Hydrophilicity is an important property for membranes as it influences the application scope and effectiveness of separation process, and various surface modification methods have been developed targeting to an enhanced hydrophilicity. However, few work focuses on hydrophilicity tunability, and many researches can only obtain limited wettability improvement. Here, a novel surface modification method is reported. In this method, surface functional groups on polyethylene terephthalate membrane are activated and hydrophilic polyethylenimine chains can be grafted to the membrane in a layer-by-layer manner. The membrane hydrophilicity is thus tunable in a wide range through adjusting the number of grafting steps, and a water contact angle decrease of 54 degrees that exceeds most of other grafting modification methods is achieved. Optimal membrane hydrophilicity corresponding to a contact angle of 60 degrees is found through the screening for the highest water permeability, and a water permeability improvement of similar to 29 % is observed for modified PET track-etched membranes with different parameters.

SiC materials and devices hold significant promise for aerospace applications owing to their high thermal conductivity, temperature tolerance, and resistance to harsh conditions. However, SiC power devices often encounter single event effects (SEEs) induced by high-energy ions, which limit the applications in space radiation environments. In this study, we demonstrate the impact of thickness of gate oxide layer on latent gate oxide damage in Silicon carbide (SiC) power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) during heavy-ion irradiation, by using a combination of experiments and technical computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. The study exposes SiC MOSFETs with gate oxide thicknesses of 40 nm and 60 nm to 78Kr ion irradiation followed by post-irradiation gate stress (PIGS) tests, scrutinizing failure characteristics induced by irradiation. Through TCAD simulations, the internal dynamics of the gate oxide layer are scrutinized, revealing that escalated electric fields and localized energy pulses predominantly precipitate gate dielectric layer damage. The results suggest that gate oxide thickness markedly impacts latent gate damage, with thinner oxide layers exhibiting heightened susceptibility to electrical breakdown. These findings enrich the comprehension of SiC power device reliability in radiation-rich environments, furnishing invaluable insights for aerospace applications.

Silicon carbide (SiC) Junction-Barrier-Schottky (JBS) diodes are becoming increasingly important for high-power and high-radiation environments due to their superior material properties, including high voltage tolerance, fast switching speeds, and excellent resistance to radiation-induced damage. However, SiC devices are vulnerable to single-event effects (SEE), especially under heavy ion irradiation. Ion-induced generation of a large number of electron-hole pairs within the SiC material, coupled with the high electric field in the device's depletion region, results in highly localized energy pulses and power dissipation. This leads to the radiation damage in the device material, ultimately causing degradation of the device's electrical performance. This study investigates the impact of a Buffer structure with a graded doping profile on the single-event burnout (SEB) and single-event leakage current (SELC) thresholds of SiC JBS diodes. Heavy ion irradiation with different linear energy transfer (LET) values was used to assess the device performance under reverse bias conditions. The results show that the Buffer structure significantly improves the SEB threshold compared to the Baseline structure, reducing the risk of breakdown under high LET irradiation. Additionally, the study uses TCAD simulations to analyse the influence of LET and bias voltage on power dissipation and electric field distribution, revealing that the Buffer structure mitigates high electric field concentrations, it enhances the device's resistance to SELC and SEB by modulating the electric field distribution and reducing power density peaks at specific locations within the device.

The 3-D nand technology has garnered increasing attention within space applications as a focal point of commercial competition and industrial evolution in semiconductor memory. With the increase in the number of layers, dual-deck architecture is being gradually integrated into products to reduce process fluctuations and improve electrical performance. However, it is essential to carefully evaluate the response of such new devices to radiation effects. In this study, the 3-D distribution characteristics of single-event upsets (SEUs) were investigated in 128-layer dual-deck 3-D nand flash memory induced by heavy ion irradiation. By measuring the threshold voltage distribution of charge-trapping (CT) cells under different heavy ion conditions, the dependence of the number and size of multiple cell upsets (MCUs) on the linear energy transfer (LET) was analyzed, and the underlying physical mechanisms of these radiation effects were explored. In addition, the variation of SEU along the layer is closely related to the dual-deck structure and channel hole etch process. This work provides important reference data for improving the reliability design of 3-D nand flash devices in radiation environments.

