In the research laboratories of Infineon, various organic materials were analysed and developed a wide range of processes. These can be used in the future in the production of silicon-based DRAMs and other memory as well as for the production of organic transistors and circuits.

Using conventional separation processes and Photolithography method for the manufacture of these components, using this approach for a low-cost mass production is predestined. Based on these fundamental technologies, Infineon scientists at the international electron devices meeting this year’s Conference in a series of lectures presented significant progress in performance, reliability and temperature behavior of transistors, circuits and save on the basis of organic materials.

With regard to the integration density and clock frequency electronic components with organic materials are perhaps no immediate alternative to integration on silicon-based, but they offer the potential for extremely low-cost production with great flexibility. While the production of integrated circuits with silicon and other crystalline semiconductors takes weeks and requires a large number of sequential processes with expensive equipment, organic electronics at a significantly lower cost can produce. Organic electronic components are designed therefore to relatively simple and cost-sensitive applications.

The thin film transistors (TFTs) by the scientists realised consist of organic semiconductor molecules as active layer and are characterized by a charge carrier mobility of over 1 cm2 / vs. As Silicon Parallels consist of several layers of even these organic transistors: substrate, gate electrode, insulator, source and drain connection, organic semiconductors (such as Pentazen or substituted Oligothiophene) and a Passivierungs coating. Infineon introduced at the international electron devices meeting both developments in organic / inorganic hybrid structures such as also purely organic chips before.

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New organic materials: potential for complex, non-volatile storage solutions

Different organic and inorganic materials were studied for their use for non-volatile memory. Organic memory offer the potential for easier integration and cell concepts with very small cell sizes. The properties of organic recording layers on a selective change of the molecular structure can be individually vote compared to inorganic materials. In addition, organic materials, often very well for the vacuum deposition and for low-cost coating suitable by may.

Scientists from Infineon described corresponding cell concepts and requirements for non-volatile memory based on the novel organic materials. Memory cells that have been set up in the new technology, showed promising results of reliability. For the first time, a data retention has been reached by more than a year for an organic store stuff, whose switching behavior based on change of conductivity. Further investigation showed that the material to feature sizes of less than 20 nm can be scaled out. In summary, the new store stuff as a more attractive candidate for non-volatile memory presents itself.

New polymer material for DRAM-integration concepts

Conventional silicon integration concepts are based on some few materials like Silicon, Silicon oxide and silicon nitride. For the exclusive use of these materials, the options for integration are limited because only these three materials can be mutually combined, capture, and at the same time highly selective etching. The associated limitation can also be eliminated by photoresists as a fourth alternative, because this a such low temperature resistance, that that none of the above materials can be deposited.

Infineon has a new, non ductile temperature resistant organic polymer development, which is regarded in professional circles as a promising fourth alternative. With very good yields was the suitability of this polymer based on a memory chip application (256 MB double data rate DRAM, 140 nm lithographic LineWidth) successfully demonstrated in the so-called “deep trench”, the storage capacitor. The feasibility of integration concepts in the FEOL (front-end-end-of-line) with the help of this new material is thus demonstrated. The polymer itself is applied through a Aufschleudern procedure, shows very good filling and plan modularization dependencies and impresses with a temperature resistance of well over 450 ° C. The new integration scheme allows the scale of the current DRAM-trench approach to significantly lower lithographic structure widths as 70 nm.

New molecular thin-film transistors work with lower voltage

Organic Electronics is aimed at cost-sensitive, relatively simple applications. However, one of the biggest problems of conventional organic thin film transistors (TFTs) is the high operating voltage, which is often above 20 volts. To reduce the operating voltage and thus the power consumption of organic ICs, requires new, ultra-thin Gate Dielectrics.

Infineon has developed a new molecular TFT based only 2.5 nm thin SAM (self assembling monolayer) on an organic semiconductor (Pentazen) with high charge mobility and a gate dielectric. With this breakthrough in the dielectrics for organic transistors transistors could be produced, work at voltages of only 1 V and thus show a lower threshold current behavior of less than 100 mV / decade. For a transistor with a channel length of 5 µm a transfer conductance measured from 0, 01µS/µm – the highest value that has been achieved ever for an organic Semiconductor.