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Low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) accommodate residual stress through the rearrangement and accumulation of dislocations during cold rolling. This study presents an electron wind force-based annealing approach to recover cold-rolling induced residual stress in FeCrAl alloy below 100 °C in 1 min. This is significantly lower than conventional thermal annealing, which typically requires temperatures around 750 °C for about 1.5 h. A key feature of our approach is the athermal electron wind force effect, which promotes dislocation movement and stress relief at significantly lower temperatures. The electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis reveals that the concentration of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) is reduced from 82.4% in the cold-rolled state to a mere 47.5% following electropulsing. This level of defect recovery even surpasses the pristine material’s initial state, which exhibited 54.8% LAGBs. This reduction in LAGB concentration was complemented by kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps and X-ray diffraction (XRD) Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) measurements, which further validated the microstructural enhancements. Nanoindentation tests revealed a slight increase in hardness despite the reduction in dislocation density, suggesting a balance between grain boundary refinement and dislocation dynamics. This proposed low-temperature technique, driven by athermal electron wind forces, presents a promising avenue for residual stress mitigation while minimizing undesirable thermal effects, paving the way for advancements in various material processing applications. 

Thermal annealing is commonly used in fabrication processing and/or performance enhancement of electronic and opto-electronic devices. In this study, we investigate an alternative approach, where high current density pulses are used instead of high temperature. The basic premise is that the electron wind force, resulting from the momentum loss of high-energy electrons at defect sites, is capable of mobilizing internal defects. The proposed technique is demonstrated on commercially available optoelectronic devices with two different initial conditions. The first study involved a thermally degraded edge-emitting laser diode. About 90% of the resulting increase in forward current was mitigated by the proposed annealing technique where very low duty cycle was used to suppress any temperature rise. The second study was more challenging, where a pristine vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) was subjected to similar processing to see if the technique can enhance performance. Encouragingly, this treatment yielded a notable improvement of over 20% in the forward current. These findings underscore the potential of electropulsing as an efficient in-operando technique for damage recovery and performance enhancement in optoelectronic devices. 

Abstract In this study, we explore the rejuvenation of a Zener diode degraded by high electrical stress, leading to a leftward shift, and broadening of the Zener breakdown voltage knee, alongside a 57% reduction in forward current. We employed a non-thermal annealing method involving high-density electric pulses with short pulse width and low frequency. The annealing process took <30 s at near-ambient temperature. Raman spectroscopy supports the electrical characterization, showing enhancement in crystallinity to explain the restoration of the breakdown knee followed by improvement in forward current by ∼85%. 

Abstract Traditional approaches to control the microstructure of materials, such as annealing, require high temperature treatment for long periods of time. In this study, we present a room temperature microstructure manipulation method by using the mechanical momentum of electrical current pulses. In particular, a short burst of high-density current pulses with low duty cycle is applied to an annealed FeCrAl alloy, and the corresponding response of microstructure is captured by using Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) analysis. We show evidence of controllable changes in grain orientation at specimen temperature around 28 °C. To demonstrate such microstructural control, we apply the current pulses in two perpendicular directions and observe the corresponding grain rotation. Up to 18° of grain rotation was observed, which could be reversed by varying the electropulsing direction. Detailed analysis at the grain level reveals that electropulsing in a specific direction induces clockwise rotation from their pristine state, while subsequent cross-perpendicular electropulsing results in an anticlockwise rotation. In addition, our proposed room temperature processing yields notable grain refinement, while the average misorientation and density of low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) remain unaltered. The findings of this study highlight the potentials of ‘convective diffusion’ in electrical current based materials processing science towards microstructural control at room temperature. 

Thermal annealing is a widely used strategy to enhance semiconductor device performance. However, the process is complex for multi-material multi-layered semiconductor devices, where thermoelastic stresses from lattice constant and thermal expansion coefficient mismatch may create more defects than those annealed. We propose an alternate low temperature annealing technique, which utilizes the electron wind force (EWF) induced by small duty cycle high density pulsed current. To demonstrate its effectiveness, we intentionally degrade AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with accelerated OFF-state stressing to increase ON-resistance ∼182.08% and reduce drain saturation current ∼85.82% of pristine condition at a gate voltage of 0 V. We then performed the EWF annealing to recover the corresponding values back to ∼122.21% and ∼93.10%, respectively. The peak transconductance, degraded to ∼76.58% of pristine at the drain voltage of 3 V, was also recovered back to ∼92.38%. This recovery of previously degraded transport properties is attributed to approximately 80% recovery of carrier mobility, which occurs during EWF annealing. We performed synchrotron differential aperture x-ray microscopy measurements to correlate these annealing effects with the lattice structural changes. We found a reduction of lattice plane spacing of (001) planes and stress within the GaN layer under the gate region after EWF annealing, suggesting a corresponding decrease in defect density. Application of this low-temperature annealing technique for in-operando recovery of degraded electronic devices is discussed. 

High-power electronics, such as GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), are expected to perform reliably in high-temperature conditions. This study aims to gain an understanding of the microscopic origin of both material and device vulnerabilities to high temperatures by real-time monitoring of the onset of structural degradation under varying temperature conditions. This is achieved by operating GaN HEMT devices in situ inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Electron-transparent specimens are prepared from a bulk device and heated up to 800 °C. High-resolution TEM (HRTEM), scanning TEM (STEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and geometric phase analysis (GPA) are performed to evaluate crystal quality, material diffusion, and strain propagation in the sample before and after heating. Gate contact area reduction is visible from 470 °C accompanied by Ni/Au intermixing near the gate/AlGaN interface. Elevated temperatures induce significant out-of-plane lattice expansion at the SiNx/GaN/AlGaN interface, as revealed by geometry-phase GPA strain maps, while in-plane strains remain relatively consistent. Exposure to temperatures exceeding 500 °C leads to almost two orders of magnitude increase in leakage current in bulk devices in this study, which complements the results from our TEM experiment. The findings of this study offer real-time visual insights into identifying the initial location of degradation and highlight the impact of temperature on the bulk device’s structure, electrical properties, and material degradation. 

