Waveguide silicon nitride grating coupler

Science.gov (United States)

Litvik, Jan; Dolnak, Ivan; Dado, Milan

2016-12-01

Grating couplers are one of the most used elements for coupling of light between optical fibers and photonic integrated components. Silicon-on-insulator platform provides strong confinement of light and allows high integration. In this work, using simulations we have designed a broadband silicon nitride surface grating coupler. The Fourier-eigenmode expansion and finite difference time domain methods are utilized in design optimization of grating coupler structure. The fully, single etch step grating coupler is based on a standard silicon-on-insulator wafer with 0.55 μm waveguide Si3N4 layer. The optimized structure at 1550 nm wavelength yields a peak coupling efficiency -2.6635 dB (54.16%) with a 1-dB bandwidth up to 80 nm. It is promising way for low-cost fabrication using complementary metal-oxide- semiconductor fabrication process.

High-Q silicon-on-insulator slot photonic crystal cavity infiltrated by a liquid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caër, Charles; Le Roux, Xavier; Cassan, Eric

2013-01-01

We report the experimental realization of a high-Q slot photonic crystal cavity in Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) configuration infiltrated by a liquid. Loaded Q-factor of 23 000 is measured at telecom wavelength. The intrinsic quality factor inferred from the transmission spectrum is higher than 200 000, which represents a record value for slot photonic crystal cavities on SOI, whereas the maximum of intensity of the cavity is roughly equal to 20% of the light transmitted in the waveguide. This result makes filled slot photonic crystal cavities very promising for silicon-based light emission and ultrafast nonlinear optics

High temperature study of flexible silicon-on-insulator fin field-effect transistors

KAUST Repository

Diab, Amer El Hajj

2014-09-29

We report high temperature electrical transport characteristics of a flexible version of the semiconductor industry\\'s most advanced architecture: fin field-effect transistor on silicon-on-insulator with sub-20 nm fins and high-κ/metal gate stacks. Characterization from room to high temperature (150 °C) was completed to determine temperature dependence of drain current (Ids), gate leakage current (Igs), transconductance (gm), and extracted low-field mobility (μ0). Mobility degradation with temperature is mainly caused by phonon scattering. The other device characteristics show insignificant difference at high temperature which proves the suitability of inorganic flexible electronics with advanced device architecture.

High-contrast gratings for long-wavelength laser integration on silicon

Science.gov (United States)

Sciancalepore, Corrado; Descos, Antoine; Bordel, Damien; Duprez, Hélène; Letartre, Xavier; Menezo, Sylvie; Ben Bakir, Badhise

2014-02-01

Silicon photonics is increasingly considered as the most promising way-out to the relentless growth of data traffic in today's telecommunications infrastructures, driving an increase in transmission rates and computing capabilities. This is in fact challenging the intrinsic limit of copper-based, short-reach interconnects and microelectronic circuits in data centers and server architectures to offer enough modulation bandwidth at reasonable power dissipation. In the context of the heterogeneous integration of III-V direct-bandgap materials on silicon, optics with high-contrast metastructures enables the efficient implementation of optical functions such as laser feedback, input/output (I/O) to active/passive components, and optical filtering, while heterogeneous integration of III-V layers provides sufficient optical gain, resulting in silicon-integrated laser sources. The latest ensure reduced packaging costs and reduced footprint for the optical transceivers, a key point for the short reach communications. The invited talk will introduce the audience to the latest breakthroughs concerning the use of high-contrast gratings (HCGs) for the integration of III-V-on-Si verticalcavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) as well as Fabry-Perot edge-emitters (EELs) in the main telecom band around 1.55 μm. The strong near-field mode overlap within HCG mirrors can be exploited to implement unique optical functions such as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM): a 16-λ100-GHz-spaced channels VCSEL array is demonstrated. On the other hand, high fabrication yields obtained via molecular wafer bonding of III-V alloys on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) conjugate excellent device performances with cost-effective high-throughput production, supporting industrial needs for a rapid research-to-market transfer.

High Efficiency, Low Cost Solar Cells Manufactured Using 'Silicon Ink' on Thin Crystalline Silicon Wafers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Antoniadis, H.

2011-03-01

Reported are the development and demonstration of a 17% efficient 25mm x 25mm crystalline Silicon solar cell and a 16% efficient 125mm x 125mm crystalline Silicon solar cell, both produced by Ink-jet printing Silicon Ink on a thin crystalline Silicon wafer. To achieve these objectives, processing approaches were developed to print the Silicon Ink in a predetermined pattern to form a high efficiency selective emitter, remove the solvents in the Silicon Ink and fuse the deposited particle Silicon films. Additionally, standard solar cell manufacturing equipment with slightly modified processes were used to complete the fabrication of the Silicon Ink high efficiency solar cells. Also reported are the development and demonstration of a 18.5% efficient 125mm x 125mm monocrystalline Silicon cell, and a 17% efficient 125mm x 125mm multicrystalline Silicon cell, by utilizing high throughput Ink-jet and screen printing technologies. To achieve these objectives, Innovalight developed new high throughput processing tools to print and fuse both p and n type particle Silicon Inks in a predetermined pat-tern applied either on the front or the back of the cell. Additionally, a customized Ink-jet and screen printing systems, coupled with customized substrate handling solution, customized printing algorithms, and a customized ink drying process, in combination with a purchased turn-key line, were used to complete the high efficiency solar cells. This development work delivered a process capable of high volume producing 18.5% efficient crystalline Silicon solar cells and enabled the Innovalight to commercialize its technology by the summer of 2010.

Silicon-on-Insulator Nanowire Based Optical Waveguide Biosensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Mingyu; Liu, Yong; Chen, Yangqing; He, Jian-Jun

2016-01-01

Optical waveguide biosensors based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire have been developed for label free molecular detection. This paper reviews our work on the design, fabrication and measurement of SOI nanowire based high-sensitivity biosensors employing Vernier effect. Biosensing experiments using cascaded double-ring sensor and Mach-Zehnder- ring sensor integrated with microfluidic channels are demonstrated (paper)

Characterization and optimization of a high-efficiency AlGaAs-On-Insulator-based wavelength converter for 64- and 256-QAM signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Da Ros, Francesco; Yankov, Metodi Plamenov; Porto da Silva, Edson

2017-01-01

of the wavelength converter is reported, including the optimization of the AlGaAsOI nano-waveguide in terms of conversion efficiency and associated bandwidth and the analysis of the impact of the converter pump quality and power as well as the signal input power. The optimized converter enables generating idlers......In this paper, we demonstrate wavelength conversion of advanced modulation formats such as 10-GBd 64-QAM and 256-QAM with high conversion efficiency over a 29-nm spectral window by using four-wave mixing in an AlGaAs-On-Insulator (AlGaAsOI) nano-waveguide. A thorough characterization...

