Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Abstract Atomic-scale control in plasma processing is becoming increasingly critical for fabricating of advanced semiconductor devices, particularly as the industry shifts toward three-dimensional (3D) architectures and high-aspect-ratio (HAR) structures. This review presents a comprehensive overview of recent developments in atomic-scale controlled plasma processes, organized along two key direc…

Abstract The high contact resistivity at metal/semiconductor interfaces in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), particularly MoS 2 , severely limits device performance and remains an urgent challenge. Recently, semimetal contacts have been reported to reduce contact resistivity, however, they suffer from poor thermal stability. Here, we propose metallic amorphous chalcogenide (MAC) as a solu…

Corrigendum: “Spring constant of an AFM cantilever with a thin-film plasmonic waveguide formed at its end” [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 63, 04SP59 (2024)], Ito, Masanao, Lang, Lang, Zhang, Kaifeng, Kobayashi, Kei

Abstract Electroporation occurs when voltage is applied to lipid membranes. It has various applications, including transfection of DNA into cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying pore formation are not well understood. Therefore, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were performed on a POPC membrane model. A field-electrostatic method was used to apply voltage, and a set o…

Abstract The performance of multijunction PV devices, such as two-terminal perovskite/silicon cells, is strongly influenced by spectral irradiance distributions, as current matching among sub-cells is highly sensitive to spectral variations. In desert regions, the increasing frequency of dust and sandstorms may significantly alter the spectral distribution of solar irradiance and thus can adverse…

Abstract This study investigates plasma sheath dynamics in electronegative oxygen plasmas using a non-invasive plasma sheath monitoring sensor (PSMS). The PSMS detects radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field variations induced by sheath displacement currents, enabling real-time monitoring of sheath dynamics without perturbing the plasma. Variations in the PSMS signal are primarily attributed to chang…

Abstract Flash lamp annealing (FLA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were comparatively investigated to clarify their effects on the crystallinity and ferroelectric properties of Al-doped HfO2 (HAO) thin films. HAO films with an Al concentration of 0–12% were deposited by atomic layer deposition and crystallized using either FLA or RTA. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction revealed that FLA induc…

Abstract Optical mode switch is the key component in mode-division multiplexing systems, where mode coupler plays a critical role by controlling both mode exchange and phase relations. It must split an injected 1st mode-light into two fundamental modes with a π phase difference and regenerate the 1st mode-light from two fundamental modes with the same phase condition. Although such functions have…

Abstract High-quality AlN is directly grown on sputtered AlN (Sp-AlN) without pretreatment, using jet stream gas flow metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). For the 12 nm-thick Sp-AlN sample, a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 16 arcseconds was observed in the 0002 X-ray diffraction (XRD) ω scan, along with atomic steps with high linearity were observed despite the short AlN growth time of…

Abstract Acoustic microscopy can noninvasively measure acoustic properties, such as sound speed, density, and the attenuation coefficient of tissue sections or cells. The speed of sound can be estimated using a pulse-spectrum method; however, it may not be calculated accurately for samples with high attenuation. Moreover, a method for calculating the attenuation coefficient was proposed by Rohrba…

Abstract This work presents a GaN based p-channel heterostructure field effect transistor (p-HFET) featuring an embedded Ga2O3 layer within the AlGaN barrier. Electrical simulations demonstrate that the incorporation of the Ga2O3 layer enables enhancement-mode operation, due to valence band depression at the GaN/AlGaN heterojunction under zero bias induced by its wide bandgap. However, this impro…

Corrigendum: “First-principles study of excess Si transport in Si oxide on Si substrate using two-layer-oxide model for thermally oxidized interface” [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 65, 03SP18 (2026)], Kageshima, Hiroyuki, Seo, InSung, Akiyama, Toru, Shiraishi, Kenji

Abstract Horizontal slot waveguides allow light to be partially confined in the low index region. Furthermore, it is possible to realize a sensor that utilizes the change in effective refractive index depending on the state of the material in the hollow slot structure. We present a method for fabricating microring resonators using Nb2O5 horizontal hollow slot waveguides for sensor devices. We use…

Abstract This study proposes an underwater acoustic positioning method designed for very shallow water, where severe multipath propagation and non-uniform sound speed profiles (SSPs) often obscure the direct path and degrade ranging accuracy. The method combines the spatial convergence of backward-propagated synthetic wavefronts from imaginary sources with time-of-arrival (ToA)-wavefront shape da…

Abstract We measured nanometer-scale displacements induced by a magnetic field gradient by using geometry-optimized tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR) sensors and a magnetic thin film. A comparison using free layers with different geometries revealed that the free-layer geometry affects both the sensor sensitivity and the effective magnetic field gradient, suggesting its influence on the displacement …

Abstract The growing demand for rapid market introduction of AI, particularly for Edge AI applications, necessitates the quick development of specialized ASIC-based LSI hardware. To address this need, we have developed an aluminum (Al) multi-layer interconnect technology within a minimal fab environment. The process reliably produces 2 μm vias and interconnect features and yields contact resistan…

Abstract We examined the possibility of Ge 1- x - y Si x Sn y /Ge 1- x Sn x two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) based modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) by theoretical and experimental methods to leverage higher electron and hole mobilities of Ge 1- x Sn x among group-IV alloy semiconductors. The quantum simulation of energy band edge structure and carrier concentration distribution …

Abstract The uniformity and quality of diamond films deposited in Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (MPCVD) reactors are significantly challenged by non-uniform plasma distributions and low growth rates. This study combines multi-physics numerical simulations with experimental investigations to optimize diamond deposition in a home-built cylindrical resonant-mode MPCVD reactor. A compreh…

Abstract Viscosity is an essential mechanical property of liquid samples for governing the flow behavior. Conversely, the liquid also exhibits an aspect where its viscosity is dependent on the flow state. It is crucial to conduct spectroscopic research that assesses viscosity variations as a function of shear rate and oscillation frequency. When validating physical models of intermolecular intera…

Abstract Nano-scale light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are crucial for realizing ultra-high-resolution displays and have attracted significant attention. This paper reports a blue-emitting nanopillar LED display with a resolution up to 500×150 and a pixel density of 6336 PPI. The display area is 2×0.6 mm2, with individual pixels with a diameter of approximately 800 nm. Key steps in the device fabricati…