Strain plays an important role in the performance and reliability of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). However, the impact of strain on the performance of proton irradiated GaN HEMTs is yet unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of strain relaxation on the properties of proton irradiated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Controlled strain relief is achieved locally using the substrate micro-trench technique. The strain relieved devices experienced a relatively smaller increase of strain after 5 MeV proton irradiation at a fluence of 5 × 1014 cm−2 compared to the non-strain relieved devices, i.e., the pristine devices. After proton irradiation, both pristine and strain relieved devices demonstrate a reduction of drain saturation current (Ids,sat), maximum transconductance (Gm), carrier density (ns), and mobility (μn). Depending on the bias conditions the pristine devices exhibit up to 32% reduction of Ids,sat, 38% reduction of Gm, 15% reduction of ns, and 48% reduction of μn values. In contrast, the strain relieved devices show only up to 13% reduction of Ids,sat, 11% reduction of Gm, 9% reduction of ns, and 30% reduction of μn values. In addition, the locally strain relieved devices show smaller positive shift of threshold voltage compared to the pristine devices after proton irradiation. The less detrimental impact of proton irradiation on the transport properties of strain relieved devices could be attributed to reduced point defect density producing lower trap center densities, and evolution of lower operation related stresses due to lower initial residual strain. 

Abstract Radiation susceptibility of electronic devices is commonly studied as a function of radiation energetics and device physics. Often overlooked is the presence or magnitude of the electrical field, which we hypothesize to play an influential role in low energy radiation. Accordingly, we present a comprehensive study of low-energy proton irradiation on gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), turning the transistor ON or OFF during irradiation. Commercially available GaN HEMTs were exposed to 300 keV proton irradiation at fluences varying from 3.76 × 10¹²to 3.76 × 10¹⁴cm², and the electrical performance was evaluated in terms of forward saturation current, transconductance, and threshold voltage. The results demonstrate that the presence of an electrical field makes it more susceptible to proton irradiation. The decrease of 12.4% in forward saturation and 19% in transconductance at the lowest fluence in ON mode suggests that both carrier density and mobility are reduced after irradiation. Additionally, a positive shift in threshold voltage (0.32 V and 0.09 V in ON and OFF mode, respectively) indicates the generation of acceptor-like traps due to proton bombardment. high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis reveal significant defects introduction and atom intermixing near AlGaN/GaN interfaces and within the GaN layer after the highest irradiation dose employed in this study. According toin-situRaman spectroscopy, defects caused by irradiation can lead to a rise in self-heating and a considerable increase in (∼750 times) thermoelastic stress in the GaN layer during device operation. The findings indicate device engineering or electrical biasing protocol must be employed to compensate for radiation-induced defects formed during proton irradiation to improve device durability and reliability. 

Radiation susceptibility of electronics has always been about probing electrical properties in either transient or time-accumulated phenomena. As the size and complexity of electronic chips or systems increase, detection of the most vulnerable regions becomes more time consuming and challenging. In this study, we hypothesize that localized mechanical stress, if overlapping electrically sensitive regions, can make electronic devices more susceptible to radiation. Accordingly, we develop an indirect technique to map mechanical and electrical hotspots to identify radiation-susceptible regions of the operational amplifier AD844 to ionizing radiation. Mechanical susceptibility is measured using pulsed thermal phase analysis via lock-in thermography and electrical biasing is used to identify electrically relevant regions. A composite score of electrical and mechanical sensitivity was constructed to serve as a metric for ionizing radiation susceptibility. Experimental results, compared against the literature, indicate effectiveness of the new technique in the rapid detection of radiation-vulnerable regions. The findings could be attractive for larger systems, for which traditional analysis would take —two to three orders of magnitude more time to complete. However, the indirect nature of the technique makes the study more approximate and in need for more consistency and validation efforts. 

Abstract Defect mitigation of electronic devices is conventionally achieved using thermal annealing. To mobilize the defects, very high temperatures are necessary. Since thermal diffusion is random in nature, the process may take a prolonged period of time. In contrast, we demonstrate a room temperature annealing technique that takes only a few seconds. The fundamental mechanism is defect mobilization by atomic scale mechanical force originating from very high current density but low duty cycle electrical pulses. The high-energy electrons lose their momentum upon collision with the defects, yet the low duty cycle suppresses any heat accumulation to keep the temperature ambient. For a 7 × 10⁵A cm⁻²pulsed current, we report an approximately 26% reduction in specific on-resistance, a 50% increase of the rectification ratio with a lower ideality factor, and reverse leakage current for as-fabricated vertical geometry GaN p–n diodes. We characterize the microscopic defect density of the devices before and after the room temperature processing to explain the improvement in the electrical characteristics. Raman analysis reveals an improvement in the crystallinity of the GaN layer and an approximately 40% relaxation of any post-fabrication residual strain compared to the as-received sample. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and geometric phase analysis results of high-resolution TEM images further confirm the effectiveness of the proposed room temperature annealing technique to mitigate defects in the device. No detrimental effect, such as diffusion and/or segregation of elements, is observed as a result of applying a high-density pulsed current, as confirmed by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy mapping.