The 28 nm process has a high cost-performance ratio and has gradually become the standard for the field of radiation-hardened devices. However, owing to the minimum physical gate length of only 35 nm, the physical area of a standard 6T SRAM unit is approximately 0.16 m^2 , resulting in a significant enhancement of multi-cell charge-sharing effects. Multiple-cell upsets (MCUs) have become the primary physical mechanism behind single-event upsets (SEUs) in advanced nanometer node devices. The range of ionization track effects increases with higher ion energies, and spacecraft in orbit primarily experience SEUs caused by high-energy ions. However, ground accelerator experiments have mainly obtained low-energy ion irradiation data. Therefore, the impact of ion energy on the SEU cross section, charge collection mechanisms, and MCU patterns and quantities in advanced nanometer devices remains unclear. In this study, based on the experimental platform of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou, low- and high-energy heavy-ion beams were used to study the SEUs of 28 nm SRAM devices. The influence of ion energy on the charge collection processes of small-sensitive-volume devices, MCU patterns, and upset cross sections was obtained, and the applicable range of the inverse cosine law was clarified. The findings of this study are an important guide for the accurate evaluation of SEUs in advanced nanometer devices and for the development of radiation-hardening techniques.

Separators play a crucial role in inhibiting thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, the doctor blade coating method and heavy-ion track etching technology were used to prepare a polyimide-based covalent organic framework (PI_COF) separator with excellent thermal stability and a long cycle life. Specifically, COF300 was simply coated on the surface of a polyimide-based track-etched membrane (PI_TEM) with straight through holes, which provided a rigid framework and high-temperature stability at 300 degrees C. These features were conducive to inhibiting thermal runaway, while porous COF300 with large holes increased the wettability of the electrolyte, facilitating lithium-ion migration and suppression of lithium dendrite growth; consequently, LIBs with an excellent cycling performance and a high rate capacity were obtained. The cell with the PI_COF separator delivered a high capacity of 90.0 mA h g(-1) after 1000 cycles. The PI_COF separator with high thermal stability exhibited a long cycle life in LIBs. These features are beneficial for improving the safety characteristics of LIBs as well as for accelerating the practical application process of the PI_COF separator.

Extending the fabrication methodology of solid-state nanopores in a wide range of materials is significant in the fields of single molecule detection, nanofluidic devices, and nanofiltration membranes. Here, we demonstrate a new method to directly fabricate size- and density-controllable sub-10 nm nanopores in WO3 nanosheets using single swift heavy ions (SHIs) without any chemical etching process. By selecting ions of different electronic energy losses (Se), nanopores with sizes from 1.8 to 7.4 nm can be created in WO3 nanosheets. The creation efficiency of nanopores achieves ∼100% for Se > 20 keV/nm, and there exists a critical thickness below which nanopores can be created. Combined with molecular dynamics simulations, we propose that the viscosity and surface tension of the transient molten phase caused by SHIs are the key factors for the formation of nanopores. This method paves a way to fabricate solid-state nanopores in materials with a low viscosity and surface tension.

In this work, the effects of environmental temperature and ion flux on heavy-ion irradiation damage in commercial SiC Schottky diodes were experimentally characterized. The result shows that the room temperature (25 degrees C) irradiation is the worst setting than high temperatures. In particular, the reverse leakage current IR increment at the highest temperature (150 degrees C) is about one-fifth of that at room temperature. The damage is more serious under high flux irradiation, and the IR increment introduced by higher flux (-10,000 ions/(cm2 center dot s)) is four times larger than that by lower flux (-300 ions/(cm2 center dot s)). After room temperature annealing for more than one year, the DUTs still show the same damage characteristics, which indicates the degradation damage induced by heavy ions is permanent. The variation of power dissipation induced by the synergistic effect of heavy ion incident and the electric field is the root mechanism. The results would help estimate the feasibility of the usage of SiC power devices in space.

Experimental responses of two different substrate thicknesses of SiC Junction-Barrier-Schottky (JBS) diodes are presented by Kr and Bi ions irradiation experiments. Three bias voltages of 250 V, 275 V, and 300 V were chosen to analyse single event leakage current (SELC) degradation and single event burnout (SEB) in the 650 V-rated devices with standard (350 mu m) and thin (150 mu m) substrates, respectively. Measured data indicate that under the same bias voltage and heavy ion parameter conditions, the degree of leakage degradation of the device is weaker for the SiC JBS with thin substrate structure. Measured data also indicate that when the device at a bias voltage of 300 V by the Bi-ion irradiation experiment, SEB occurred in the standard substrate device, but only leakage current degradation occurred in the thin substrate device. The weakening of effective charge deposition and impact ionization rate in thin-substrate devices are the main reasons for SELC degradation and SEB threshold increasing. Corresponding TCAD simulations are also utilized to analyse physical parameters and confirm the mechanism.

In the study reported here, Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate single-event upsets (SEUs) induced by ultra-high-energy proton irradiation in electronic devices made with various technology nodes, and the simulation results show the following. For smaller technology nodes, the SEU cross section tends to increase when the incident proton energy exceeds 200 MeV, and the dependence of the SEU cross section on 200-MeV protons as a saturation point for technology nodes smaller than 90 nm might result in underestimated error rates. Finally, using proton SEE cross section data with energies higher than 200 MeV can better assess the severity of the non-saturation effect, and can also obtain more realistic error rate.

