclear. It is certain that device scaling will face severe reliability issues in the future. The cost and energy savings through scaling devices could be limited in the future because sophisticated fabrication and test measurements needs must also be met. Therefore, there is a need to identify alternative technology platforms. Reconfigurable devices are considered as one of the key alternatives.</p> <p> However, the widespread aggressive acceptance of reconfigurable devices in the semiconductor industry faces many different challenges.&nbsp; One of the major bottle necks is the size of the switching matrix.&nbsp; Researchers have been working on molecular switches for the switching matrix. Although promising, molecular switches have lots of pit falls to overcome before molecular switches can be commercially produced with a viable yield. For this reason another switch, a non-volatile nano-crossbar switch fabricated with solid electrolytes, has been proposed to replace the present switches in the switching matrix. One of the primary advantages and plus points of such a switch is its CMOS compatibility.</p> <p> Some general features of such a switch are: Low ON resistance, high ON/OFF, resistance ratio, High endurance and Long retention time. Apart from the above characteristics it should be noted that the size of the switch should be in the range of interconnect geometries in order to be compatible with CMOS process technology. This is a very important point as this would actually bring down the size of the switching matrix to an absolute minimum with significant area savings.</p> <p> Given such advantages it is essential to elucidate the working principle as well as the reliability issues. Since these non-volatile nano-crossbar switch devices are new to the semiconductor electronics industry it is crucially important to explore novel structures for improved device architectures and to develop adequate measurement techniques to inspect and characterize these novel nano-crossbar switch devices. In this thesis work novel structures of RRAM devices have been explored to improve device performance. New Measurement set up techniques have&nbsp;&nbsp; been&nbsp; developed and proprietary test circuits have been designed, built and tested in order to acquire accurate and reliable data to investigate device performance.</p> <p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>*************************************************************************************</strong></p> <p> <strong>ALL INTERESTED PERSONS, INCLUDING FACULTY, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND</strong></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div style="clear: both"> &nbsp;</div> <p> &nbsp;</p>

Posted By: Linda Marshall
Date: Fri Mar 15 14:17:52 EDT 2013

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