High Power Broadband Multispectral Source on a Hybrid Silicon Chip

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-14

optical bandwidth of the erbium-doped- fiber -amplifier with densely-spaced frequency channels. To extend the spectral capacity of the Si-on-insulator...associated with non-uniform undercut at the taper tip across the chip after wet etching the active region. Figure 14. Normalized optical emission...Hutchinson, J., Shin, J.-H., Fish, G., and Fang, A., “Integrated silicon photonic laser sources for telecom and datacom,” in [National Fiber Optic

Guided Acoustic and Optical Waves in Silicon-on-Insulator for Brillouin Scattering and Optomechanics

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

APL PHOTONICS 1, 071301 (2016) Guided acoustic and optical waves in silicon-on- insulator for Brillouin scattering and optomechanics Christopher J...is possible to simultaneously guide optical and acoustic waves in the technologically important silicon on insulator (SOI) material system. Thin...high sound velocity — makes guiding acoustic waves difficult, motivating the use of soft chalcogenide glasses and partial or complete releases (removal

Time-Efficient High-Resolution Large-Area Nano-Patterning of Silicon Dioxide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lin, Li; Ou, Yiyu; Aagesen, Martin

2017-01-01

A nano-patterning approach on silicon dioxide (SiO2) material, which could be used for the selective growth of III-V nanowires in photovoltaic applications, is demonstrated. In this process, a silicon (Si) stamp with nanopillar structures was first fabricated using electron-beam lithography (EBL....... In addition, high time efficiency can be realized by one-spot electron-beam exposure in the EBL process combined with NIL for mass production. Furthermore, the one-spot exposure enables the scalability of the nanostructures for different application requirements by tuning only the exposure dose. The size...

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) active pixel sensors with the photosite implemented in the substrate

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xinyu (Inventor); Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor)

2005-01-01

Active pixel sensors for a high quality imager are fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process by integrating the photodetectors on the SOI substrate and forming pixel readout transistors on the SOI thin-film. The technique can include forming silicon islands on a buried insulator layer disposed on a silicon substrate and selectively etching away the buried insulator layer over a region of the substrate to define a photodetector area. Dopants of a first conductivity type are implanted to form a signal node in the photodetector area and to form simultaneously drain/source regions for a first transistor in at least a first one of the silicon islands. Dopants of a second conductivity type are implanted to form drain/source regions for a second transistor in at least a second one of the silicon islands. Isolation rings around the photodetector also can be formed when dopants of the second conductivity type are implanted. Interconnections among the transistors and the photodetector are provided to allow signals sensed by the photodetector to be read out via the transistors formed on the silicon islands.

Large current MOSFET on photonic silicon-on-insulator wafers and its monolithic integration with a thermo-optic 2 × 2 Mach-Zehnder switch.

Science.gov (United States)

Cong, G W; Matsukawa, T; Chiba, T; Tadokoro, H; Yanagihara, M; Ohno, M; Kawashima, H; Kuwatsuka, H; Igarashi, Y; Masahara, M; Ishikawa, H

2013-03-25

n-channel body-tied partially depleted metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) were fabricated for large current applications on a silicon-on-insulator wafer with photonics-oriented specifications. The MOSFET can drive an electrical current as large as 20 mA. We monolithically integrated this MOSFET with a 2 × 2 Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical switch having thermo-optic phase shifters. The static and dynamic performances of the integrated device are experimentally evaluated.

Bandwidth efficient coding

CERN Document Server

Anderson, John B

2017-01-01

Bandwidth Efficient Coding addresses the major challenge in communication engineering today: how to communicate more bits of information in the same radio spectrum. Energy and bandwidth are needed to transmit bits, and bandwidth affects capacity the most. Methods have been developed that are ten times as energy efficient at a given bandwidth consumption as simple methods. These employ signals with very complex patterns and are called "coding" solutions. The book begins with classical theory before introducing new techniques that combine older methods of error correction coding and radio transmission in order to create narrowband methods that are as efficient in both spectrum and energy as nature allows. Other topics covered include modulation techniques such as CPM, coded QAM and pulse design.

Total dose hardening of buried insulator in implanted silicon-on-insulator structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao, B.Y.; Chen, C.E.; Pollack, G.; Hughes, H.L.; Davis, G.E.

1987-01-01

Total dose characteristics of the buried insulator in implanted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates have been studied using MOS transistors. The threshold voltage shift of the parasitic back channel transistor, which is controlled by charge trapping in the buried insulator, is reduced by lowering the oxygen dose as well as by an additional nitrogen implant, without degrading the front channel transistor characteristics. The improvements in the radiation characteristics of the buried insulator are attributed to the decrease in the buried oxide thickness or to the presence of the interfacial oxynitride layer formed by the oxygen and nitrogen implants

Thermal processing of strained silicon-on-insulator for atomically precise silicon device fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.C.T.; Bishop, N.; Thompson, D.L.; Xue, K.; Scappucci, G.; Cederberg, J.G.; Gray, J.K.; Han, S.M.; Celler, G.K.; Carroll, M.S.; Simmons, M.Y.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) samples were flash-annealed at high temperature under ultra-high vacuum conditions. ► The extend of surface strain relaxation depends on the annealing temperature with no strain relaxation observed below 1020 °C. ► A 2 × 1 reconstructed surface with low defect density can be achieved. ► The annealed sSOI surface shows enhanced step undulations due to the unique energetics caused by surface strain. - Abstract: We investigate the ability to reconstruct strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) substrates in ultra-high vacuum for use in atomic scale device fabrication. Characterisation of the starting sSOI substrate using μRaman shows an average tensile strain of 0.8%, with clear strain modulation in a crosshatch pattern across the surface. The surfaces were heated in ultra-high vacuum from temperatures of 900 °C to 1100 °C and subsequently imaged using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). The initial strain modulation on the surface is observed to promote silicon migration and the formation of crosshatched surface features whose height and pitch increases with increasing annealing temperature. STM images reveal alternating narrow straight S A steps and triangular wavy S B steps attributed to the spontaneous faceting of S B and preferential adatom attachment on S B under biaxial tensile strain. Raman spectroscopy shows that despite these high temperature anneals no strain relaxation of the substrate is observed up to temperatures of 1020 °C. Above 1100 °C, strain relaxation is evident but is confined to the surface.

Analysis of silicon on insulator (SOI) optical microring add-drop filter based on waveguide intersections

Science.gov (United States)

Kaźmierczak, Andrzej; Bogaerts, Wim; Van Thourhout, Dries; Drouard, Emmanuel; Rojo-Romeo, Pedro; Giannone, Domenico; Gaffiot, Frederic

2008-04-01

We present a compact passive optical add-drop filter which incorporates two microring resonators and a waveguide intersection in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. Such a filter is a key element for designing simple layouts of highly integrated complex optical networks-on-chip. The filter occupies an area smaller than 10μm×10μm and exhibits relatively high quality factors (up to 4000) and efficient signal dropping capabilities. In the present work, the influence of filter parameters such as the microring-resonators radii and the coupling section shape are analyzed theoretically and experimentally

Subwavelength engineered fiber-to-chip silicon-on-sapphire interconnects for mid-infrared applications (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso-Ramos, Carlos; Han, Zhaohong; Le Roux, Xavier; Lin, Hongtao; Singh, Vivek; Lin, Pao Tai; Tan, Dawn; Cassan, Eric; Marris-Morini, Delphine; Vivien, Laurent; Wada, Kazumi; Hu, Juejun; Agarwal, Anuradha; Kimerling, Lionel C.

