On-chip Integration of ZnO Nanowires on Foundry Produced CMOS for Force Sensing

Dexiang Zhang; Andreas Tsiamis; Yun Jiang; Graham Wood; Srinjoy Mitra; Rebecca Cheung

doi:10.1109/LED.2025.3558355

On-chip Integration of ZnO Nanowires on Foundry Produced CMOS for Force Sensing

Dexiang Zhang^*, Andreas Tsiamis, Yun Jiang, Graham Wood, Srinjoy Mitra, Rebecca Cheung

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

Abstract

This work introduces a novel force sensor incorporating zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) synthesized via low temperature hydrothermal methods and integrated with foundry-produced CMOS at chip-scale. A floating gate transistor design has been fabricated with a titanium nitride (TiN) seed layer that enables the growth of the NWs. Encapsulated in Parylene-C, the ZnO NWs serve as the force-sensing material. Application of an external force induces achange in the polarization of these piezoelectric nanowires, resulting in a decrease in the FET channel current. This effect is attributed to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO NWs and the Schottky contact with TiN. The device was characterized under a dynamic contact force range of 0.1–0.8 N, with drain and gate bias voltages of 0.5 V and 0.9 V, respectively. Within the linear region (0–0.4 N), it exhibits a sensitivity of 7.26 μA/N.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	972-975
Number of pages	4
Journal	IEEE Electron Device Letters
Volume	46
Issue number	6
Early online date	7 Apr 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2025.3558355
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Foundry CMOS
Schottky contact
ZnO nanowires
force sensing
piezo-electric effect

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EDLs__correction-1Accepted author manuscript, 10.8 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

Cite this

@article{e1a1d0199ebe4da2b4cef97980de72d4,

title = "On-chip Integration of ZnO Nanowires on Foundry Produced CMOS for Force Sensing",

abstract = "This work introduces a novel force sensor incorporating zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) synthesized via low temperature hydrothermal methods and integrated with foundry-produced CMOS at chip-scale. A floating gate transistor design has been fabricated with a titanium nitride (TiN) seed layer that enables the growth of the NWs. Encapsulated in Parylene-C, the ZnO NWs serve as the force-sensing material. Application of an external force induces achange in the polarization of these piezoelectric nanowires, resulting in a decrease in the FET channel current. This effect is attributed to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO NWs and the Schottky contact with TiN. The device was characterized under a dynamic contact force range of 0.1–0.8 N, with drain and gate bias voltages of 0.5 V and 0.9 V, respectively. Within the linear region (0–0.4 N), it exhibits a sensitivity of 7.26 μA/N.",

keywords = "Foundry CMOS, Schottky contact, ZnO nanowires, force sensing, piezo-electric effect",

author = "Dexiang Zhang and Andreas Tsiamis and Yun Jiang and Graham Wood and Srinjoy Mitra and Rebecca Cheung",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/LED.2025.3558355",

language = "English",

volume = "46",

pages = "972--975",

journal = "IEEE Electron Device Letters",

issn = "0741-3106",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On-chip Integration of ZnO Nanowires on Foundry Produced CMOS for Force Sensing

AU - Zhang, Dexiang

AU - Tsiamis, Andreas

AU - Jiang, Yun

AU - Wood, Graham

AU - Mitra, Srinjoy

AU - Cheung, Rebecca

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - This work introduces a novel force sensor incorporating zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) synthesized via low temperature hydrothermal methods and integrated with foundry-produced CMOS at chip-scale. A floating gate transistor design has been fabricated with a titanium nitride (TiN) seed layer that enables the growth of the NWs. Encapsulated in Parylene-C, the ZnO NWs serve as the force-sensing material. Application of an external force induces achange in the polarization of these piezoelectric nanowires, resulting in a decrease in the FET channel current. This effect is attributed to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO NWs and the Schottky contact with TiN. The device was characterized under a dynamic contact force range of 0.1–0.8 N, with drain and gate bias voltages of 0.5 V and 0.9 V, respectively. Within the linear region (0–0.4 N), it exhibits a sensitivity of 7.26 μA/N.

AB - This work introduces a novel force sensor incorporating zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) synthesized via low temperature hydrothermal methods and integrated with foundry-produced CMOS at chip-scale. A floating gate transistor design has been fabricated with a titanium nitride (TiN) seed layer that enables the growth of the NWs. Encapsulated in Parylene-C, the ZnO NWs serve as the force-sensing material. Application of an external force induces achange in the polarization of these piezoelectric nanowires, resulting in a decrease in the FET channel current. This effect is attributed to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO NWs and the Schottky contact with TiN. The device was characterized under a dynamic contact force range of 0.1–0.8 N, with drain and gate bias voltages of 0.5 V and 0.9 V, respectively. Within the linear region (0–0.4 N), it exhibits a sensitivity of 7.26 μA/N.

KW - Foundry CMOS

KW - Schottky contact

KW - ZnO nanowires

KW - force sensing

KW - piezo-electric effect

U2 - 10.1109/LED.2025.3558355

DO - 10.1109/LED.2025.3558355

M3 - Letter

SN - 0741-3106

VL - 46

SP - 972

EP - 975

JO - IEEE Electron Device Letters

JF - IEEE Electron Device Letters

IS - 6

ER -

On-chip Integration of ZnO Nanowires on Foundry Produced CMOS for Force Sensing

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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