Thin-film circuits for sensors

Core competences offered:

• Physical level simulation of oxide TFTs with different geometries and materials
• Design, simulation, fabrication and characterization of oxide TFT circuits with low-to-medium complexity, using in-house clean room processes
• Supporting design and simulation of oxide TFT circuits with medium-to-high complexity, making use of commercial PDK for subsequent tapeout requests to external foundry by users

Major tools:

• Silvaco TCAD suite for physics-based simulation of oxide TFTs
• Circuit design and simulation in Cadence environment
• Tools for oxide TFT fabrication and circuit integration, including sputtering, ALD, direct laser writing, etching and nanoimprint lithography. Printing available for low-transistor count circuits
• Failure analysis, including SEM/FIB cross section analysis, EBIC-based techniques, STEM for interfacial analysis
• Electrical characterization of circuits, including semiconductor parameter analyzers with IV, pulsed-IV and CV capabilities, oscilloscopes, signal generators, manual probe stations, probe stations with temperature, light and environmental control

Fabrication:

• Glass or flexible substrates (up to 4” size)
• TFT channel length between 200 µm and 600 nm, depending on processing technology

Characterization:

• Up to 2” size for SEM/FIB
• Electrical characterization in probe stations – up to 4” substrate and up to 6 I/O pads (beyond that requires PCB integration)

A user has the requirement to have a glass or flexible substrate including all the circuitry required for signal conditioning/addressing/processing of sensors, eventually even integrating both sensors and circuits within the same substrate.

https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201800032

https://doi.org/10.1109/JEDS.2018.2850219

https://doi.org/10.1109/JEDS.2019.2897642

https://doi.org/10.1109/JEDS.2020.2971277

https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202200642

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28459-6

Access Provider / Facilities