2016-05-01

The mid-Infrared wavelength range (2-20 µm), so-called fingerprint region, contains the very sharp vibrational and rotational resonances of many chemical and biological substances. Thereby, on-chip absorption-spectrometry-based sensors operating in the mid-Infrared (mid-IR) have the potential to perform high-precision, label-free, real-time detection of multiple target molecules within a single sensor, which makes them an ideal technology for the implementation of lab-on-a-chip devices. Benefiting from the great development realized in the telecom field, silicon photonics is poised to deliver ultra-compact efficient and cost-effective devices fabricated at mass scale. In addition, Si is transparent up to 8 µm wavelength, making it an ideal material for the implementation of high-performance mid-IR photonic circuits. The silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, typically used in telecom applications, relies on silicon dioxide as bottom insulator. Unfortunately, silicon dioxide absorbs light beyond 3.6 µm, limiting the usability range of the SOI platform for the mid-IR. Silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) has been proposed as an alternative solution that extends the operability region up to 6 µm (sapphire absorption), while providing a high-index contrast. In this context, surface grating couplers have been proved as an efficient means of injecting and extracting light from mid-IR SOS circuits that obviate the need of cleaving sapphire. However, grating couplers typically have a reduced bandwidth, compared with facet coupling solutions such as inverse or sub-wavelength tapers. This feature limits their feasibility for absorption spectroscopy applications that may require monitoring wide wavelength ranges. Interestingly, sub-wavelength engineering can be used to substantially improve grating coupler bandwidth, as demonstrated in devices operating at telecom wavelengths. Here, we report on the development of fiber-to-chip interconnects to ZrF4 optical fibers and integrated SOS

Characterization of silicon-on-insulator wafers

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Ki Hoon

The silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is attracting more interest as it is being used for an advanced complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and a base substrate for novel devices to overcome present obstacles in bulk Si scaling. Furthermore, SOI fabrication technology has improved greatly in recent years and industries produce high quality wafers with high yield. This dissertation investigated SOI material properties with simple, yet accurate methods. The electrical properties of as-grown wafers such as electron and hole mobilities, buried oxide (BOX) charges, interface trap densities, and carrier lifetimes were mainly studied. For this, various electrical measurement techniques were utilized such as pseudo-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (PseudoMOSFET) static current-voltage (I-V) and transient drain current (I-t), Hall effect, and MOS capacitance-voltage/capacitance-time (C-V/C-t). The electrical characterization, however, mainly depends on the pseudo-MOSFET method, which takes advantage of the intrinsic SOI structure. From the static current-voltage and pulsed measurement, carrier mobilities, lifetimes and interface trap densities were extracted. During the course of this study, a pseudo-MOSFET drain current hysteresis regarding different gate voltage sweeping directions was discovered and the cause was revealed through systematic experiments and simulations. In addition to characterization of normal SOI, strain relaxation of strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) was also measured. As sSOI takes advantage of wafer bonding in its fabrication process, the tenacity of bonding between the sSOI and the BOX layer was investigated by means of thermal treatment and high dose energetic gamma-ray irradiation. It was found that the strain did not relax with processes more severe than standard CMOS processes, such as anneals at temperature as high as 1350 degree Celsius.

Flat-top passband filter based on parallel-coupled double microring resonators in silicon

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qingzhong; Xiao, Xi; Li, Yuntao; Li, Zhiyong; Yu, Yude; Yu, Jinzhong

2009-08-01

Optical filters with box-like response were designed and realized based on parallel-coupled double microrings in silicon-on-insulator. The properties of this design are simulated, considering the impact of the center-to-center distance of two rings, and coupling efficiency. Flat-top passband in the drop channel of the fabricated device was demonstrated with a 1dB bandwidth of 0.82nm, a 1dB/10dB bandwidth ratio of 0.51, an out of band rejection ratio of 14.6dB, as well as a free spectrum range of 13.6nm.

Characteristics of MOSFETs fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material formed by high-dose oxygen ion implantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lam, H.W.; Pinizzotto, R.F.; Yuan, H.T.; Bellavance, D.W.

1981-01-01

By implanting a dose of 6 x 10 17 cm -2 of 32 O 2 + at 300 keV into a silicon wafer, a buried oxide layer is formed. Crystallinity of the silicon layer above the buried oxide layer is maintained by applying a high (>200 0 C) substrate temperature during the ion implantation process. A two-step anneal cycle is found to be adequate to form the insulating buried oxide layer and to repair the implantation damage in the silicon layer on top of the buried oxide. A surface electron mobility as high as 710 cm 2 /Vs has been measured in n-channel MOSFETs fabricated in a 0.5 μm-thick epitaxial layer grown on the buried oxide wafer. A minimum subthreshold current of about 10 pA per micron of channel width at Vsub(DS)=2 V has been measured. (author)

High-efficient solar cells with porous silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Migunova, A.A.

2002-01-01

It has been shown that the porous silicon is multifunctional high-efficient coating on silicon solar cells, modifies its surface and combines in it self antireflection and passivation properties., The different optoelectronic effects in solar cells with porous silicon were considered. The comparative parameters of uncovered photodetectors also solar cells with porous silicon and other coatings were resulted. (author)

Highly Efficient Four-Wave Mixing in an AlGaAs-On-Insulator (AlGaAsOI) Nano-Waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Ottaviano, Luisa; Semenova, Elizaveta

2015-01-01

We propose an AlGaAs-on-insulator platform for nonlinear integrated photonics. We demonstrate highly efficient four-wave mixing in a 3-mm long AlGaAs-on-insulator nanowaveguide. A conversion efficiency of -21.1 dB is obtained with only a 45-mW pump......We propose an AlGaAs-on-insulator platform for nonlinear integrated photonics. We demonstrate highly efficient four-wave mixing in a 3-mm long AlGaAs-on-insulator nanowaveguide. A conversion efficiency of -21.1 dB is obtained with only a 45-mW pump...

Ultra-low-loss inverted taper coupler for silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Liu, Liu; Ou, Haiyan

2010-01-01

An ultra-low-loss coupler for interfacing a silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide and a single-mode fiber in both polarizations is presented. The inverted taper coupler, embedded in a polymer waveguide, is optimized for both the transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric modes through tapering...... the width of the silicon-on-insulator waveguide from 450 nm down to less than 15 nm applying a thermal oxidation process. Two inverted taper couplers are integrated with a 3-mm long silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide in the fabricated sample. The measured coupling losses of the inverted taper coupler...... for transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric modes are ~0.36 dB and ~0.66 dB per connection, respectively....

Channel-Selectable Optical Link Based on a Silicon Microring for on-Chip Interconnection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu Chen; Hu Ting; Wang Wan-Jun; Yu Ping; Jiang Xiao-Qing; Yang Jian-Yi

2012-01-01

A channel-selectable optical link based on a silicon microring resonator is proposed and demonstrated. This optical link consists of the wavelength-tunable microring modulators and the filters, defined on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. With a p—i—n junction embedded in the microring modulator, light at the resonant wavelength of the ring resonator is modulated. The 2 nd -order microring add-drop filter routes the modulated light. The channel selectivity is demonstrated by heating the microrings. With a thermal tuning efficiency of 5.9 mW/nm, the filter drop port response was successfully tuned with 0.8 nm channel spacing. We also show that modulation can be achieved in these channels. This device aims to offer flexibility and increase the bandwidth usage efficiency in optical interconnection

ARROW-based silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal waveguides with reduced losses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lavrinenko, Andrei; Novitsky, A.; Zhilko, V.V.

