Resonant Tunneling Transistors (epo) Patents (Class 257/E29.192)
  • Patent number: 8604772
    Abstract: A sensor assembly for electric field sensing is provided. The sensor assembly may include an array of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS)-based resonant tunneling devices. A resonant tunneling device may be configured to generate a resonant tunneling signal in response to the electric field. The resonant tunneling device may include at least one electron state definer responsive to changes in at least one respective controllable characteristic of the electron state definer. The changes in the controllable characteristic are configured to affect the tunneling signal. An excitation device may be coupled to the resonant tunneling device to effect at least one of the changes in the controllable characteristic affecting the tunneling signal. A controller may be coupled to the resonant tunneling device and the excitation device to control the changes of the controllable characteristic in accordance with an automated control strategy configured to reduce an effect of noise on a measurement of the electric field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ertugrul Berkcan, Naresh Kesa Van Rao, Aaron Knobloch
  • Patent number: 8395162
    Abstract: The semiconductor device of the present invention includes a semiconductor region made of a material to which conductive impurities are added, an insulating film formed on a surface of the semiconductor region, and an electroconductive gate electrode formed on the insulating film. The gate electrode is made of a material whose Fermi level is closer to a Fermi level of the semiconductor region than a Fermi level of Si in at least a portion contiguous to the insulating film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuki Nakano, Ryota Nakamura, Katsuhisa Nagao
  • Patent number: 8368380
    Abstract: A stand-off sensor assembly is provided. The sensor assembly includes a plurality of electron state definers for generating resonant tunneling current in response to the electric field, wherein the electron state definers include at least one variable characteristic such that a change in the variable characteristic affects the tunneling current, and a monitor for monitoring a change in the tunneling current exiting an electron state definer based on a change in the variable characteristic of the tunneling device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ertugrul Berkcan, David William Vernooy
  • Patent number: 8237229
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus of integrating a buried-channel PMOS into a BiCMOS process. The apparatus comprises at least one bipolar transistor and at least one MOS device coupled to the at least one bipolar transistor, such that a gate of the at least one MOS device may be coupled to an emitter of the at least one bipolar transistor. The MOS device comprises a buried channel having mobility means, such as strained silicon for promoting hole mobility in the buried channel, and confinement means, such as a cap layer disposed proximate to the buried channel for limiting leakage of holes from the buried channel. The apparatus may be formed by exposing a substrate in a PMOS, forming a SiGe layer on the substrate, forming an oxide layer on the SiGe layer, masking the PMOS, and removing at least some of the oxide and at least some of the SiGe layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics Inc.
    Inventor: Prasanna Khare
  • Publication number: 20120068157
    Abstract: A transistor device having a graphene base for the transport of electrons into a collector is provided. The transistor consists of a heterostructure comprising an electron emitter, an electron collector, and a graphene material base layer consisting of one or more sheets of graphene situated between the emitter and the collector. The transistor also can further include an emitter transition layer at the emitter interface with the base and/or a collector transition layer at the base interface with the collector. The electrons injected into the graphene material base layer can be “hot electrons” having an energy E substantially greater than EF, the Fermi energy in the graphene material base layer or can be “non-hot electrons” having an energy E approximately equal to than EF. The electrons can have the properties of ballistic transit through the base layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Francis J. Kub
  • Patent number: 7893426
    Abstract: A single-electron transistor (1) has an elongate conductive channel (2) and a side gate (3) formed in a 5 nm-thick layer (4) of Ga0.98Mn0.02As. The single-electron transistor (1) is operable, in a first mode, as a transistor and, in a second mode, as non-volatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Limited
    Inventors: Jörg Wunderlich, David Williams, Tomas Jungwirth, Andrew Irvine, Bryan Gallagher
  • Patent number: 7875958
    Abstract: Structures include a tunneling device disposed over first and second lattice-mismatched semiconductor materials. Process embodiments include forming tunneling devices over lattice-mismatched materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Zhiyuan Cheng, Calvin Sheen
  • Patent number: 7800093
    Abstract: An integrated circuit including a memory cell includes a vertical bipolar select device including a base and an emitter. The memory cell includes a resistive memory element coupled to the emitter and a buried metallized word line contacting the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Qimonda North America Corp.
    Inventors: Thomas Happ, Jan Boris Philipp
  • Patent number: 7795609
    Abstract: Embodiments provide a quantum dot active structure and a methodology for its fabrication. The quantum dot active structure includes a substrate, a plurality of alternating regions of a quantum dot active region and a strain-compensation region, and a cap layer. The strain-compensation region is formed to eliminate the compressive strain of an adjacent quantum dot active region, thus allowing quantum dot active regions to be densely-stacked. The densely-stacked quantum dot active region provides increased optical modal gain for semiconductor light emitting devices such as edge emitting lasers, vertical cavity lasers, detectors, micro-cavity emitters, optical amplifiers or modulators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: STC.UNM
    Inventors: Diana L. Huffaker, Noppadon Nuntawong
  • Patent number: 7534710
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a device structure that contains two or more conducting layers, two peripheral insulating layers, one or more intermediate insulating layers, and two or more conductive contacts. The two or more conducting layers are sandwiched between the two peripheral insulating layers, and they are spaced apart by the intermediate insulating layers to form two or more quantum wells. Each of the conductive contacts is directly and selectively connected with one of the conducting layers, so the individual quantum wells can be selectively accessed through the conductive contacts. Such a device structure preferably contains a coupled quantum well devices having two or more quantum wells that can be coupled together by inter-well tunneling effect at degenerate energy levels. More preferably, the device structure contains a memory cell having three quantum wells that can be arranged and constructed to define two different memory states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Yasunao Katayama, Dennis M. Newns, Chang C. Tsuei