Research Projects

The recent semiconducting technology is converging from orthodox rigid silicon technology to flexible and stretchable. This is an emerging technology that aims at constructing electronic devices on soft substrates. Many electronic devices have been reported on a flexible substrate, such as thin-film transistors, organic field-effect transistors, memory devices, solar cells, and supercapacitors. In the case of Si technology, Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) served as an excellent dielectrics. SiO₂ being a native oxide, is easy to grow, has the minimum number of defects, and has good interface quality. We need a channel layer other than Si when looking for flexible technology, which may not be free-standing. We need to choose such kind of substrate having good flexibility while maintaining the device's electrical performance. The group IV B elemental oxides, mostly hafnium oxide (HfO₂) and zirconium oxide (ZrO₂), and their combinations emerge as an alternative to SiO₂ in scaled Si-based CMOS devices. These are suitable for flexible device applications. These materials are also appropriate for designing other electronic devices such as supercapacitors for energy storage, neuromorphic devices for artificial intelligence, piezoelectric and pyroelectric energy harvesting devices, and IR detection. Titanium oxide (TiO₂) and black ZrO₂ are also suitable for Photovotaic applications. The purpose of this project is two fold, in the first part we will develope the group IV B elemental oxides-based high-k gate dielectrics for flexible electronics by using the cost-effective solution-processed technology. In the second part, we will develop the Photovoltaic, Piezoelectric, and Pyroelectric response-based energy harvesting devices based on these materials. The IR detection, energy storage, and neuromorphic capacity will also be examined. The application of these materials in supercapacitors will be interesting as supercapacitor may replace the batteries in near future. Moroever, India and world is moving ahead to use more and more Electric Vehicles (EV) to save environment and to decrease the dependency on non-renewable energy resources.

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