2006-01-01

We employ an antiresonant reflecting layers arrangement with silicon-on-insulator based photonic crystal waveguides. The 3D FDTD numerical modelling reveals improved transmission in such structures with a promising potential for their application in photonic circuits.......We employ an antiresonant reflecting layers arrangement with silicon-on-insulator based photonic crystal waveguides. The 3D FDTD numerical modelling reveals improved transmission in such structures with a promising potential for their application in photonic circuits....

High-efficiency amorphous silicon solar cell on a periodic nanocone back reflector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hsu, Ching-Mei; Cui, Yi [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Durand Building, 496 Lomita Mall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4034 (United States); Battaglia, Corsin; Pahud, Celine; Haug, Franz-Josef; Ballif, Christophe [Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory, Rue Breguet 2, 2000 Neuchatel (Switzerland); Ruan, Zhichao; Fan, Shanhui [Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University (United States)

2012-06-15

An amorphous silicon solar cell on a periodic nanocone back reflector with a high 9.7% initial conversion efficiency is presented. The optimized back-reflector morphology provides powerful light trapping and enables excellent electrical cell performance. Up-scaling to industrial production of large-area modules should be possible using nanoimprint lithography. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Electrical analysis of high dielectric constant insulator and metal gate metal oxide semiconductor capacitors on flexible bulk mono-crystalline silicon

KAUST Repository

Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Young, Chadwin D.; Bersuker, Gennadi; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2015-01-01

We report on the electrical study of high dielectric constant insulator and metal gate metal oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) on a flexible ultra-thin (25 μm) silicon fabric which is peeled off using a CMOS compatible process from a standard

Hydrogen interactions with silicon-on-insulator materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rivera de Mena, A.J.

2003-01-01

The booming of microelectronics in recent decades has been made possible by the excellent properties of the Si/SiO2 interface in oxide on silicon systems.. This semiconductor/insulator combination has proven to be of great value for the semiconductor industry. It has made it possible to continuously

Synthesis of highly integrated optical network based on microdisk-resonator add-drop filters in silicon-on-insulator technology

Science.gov (United States)

Kaźmierczak, Andrzej; Dortu, Fabian; Giannone, Domenico; Bogaerts, Wim; Drouard, Emmanuel; Rojo-Romeo, Pedro; Gaffiot, Frederic

2009-10-01

We analyze a highly compact optical add-drop filter topology based on a pair of microdisk resonators and a bus waveguide intersection. The filter is further assessed on an integrated optical 4×4 network for optical on-chip communication. The proposed network structure, as compact as 50×50 μm, is fabricated in a CMOS-compatible process on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the proper operation of the fabricated devices.

Large bandwidth RGC transimpedance preamplifier design in SCA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Ke; Wang Zheng; Liu Zhen'an; Wei Wei; Lu Weiguo; Gary Varner

2009-01-01

A Large Bandwidth RGC Transimpedance Preamplifier is designed for amplifying the high-fidelity timing signal in Switch Capacitance Array chip application. This amplifier have characteristics of low input impedance, large bandwidth, high transimpedance. It will be made under TSMC 0.25μm CMOS technology, and the supply voltage is single 2.5 V. Simulation results indicate: the transimpedance is 5000 ohm, -3dB BW is 953 MHz, and the detector output capacitance have litter effect on the bandwidth in some range. (authors)

Ultra-high efficiency, fast graphene micro-heater on silicon

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yan, Siqi; Zhu, Xiaolong; Frandsen, Lars Hagedorn

2017-01-01

We demonstrate an ultra-high efficiency and fast graphene microheater on silicon photonic crystal waveguide. By taking advantage of slow-light effect, a tuning efficiency of 1.07 nm/mW and power consumption per free spectral range of 3.99 mW. A fast rise and decay times (10% to 90%) of only 750 ns...

Significantly High Modulation Efficiency of Compact Graphene Modulator Based on Silicon Waveguide.

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Haowen; Su, Zhaotang; Huang, Le; Wu, Zhennan; Wang, Xingjun; Zhang, Zhiyong; Zhou, Zhiping

2018-01-17

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a significantly large modulation efficiency of a compact graphene modulator based on a silicon waveguide using the electro refractive effect of graphene. The modulation modes of electro-absorption and electro-refractive can be switched with different applied voltages. A high extinction ratio of 25 dB is achieved in the electro-absorption modulation mode with a driving voltage range of 0 V to 1 V. For electro-refractive modulation, the driving voltage ranges from 1 V to 3 V with a 185-pm spectrum shift. The modulation efficiency of 1.29 V · mm with a 40-μm interaction length is two orders of magnitude higher than that of the first reported graphene phase modulator. The realisation of phase and intensity modulation with graphene based on a silicon waveguide heralds its potential application in optical communication and optical interconnection systems.

110 GHz hybrid mode-locked fiber laser with enhanced extinction ratio based on nonlinear silicon-on-insulator micro-ring-resonator (SOI MRR)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Yang; Hsu, Yung; Chow, Chi-Wai; Yang, Ling-Gang; Lai, Yin-Chieh; Yeh, Chien-Hung; Tsang, Hon-Ki

2016-01-01

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a new 110 GHz high-repetition-rate hybrid mode-locked fiber laser using a silicon-on-insulator microring-resonator (SOI MRR) acting as the optical nonlinear element and optical comb filter simultaneously. By incorporating a phase modulator (PM) that is electrically driven at a fraction of the harmonic frequency, an enhanced extinction ratio (ER) of the optical pulses can be produced. The ER of the optical pulse train increases from 3 dB to 10 dB. As the PM is only electrically driven by the signal at a fraction of the harmonic frequency, in this case 22 GHz (110 GHz/5 GHz), a low bandwidth PM and driving circuit can be used. The mode-locked pulse width and the 3 dB spectral bandwidth of the proposed mode-locked fiber laser are measured, showing that the optical pulses are nearly transform limited. Moreover, stability evaluation for an hour is performed, showing that the proposed laser can achieve stable mode-locking without the need for optical feedback or any other stabilization mechanism. (letter)

Optical microcavities based on surface modes in two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xiao, Sanshui; Qiu, M.

2007-01-01

Surface-mode optical microcavities based on two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals are studied. We demonstrate that a high-quality-factor microcavity can be easily realized in these structures. With an increasing of the cavity length, the quality factor is gr...... is gradually enhanced and the resonant frequency converges to that of the corresponding surface mode in the photonic crystals. These structures have potential applications such as sensing.......Surface-mode optical microcavities based on two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals are studied. We demonstrate that a high-quality-factor microcavity can be easily realized in these structures. With an increasing of the cavity length, the quality factor...

Electrical analysis of high dielectric constant insulator and metal gate metal oxide semiconductor capacitors on flexible bulk mono-crystalline silicon

KAUST Repository

Ghoneim, Mohamed T.