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials are emerging candidates for next-generation electronics due to their unique properties, such as high carrier mobility and on/off ratios. However, their introduction may significantly alter single-event effects (SEEs) in devices compared to traditional silicon devices. This work investigates the SEE sensitivity of TMD devices under proton irradiation using the Geant4 simulation toolkit. Secondary ions generated by proton irradiation of TMD devices with different proton energies were simulated and analyzed. The energy deposition in the device's sensitive volume array was also examined. The results show that TMD devices are more susceptible to SEEs than silicon devices, and that their SEE sensitivity depends on the TMD material, proton energy, and critical charge. These findings provide valuable insights into the aerospace application of TMD material devices and the design of radiation-hardened TMD-based electronics.

Heavy ion irradiation effects on charge trapping memory (CTM) capacitors with TiN/Al2O3/HfO2/Al2O3/HfO2/SiO2/p-Si structure have been investigated. The ion-induced interface charges and oxide trap charges were calculated and analyzed by capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics. The C–V curves shift towards the negative direction after swift heavy ion irradiation, due to the net positive charges accumulating in the trapping layer. The memory window decreases with the increase of ion fluence at high voltage, which results from heavy ion-induced structural damage in the blocking layer. The mechanism of heavy ion irradiation effects on CTM capacitors is discussed in detail with energy band diagrams. The results may help to better understand the physical mechanism of heavy ion-induced degradation of CTM capacitors.

The total ionizing dose (TID) effects on single-event upset (SEU) hardness are investigated for two silicon-on-insulator (SOI) static random access memories (SRAMs) with different layout structures in this paper. The contrary changing trends of TID on SEU sensitivity for 6T and 7T SOI SRAMs are observed in our experiment. After 800 krad(Si) irradiation, the SEU cross-sections of 6T SRAMs increases by 15%, while 7T SRAMs decreases by 60%. Experimental results show that the SEU cross-sections are not only affected by TID irradiation, but also strongly correlate with the layout structure of the memory cells. Theoretical analysis shows that the decrease of SEU cross-section of 7T SRAM is caused by a raised OFF-state equivalent resistance of the delay transistor N5 after TID exposure, which is because the radiation-induced charges are trapped in the shallow trench, and isolation oxide (STI) and buried oxide (BOX) enhance the carrier scattering rate of delay transistor N5.

Multiple-bit upsets (MBUs) have become a threat to modern advanced field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) applications in radiation environments. Hence, many investigations have been conducted using medium-energy heavy ions to study the effects of MBU radiation. However, high-energy heavy ions (HEHIs) greatly affect the size and percentage of MBUs because their ionization-track structures differ from those of medium-energy heavy ions. In this study, the different impacts of high-energy and medium-energy heavy ions on MBUs in 28 nm FPGAs as well as their mechanisms are thoroughly investigated. With the Geant4 calculation, more serious energy effects of HEHIs on MBU scales were successfully demonstrated. In addition, we identified worse MBU responses resulting from lowered voltages. The MBU orientation effect was observed in the radiation of different dimensions. The broadened ionization tracks for tilted tests in different dimensions could result in different MBU sizes. The results also revealed that the ionization tracks of tilted HEHIs have more severe impacts on the MBU scales than medium-energy heavy ions with much higher linear energy transfer. Therefore, comprehensive radiation with HEHIs is indispensable for effective hardened designs to apply high-density 28 nm FPGAs in deep space exploration.

For modern scaling devices, multiple cell upsets(MCUs) have become a major threat to high-reliability field-programmable gate array(FPGA)-based systems. Thus, both performing the worst-case irradiation tests to provide the actual MCU response of devices and proposing an effective MCU distinction method are urgently needed. In this study, high-and medium-energy heavy-ion irradiations for the configuration random-access memory of 28 nm FPGAs are performed. An MCU extraction method supported by theoretical predictions is proposed to study the MCU sizes, shapes, and frequencies in detail. Based on the extraction method, the different percentages, and orientations of the large MCUs in both the azimuth and zenith directions determine the worse irradiation response of the FPGAs. The extracted largest 9-bit MCUs indicate that high-energy heavy ions can induce more severe failures than medium-energy ones. The results show that both the use of high-energy heavy ions during MCU evaluations and effective protection for the application of high-density 28 nm FPGAs in space are extremely necessary.