2015-06-01

We report on the electrical study of high dielectric constant insulator and metal gate metal oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) on a flexible ultra-thin (25 μm) silicon fabric which is peeled off using a CMOS compatible process from a standard bulk mono-crystalline silicon substrate. A lifetime projection is extracted using statistical analysis of the ramping voltage (Vramp) breakdown and time dependent dielectric breakdown data. The obtained flexible MOSCAPs operational voltages satisfying the 10 years lifetime benchmark are compared to those of the control MOSCAPs, which are not peeled off from the silicon wafer. © 2014 IEEE.

Nonlinear Optical Functions in Crystalline and Amorphous Silicon-on-Insulator Nanowires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baets, R.; Kuyken, B.; Liu, X.

2012-01-01

Silicon-on-Insulator nanowires provide an excellent platform for nonlinear optical functions in spite of the two-photon absorption at telecom wavelengths. Work on both crystalline and amorphous silicon nanowires is reviewed, in the wavelength range of 1.5 to 2.5 µm....

Electrical characterization of high-pressure reactive sputtered ScOx films on silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castan, H.; Duenas, S.; Gomez, A.; Garcia, H.; Bailon, L.; Feijoo, P.C.; Toledano-Luque, M.; Prado, A. del; San Andres, E.; Lucia, M.L.

2011-01-01

Al/ScO x /SiN x /n-Si and Al/ScO x /SiO x /n-Si metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors have been electrically characterized. Scandium oxide was grown by high-pressure sputtering on different substrates to study the dielectric/insulator interface quality. The substrates were silicon nitride and native silicon oxide. The use of a silicon nitride interfacial layer between the silicon substrate and the scandium oxide layer improves interface quality, as interfacial state density and defect density inside the insulator are decreased.

Formation of multiple levels of porous silicon for buried insulators and conductors in silicon device technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Blewer, Robert S.; Gullinger, Terry R.; Kelly, Michael J.; Tsao, Sylvia S.

1991-01-01

A method of forming a multiple level porous silicon substrate for semiconductor integrated circuits including anodizing non-porous silicon layers of a multi-layer silicon substrate to form multiple levels of porous silicon. At least one porous silicon layer is then oxidized to form an insulating layer and at least one other layer of porous silicon beneath the insulating layer is metallized to form a buried conductive layer. Preferably the insulating layer and conductive layer are separated by an anodization barrier formed of non-porous silicon. By etching through the anodization barrier and subsequently forming a metallized conductive layer, a fully or partially insulated buried conductor may be fabricated under single crystal silicon.

Ultrahigh-efficiency apodized grating coupler using fully etched photonic crystals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ding, Yunhong; Ou, Haiyan; Peucheret, Christophe

2013-01-01

We present an efficient method to design apodized grating couplers with Gaussian output profiles for efficient coupling between standard single mode fibers and silicon chips. An apodized grating coupler using fully etched photonic crystal holes on the silicon-on-insulator platform is designed......, and fabricated in a single step of lithography and etching. An ultralow coupling loss of x2212;1.74x2009;x2009;dB (67% coupling efficiency) with a 3xA0;dB bandwidth of 60xA0;nm is experimentally measured....

Corrugation Architecture Enabled Ultraflexible Wafer-Scale High-Efficiency Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cell

KAUST Repository

Bahabry, Rabab R.

2018-01-02

Advanced classes of modern application require new generation of versatile solar cells showcasing extreme mechanical resilience, large-scale, low cost, and excellent power conversion efficiency. Conventional crystalline silicon-based solar cells offer one of the most highly efficient power sources, but a key challenge remains to attain mechanical resilience while preserving electrical performance. A complementary metal oxide semiconductor-based integration strategy where corrugation architecture enables ultraflexible and low-cost solar cell modules from bulk monocrystalline large-scale (127 × 127 cm) silicon solar wafers with a 17% power conversion efficiency. This periodic corrugated array benefits from an interchangeable solar cell segmentation scheme which preserves the active silicon thickness of 240 μm and achieves flexibility via interdigitated back contacts. These cells can reversibly withstand high mechanical stress and can be deformed to zigzag and bifacial modules. These corrugation silicon-based solar cells offer ultraflexibility with high stability over 1000 bending cycles including convex and concave bending to broaden the application spectrum. Finally, the smallest bending radius of curvature lower than 140 μm of the back contacts is shown that carries the solar cells segments.

Corrugation Architecture Enabled Ultraflexible Wafer-Scale High-Efficiency Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cell

KAUST Repository

Bahabry, Rabab R.; Kutbee, Arwa T.; Khan, Sherjeel M.; Sepulveda, Adrian C.; Wicaksono, Irmandy; Nour, Maha A.; Wehbe, Nimer; Almislem, Amani Saleh Saad; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Sevilla, Galo T.; Syed, Ahad; Shaikh, Sohail F.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2018-01-01

Advanced classes of modern application require new generation of versatile solar cells showcasing extreme mechanical resilience, large-scale, low cost, and excellent power conversion efficiency. Conventional crystalline silicon-based solar cells offer one of the most highly efficient power sources, but a key challenge remains to attain mechanical resilience while preserving electrical performance. A complementary metal oxide semiconductor-based integration strategy where corrugation architecture enables ultraflexible and low-cost solar cell modules from bulk monocrystalline large-scale (127 × 127 cm) silicon solar wafers with a 17% power conversion efficiency. This periodic corrugated array benefits from an interchangeable solar cell segmentation scheme which preserves the active silicon thickness of 240 μm and achieves flexibility via interdigitated back contacts. These cells can reversibly withstand high mechanical stress and can be deformed to zigzag and bifacial modules. These corrugation silicon-based solar cells offer ultraflexibility with high stability over 1000 bending cycles including convex and concave bending to broaden the application spectrum. Finally, the smallest bending radius of curvature lower than 140 μm of the back contacts is shown that carries the solar cells segments.

360° tunable microwave phase shifter based on silicon-on-insulator dual-microring resonator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Xue, Weiqi; Liu, Liu

2010-01-01

We demonstrate tunable microwave phase shifters based on electrically tunable silicon-on-insulator dual-microring resonators. A quasi-linear phase shift of 360° with ~2dB radio frequency power variation at a microwave frequency of 40GHz is obtained......We demonstrate tunable microwave phase shifters based on electrically tunable silicon-on-insulator dual-microring resonators. A quasi-linear phase shift of 360° with ~2dB radio frequency power variation at a microwave frequency of 40GHz is obtained...

Time-Efficient High-Resolution Large-Area Nano-Patterning of Silicon Dioxide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Lin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A nano-patterning approach on silicon dioxide (SiO2 material, which could be used for the selective growth of III-V nanowires in photovoltaic applications, is demonstrated. In this process, a silicon (Si stamp with nanopillar structures was first fabricated using electron-beam lithography (EBL followed by a dry etching process. Afterwards, the Si stamp was employed in nanoimprint lithography (NIL assisted with a dry etching process to produce nanoholes on the SiO2 layer. The demonstrated approach has advantages such as a high resolution in nanoscale by EBL and good reproducibility by NIL. In addition, high time efficiency can be realized by one-spot electron-beam exposure in the EBL process combined with NIL for mass production. Furthermore, the one-spot exposure enables the scalability of the nanostructures for different application requirements by tuning only the exposure dose. The size variation of the nanostructures resulting from exposure parameters in EBL, the pattern transfer during nanoimprint in NIL, and subsequent etching processes of SiO2 were also studied quantitatively. By this method, a hexagonal arranged hole array in SiO2 with a hole diameter ranging from 45 to 75 nm and a pitch of 600 nm was demonstrated on a four-inch wafer.

Implantation of oxygen ions for the realization of SOS (silicon on insulator) structures: SIMOX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Margail, J.

1987-03-01

Highdose oxygen implantation is becoming a serious candidate for SOI (silicon on insulator) structure realization. The fabrication condition study of these substrates allowed to show up the implantation and annealing parameter importance for microstructure, and particularly for crystal quality of silicon films. It has been shown that the use of high temperature annealings leads to high quality substrates: monocrystal silicon film without any precipitate, at the card scale; Si/Si O 2 interface formation. After annealing at 1340 O C, Hall mobilities have been measured in silicon film, and its residual doping is very low. First characteristics and performance of submicron CMOS circuits prooves the electric quality of these substrates [fr

Advanced TEM Characterization for the Development of 28-14nm nodes based on fully-depleted Silicon-on-Insulator Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Servanton, G; Clement, L; Lepinay, K; Lorut, F; Pantel, R; Pofelski, A; Bicais, N

2013-01-01

The growing demand for wireless multimedia applications (smartphones, tablets, digital cameras) requires the development of devices combining both high speed performances and low power consumption. A recent technological breakthrough making a good compromise between these two antagonist conditions has been proposed: the 28-14nm CMOS transistor generations based on a fully-depleted Silicon-on-Insulator (FD-SOI) performed on a thin Si film of 5-6nm. In this paper, we propose to review the TEM characterization challenges that are essential for the development of extremely power-efficient System on Chip (SoC)

Al transmon qubits on silicon-on-insulator for quantum device integration

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Andrew J.; Dieterle, Paul B.; Fang, Michael; Berger, Brett; Fink, Johannes M.; Painter, Oskar

2017-07-01

We present the fabrication and characterization of an aluminum transmon qubit on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. Key to the qubit fabrication is the use of an anhydrous hydrofluoric vapor process which selectively removes the lossy silicon oxide buried underneath the silicon device layer. For a 5.6 GHz qubit measured dispersively by a 7.1 GHz resonator, we find T1 = 3.5 μs and T2* = 2.2 μs. This process in principle permits the co-fabrication of silicon photonic and mechanical elements, providing a route towards chip-scale integration of electro-opto-mechanical transducers for quantum networking of superconducting microwave quantum circuits. The additional processing steps are compatible with established fabrication techniques for aluminum transmon qubits on silicon.

Ultra-low loss nano-taper coupler for Silicon-on-Insulator ridge waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Liu, Liu; Ou, Haiyan

2010-01-01

A nano-taper coupler is optimized specially for the transverse-magnetic mode for interfacing light between a silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide and a single-mode fiber. An ultra-low coupling loss of ~0.36dB is achieved for the nano-taper coupler.......A nano-taper coupler is optimized specially for the transverse-magnetic mode for interfacing light between a silicon-on-insulator ridge waveguide and a single-mode fiber. An ultra-low coupling loss of ~0.36dB is achieved for the nano-taper coupler....

Realization of a Hole-Doped Mott Insulator on a Triangular Silicon Lattice

Science.gov (United States)

Ming, Fangfei; Johnston, Steve; Mulugeta, Daniel; Smith, Tyler S.; Vilmercati, Paolo; Lee, Geunseop; Maier, Thomas A.; Snijders, Paul C.; Weitering, Hanno H.

2017-12-01

The physics of doped Mott insulators is at the heart of some of the most exotic physical phenomena in materials research including insulator-metal transitions, colossal magnetoresistance, and high-temperature superconductivity in layered perovskite compounds. Advances in this field would greatly benefit from the availability of new material systems with a similar richness of physical phenomena but with fewer chemical and structural complications in comparison to oxides. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we show that such a system can be realized on a silicon platform. The adsorption of one-third monolayer of Sn atoms on a Si(111) surface produces a triangular surface lattice with half filled dangling bond orbitals. Modulation hole doping of these dangling bonds unveils clear hallmarks of Mott physics, such as spectral weight transfer and the formation of quasiparticle states at the Fermi level, well-defined Fermi contour segments, and a sharp singularity in the density of states. These observations are remarkably similar to those made in complex oxide materials, including high-temperature superconductors, but highly extraordinary within the realm of conventional s p -bonded semiconductor materials. It suggests that exotic quantum matter phases can be realized and engineered on silicon-based materials platforms.

To minimized power outage by the application of 'RTV' (room temperature vulcanizing) silicon on high voltage porcelain insulators in Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hafiz Tehzeeb ul Hassan

2003-01-01

In Pakistan power network comprises of 500KV, 220KV, 132KV, 66KV and 33KV transmission lines and 11KV power distribution systems. Number of insulators are used in connected units in the shape of strings with transmission line as per insulation requirements with proper design according to the various kinds of pollution stresses. The transmission lines are passing from or near polluted areas and very dusty plains of Punjab and Sindh provinces. Practices are being used in these transmission lines for removal of accumulated contamination of insulators by periodic cleaning twice a year or de-energized transmission lines. Even then discontinuation of supply takes place in the polluted areas in foggy weather. Special technique of using water repellent (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) silicone coating/paint has been introduced on high voltage disc Insulators to minimize the outage in power net work in Pakistan. Especially in high pollution areas near chemical factories and near brick kilns etc comparison study of coated and uncoated disc Insulators have been carried out by ESDD (Equal Salt Deposit Density) measurement in salt fog chamber. (author)

A wide-bandwidth and high-sensitivity robust microgyroscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahin, Korhan; Sahin, Emre; Akin, Tayfun; Alper, Said Emre

2009-01-01

This paper reports a microgyroscope design concept with the help of a 2 degrees of freedom (DoF) sense mode to achieve a wide bandwidth without sacrificing mechanical and electronic sensitivity and to obtain robust operation against variations under ambient conditions. The design concept is demonstrated with a tuning fork microgyroscope fabricated with an in-house silicon-on-glass micromachining process. When the fabricated gyroscope is operated with a relatively wide bandwidth of 1 kHz, measurements show a relatively high raw mechanical sensitivity of 131 µV (° s −1 ) −1 . The variation in the amplified mechanical sensitivity (scale factor) of the gyroscope is measured to be less than 0.38% for large ambient pressure variations such as from 40 to 500 mTorr. The bias instability and angle random walk of the gyroscope are measured to be 131° h −1 and 1.15° h −1/2 , respectively

A High Performance Silicon-on-Insulator LDMOSTT Using Linearly Increasing Thickness Techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu-Feng, Guo; Zhi-Gong, Wang; Gene, Sheu; Jian-Bing, Cheng

2010-01-01

We present a new technique to achieve uniform lateral electric field and maximum breakdown voltage in lateral double-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors fabricated on silicon-on-insulator substrates. A linearly increasing drift-region thickness from the source to the drain is employed to improve the electric field distribution in the devices. Compared to the lateral linear doping technique and the reduced surface field technique, two-dimensional numerical simulations show that the new device exhibits reduced specific on-resistance, maximum off- and on-state breakdown voltages, superior quasi-saturation characteristics and improved safe operating area. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)

Two-dimensional optical phased array antenna on silicon-on-insulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Acoleyen, Karel; Rogier, Hendrik; Baets, Roel

2010-06-21

Optical wireless links can offer a very large bandwidth and can act as a complementary technology to radiofrequency links. Optical components nowadays are however rather bulky. Therefore, we have investigated the potential of silicon photonics to fabricated integrated components for wireless optical communication. This paper presents a two-dimensional phased array antenna consisting of grating couplers that couple light off-chip. Wavelength steering of $0.24 degrees /nm is presented reducing the need of active phase modulators. The needed steering range is $1.5 degrees . The 3dB angular coverage range of these antennas is about $0.007pi sr with a directivity of more than 38dBi and antenna losses smaller than 3dB.