The separator plays a vital role in preventing thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, a PI/hBN (polyimide/hexagonal boron nitride) separator with excellent thermal stability and enhanced thermal conductivity is successfully prepared by ion track etching and doctor blade coating to achieve highly safe LIBs. The PI/hBN separator displays good electrolyte wettability, high mechanical strength, excellent thermal stability, and enhanced in-plane thermal conductivity, as well as good electrochemical performance when applied in LIBs. Specifically, PI track-etched membranes have been used to prepare separators with rigid structures and functional groups in polymer chains, thereby enabling the separators to be stable at temperatures as high as 500 degrees C. Moreover, hBN-coated nanoplates enhance the in-plane thermal conductivity of the separator to reduce the local heat accumulation in the battery while also promoting interfacial compatibility to facilitate the conduction of lithium ions. Lithium iron phosphate/lithium cells with the PI/hBN separator deliver better rate capability and superior capacity retention. The PI/hBN separator is a promising candidate for achieving highly safe LIBs, and this work paves the way for engineering roll-to-roll techniques to suppress thermal runaway and improve battery safety.

Single-crystal indium phosphide (InP) was irradiated by swift heavy ions (Ar-40, Fe-56, Kr-86, Ta-181, and Bi-209) with different energies. The damage evolutions have been investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Analysis of Raman intensity ratio (LO ' peak to LO peak [I-LO '/I-LO]) provides a new insight into the lattice quality of the irradiated samples. The defect-activated longitudinal optical mode (LO ') appeared and then disappeared with increasing ion fluences, and it seems that the peak point of I-LO '/I-LO is electronic energy loss dependent. The phenomenological model suggests that the LO ' peak intensity is positively correlated with the proportion of the activated regions, where the crystals were not completely disordered, but still many defects were created. Furthermore, the TEM images showed that the tracks closely overlapped, resulting in the decrease of activated regions, which implies that there is a competitive mechanism between the generation and annealing of the defects. It also provides direct evidence that the annealing effect of the defects has occurred during the swift heavy-ion irradiation.

The III-V binary compound semiconductor is considered to be an appealing candidate for future complementary metal oxide semiconductor applications and the most promising silicon substitute in terms of high electron mobility. In this study, the authors used the Monte Carlo simulation software Geant4 and the data analysis tool Python to comprehensively examine the interaction between protons with a wide range of energy and III-V binary compound semiconductors. This work focus on the radiation responses of 11 kinds of III-V materials—AlAs, AlP, AlSb, GaAs, GaN, GaP, GaSb, InAs, InN, InP, and InSb—with silicon as a reference. Energy straggling, secondary ion generation, and energy distribution in the sensitive layer were represented in each simulation of the incident protons. Information about the distributions of the linear energy transfer of the secondary ions and energy deposition was acquired through data analysis. Finally, the impact of the material species on the single-event upset responses triggered by the direct ionization and the nuclear reaction mechanisms at different critical charges were investigated.

The angle impact on the single event effect in SiC Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) has been evaluated by Ta ion irradiation experiments. Two bias voltages of 275 V and 350 V were chosen to analyse the oxide and the body damages of the 900 V-rated devices, respectively. Two different angles of along and vertical to the stripes were tested for SiC MOSFETs with stripe-cell structures. The results show that the leakage degradation of the devices reduced with the angle increasing. The leakage paths changed from the drainsource dominating at normal incidence to the drain-gate at 30 degrees for 350 V irradiations. The weakening of the combined effect between the charge deposition and electric filed in angular irradiation is the main reason of body damage attenuation. The results would help comprehend the single event effect characteristics and mechanisms of SiC MOSFET.

Extracting clean energy by converting the salinity gradient between river and sea into energy is an effective way to reduce the global pollution and carbon emissions. Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is of great importance to realize the energy conversion assisting the ion-selective membrane. However, its higher ion resistance and lower conversion efficiency results in the undesirable power conversion performance. Here, we demonstrate a 1D/2D hybrid nanochannel system to achieve high osmotic energy conversion and output power. This heterogeneous structure is composed of two structures, in which the subnanometer nanochannels in graphene oxide membrane (GOM) can serve as a selective layer and reduce the ion diffusion energy barrier, while the nanochannel in the polymer can introduce asymmetry to enhance ionic rectification and conversion efficiency. This heterogeneous membrane exhibits excellent cation selectivity and enhanced ionic current rectification (ICR) performance. The application of the GOM/PET hybrid nanochannel system in osmotic energy harvesting is evaluated, and the output power can reach up to 118.2 pW with the energy conversion efficiency of 40.3%. Theoretical calculation indicates that the 1D/2D hybrid system can effectively take the advantage of excellent cation selectivity of 2D lamellar nanochannels to improve its RED performance significantly.