Doping efficiency analysis of highly phosphorous doped epitaxial/amorphous silicon emitters grown by PECVD for high efficiency silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El-Gohary, H.G.; Sivoththaman, S. [Waterloo Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

2008-08-15

The efficient doping of hydrogenated amorphous and crystalline silicon thin films is a key factor in the fabrication of silicon solar cells. The most popular method for developing those films is plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) because it minimizes defect density and improves doping efficiency. This paper discussed the preparation of different structure phosphorous doped silicon emitters ranging from epitaxial to amorphous films at low temperature. Phosphine (PH{sub 3}) was employed as the doping gas source with the same gas concentration for both epitaxial and amorphous silicon emitters. The paper presented an analysis of dopant activation by applying a very short rapid thermal annealing process (RTP). A spreading resistance profile (SRP) and SIMS analysis were used to detect both the active dopant and the dopant concentrations, respectively. The paper also provided the results of a structural analysis for both bulk and cross-section at the interface using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, for epitaxial and amorphous films. It was concluded that a unity doping efficiency could be achieved in epitaxial layers by applying an optimized temperature profile using short time processing rapid thermal processing technique. The high quality, one step epitaxial layers, led to both high conductive and high doping efficiency layers.

L-shaped fiber-chip grating couplers with high directionality and low reflectivity fabricated with deep-UV lithography.

Science.gov (United States)

Benedikovic, Daniel; Alonso-Ramos, Carlos; Pérez-Galacho, Diego; Guerber, Sylvain; Vakarin, Vladyslav; Marcaud, Guillaume; Le Roux, Xavier; Cassan, Eric; Marris-Morini, Delphine; Cheben, Pavel; Boeuf, Frédéric; Baudot, Charles; Vivien, Laurent

2017-09-01

Grating couplers enable position-friendly interfacing of silicon chips by optical fibers. The conventional coupler designs call upon comparatively complex architectures to afford efficient light coupling to sub-micron silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. Conversely, the blazing effect in double-etched gratings provides high coupling efficiency with reduced fabrication intricacy. In this Letter, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the realization of an ultra-directional L-shaped grating coupler, seamlessly fabricated by using 193 nm deep-ultraviolet (deep-UV) lithography. We also include a subwavelength index engineered waveguide-to-grating transition that provides an eight-fold reduction of the grating reflectivity, down to 1% (-20  dB). A measured coupling efficiency of -2.7  dB (54%) is achieved, with a bandwidth of 62 nm. These results open promising prospects for the implementation of efficient, robust, and cost-effective coupling interfaces for sub-micrometric SOI waveguides, as desired for large-volume applications in silicon photonics.

Fabrication of heterojunction solar cells by improved tin oxide deposition on insulating layer

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Tom; Ghosh, Amal K.

1980-01-01

Highly efficient tin oxide-silicon heterojunction solar cells are prepared by heating a silicon substrate, having an insulating layer thereon, to provide a substrate temperature in the range of about 300.degree. C. to about 400.degree. C. and thereafter spraying the so-heated substrate with a solution of tin tetrachloride in a organic ester boiling below about 250.degree. C. Preferably the insulating layer is naturally grown silicon oxide layer.

Evanescently Coupled Rectangular Microresonators in Silicon-on-Insulator with High Q-Values: Experimental Characterization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Mendez-Astudillo

2017-04-01

Full Text Available We report on evanescently coupled rectangular microresonators with dimensions up to 20 × 10 μm2 in silicon-on-insulator in an add-drop filter configuration. The influence of the geometrical parameters of the device was experimentally characterized and a high Q value of 13,000 was demonstrated as well as the multimode optical resonance characteristics in the drop port. We also show a 95% energy transfer between ports when the device is operated in TM-polarization and determine the full symmetry of the device by using an eight-port configuration, allowing the drop waveguide to be placed on any of its sides, providing a way to filter and route optical signals. We used the FDTD method to analyze the device and e-beam lithography and dry etching techniques for fabrication.

Process development for high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gee, J.M.; Basore, P.A.; Buck, M.E.; Ruby, D.S.; Schubert, W.K.; Silva, B.L.; Tingley, J.W.

1991-12-31

Fabrication of high-efficiency silicon solar cells in an industrial environment requires a different optimization than in a laboratory environment. Strategies are presented for process development of high-efficiency silicon solar cells, with a goal of simplifying technology transfer into an industrial setting. The strategies emphasize the use of statistical experimental design for process optimization, and the use of baseline processes and cells for process monitoring and quality control. 8 refs.

High-fidelity polarization storage in a gigahertz bandwidth quantum memory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

England, D G; Michelberger, P S; Champion, T F M; Reim, K F; Lee, K C; Sprague, M R; Jin, X-M; Langford, N K; Kolthammer, W S; Nunn, J; Walmsley, I A

2012-01-01

We demonstrate a dual-rail optical Raman memory inside a polarization interferometer; this enables us to store polarization-encoded information at GHz bandwidths in a room-temperature atomic ensemble. By performing full process tomography on the system, we measure up to 97 ± 1% process fidelity for the storage and retrieval process. At longer storage times, the process fidelity remains high, despite a loss of efficiency. The fidelity is 86 ± 4% for 1.5 μs storage time, which is 5000 times the pulse duration. Hence, high fidelity is combined with a large time-bandwidth product. This high performance, with an experimentally simple setup, demonstrates the suitability of the Raman memory for integration into large-scale quantum networks. (paper)

Efficient Bandwidth Management for Ethernet Passive Optical Networks

KAUST Repository

Elrasad, Amr Elsayed M.

2016-05-15

The increasing bandwidth demands in access networks motivates network operators, networking devices manufacturers, and standardization institutions to search for new approaches for access networks. These approaches should support higher bandwidth, longer distance between end user and network operator, and less energy consumption. Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) is a favorable choice for broadband access networks. EPONs support transmission rates up to 10 Gbps. EPONs also support distance between end users and central office up to 20 Km. Moreover, optical networks have the least energy consumption among all types of networks. In this dissertation, we focus on reducing delay and saving energy in EPONs. Reducing delay is essential for delay-sensitive traffic, while minimizing energy consumption is an environmental necessity and also reduces the network operating costs. We identify five challenges, namely excess bandwidth allocation, frame delineation, congestion resolution, large round trip time delay in long-reach EPONs (LR-EPONs), and energy saving. We provide a Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) approach for each challenge. We also propose a novel scheme that combines the features of the proposed approaches in one highly performing scheme. Our approach is to design novel DBA protocols that can further reduce the delay and be simultaneously simple and fair. We also present a dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme for Green EPONs taking into consideration maximizing energy saving under target delay constraints. Regarding excess bandwidth allocation, we develop an effective DBA scheme called Delayed Excess Scheduling (DES). DES achieves significant delay and jitter reduction and is more suitable for industrial deployment due to its simplicity. Utilizing DES in hybrid TDM/WDM EPONs (TWDM-EPONs) is also investigated. We also study eliminating the wasted bandwidth due to frame delineation. We develop an interactive DBA scheme, Efficient Grant Sizing Interleaved

Flexible high-κ/Metal gate metal/insulator/metal capacitors on silicon (100) fabric

KAUST Repository

Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto

2013-10-01

Implementation of memory on bendable substrates is an important step toward a complete and fully developed notion of mechanically flexible computational systems. In this paper, we have demonstrated a simple fabrication flow to build metal-insulator-metal capacitors, key components of dynamic random access memory, on a mechanically flexible silicon (100) fabric. We rely on standard microfabrication processes to release a thin sheet of bendable silicon (area: 18 {\\ m cm}2 and thickness: 25 \\\\mu{\\ m m}) in an inexpensive and reliable way. On such platform, we fabricated and characterized the devices showing mechanical robustness (minimum bending radius of 10 mm at an applied strain of 83.33% and nominal strain of 0.125%) and consistent electrical behavior regardless of the applied mechanical stress. Furthermore, and for the first time, we performed a reliability study suggesting no significant difference in performance and showing an improvement in lifetime projections. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

Highly efficient silicon light emitting diode

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Le Minh, P.; Holleman, J.; Wallinga, Hans

2002-01-01

In this paper, we describe the fabrication, using standard silicon processing techniques, of silicon light-emitting diodes (LED) that efficiently emit photons with energy around the silicon bandgap. The improved efficiency had been explained by the spatial confinement of charge carriers due to a

Optical interconnects based on VCSELs and low-loss silicon photonics

Science.gov (United States)

Aalto, Timo; Harjanne, Mikko; Karppinen, Mikko; Cherchi, Matteo; Sitomaniemi, Aila; Ollila, Jyrki; Malacarne, Antonio; Neumeyr, Christian

2018-02-01

Silicon photonics with micron-scale Si waveguides offers most of the benefits of submicron SOI technology while avoiding most of its limitations. In particular, thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides offer 0.1 dB/cm propagation loss, polarization independency, broadband single-mode (SM) operation from 1.2 to >4 µm wavelength and ability to transmit high optical powers (>1 W). Here we describe the feasibility of Thick-SOI technology for advanced optical interconnects. With 12 μm SOI waveguides we demonstrate efficient coupling between standard single-mode fibers, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and photodetectors (PDs), as well as wavelength multiplexing in small footprint. Discrete VCSELs and PDs already support 28 Gb/s on-off keying (OOK), which shows a path towards 50-100 Gb/s bandwidth per wavelength by using more advanced modulation formats like PAM4. Directly modulated VCSELs enable very power-efficient optical interconnects for up to 40 km distance. Furthermore, with 3 μm SOI waveguides we demonstrate extremely dense and low-loss integration of numerous optical functions, such as multiplexers, filters, switches and delay lines. Also polarization independent and athermal operation is demonstrated. The latter is achieved by using short polymer waveguides to compensate for the thermo-optic effect in silicon. New concepts for isolator integration and polarization rotation are also explained.

High bandwidth concurrent processing on commodity platforms

CERN Document Server

Boosten, M; Van der Stok, P D V

1999-01-01

The I/O bandwidth and real-time processing power required for high- energy physics experiments is increasing rapidly over time. The current requirements can only be met by using large-scale concurrent processing. We are investigating the use of a large PC cluster interconnected by Fast and Gigabit Ethernet to meet the performance requirements of the ATLAS second level trigger. This architecture is attractive because of its performance and competitive pricing. A major problem is obtaining frequent high-bandwidth I/O without sacrificing the CPU's processing power. We present a tight integration of a user-level scheduler and a zero-copy communication layer. This system closely approaches the performance of the underlying hardware in terms of both CPU power and I/O capacity. (0 refs).

Simple processing of high efficiency silicon solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamammu, I.M.; Ibrahim, K.

2006-01-01

Cost effective photovoltaic devices have been an area research since the development of the first solar cells, as cost is the major factor in their usage. Silicon solar cells have the biggest share in the photovoltaic market, though silicon os not the optimal material for solar cells. This work introduces a simplified approach for high efficiency silicon solar cell processing, by minimizing the processing steps and thereby reducing cost. The suggested procedure might also allow for the usage of lower quality materials compared to the one used today. The main features of the present work fall into: simplifying the diffusion process, edge shunt isolation and using acidic texturing instead of the standard alkaline processing. Solar cells of 17% efficiency have been produced using this procedure. Investigations on the possibility of improving the efficiency and using less quality material are still underway

Evaluation of the high-voltage high-frequency transformer insulating materials for satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurita, Hiroshi; Hasegawa, Taketoshi; Hirasawa, Eiichi; Gonai, Toshio; Ohsuga, Hiroyuki.

1987-01-01

Environment resistance evaluation was made of the insulating materials of impregnated injection type for high-voltage high-frequency transformers mounted in satellites. (1) The stress occurring in the impregnated injection type resin is small in silicon resin and urethane resin and large in epoxy resin. (2) The dielectric characteristic at high frequency is good in silicone resin. In epoxy resin, when the transformer is operated at high temperature, its thermal runaway may take place. (3) The radiation deterioration at 1 Mrad - 10 Mrad is slight in urethane resin. (4) The degassing is not good in silicone resin. (5) The adhesive power is good in urethane resin. (6) From the above results, in silicone resin there is problem in degassing and adhesive power. In epoxy resin there is problem in stress and dielectric characteristic. (Mori, K.)

High-speed and efficient silicon modulator based on forward-biased pin diodes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suguru eAkiyama

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Silicon modulators, which use the free-carrier-plasma effect, were studied, both analytically and experimentally. It was demonstrated that the loss-efficiency product, a-VpL, was a suitable figure of merit for silicon modulators that enabled their intrinsic properties to be compared. Subsequently, the dependence of VpL on frequency was expressed by using the electrical parameters of a phase shifter when the modulator was operated by assuming a simple driving configuration. A diode-based modulator operated in forward biased mode was expected from analyses to provide more efficient operation than that in reversed mode at high frequencies due to its large capacitance. We obtained an a-VpL of 9.5 dB-V at 12.5 GHz in experiments by using the fabricated phase shifter with pin diodes operated in forward biased mode. This a-VpL was comparable to the best modulators operated in depletion mode. The modulator exhibited a clear eye opening at 56 Gb/s operated by 2 V peak-to-peak signals that was achieved by incorporating such a phase shifter into a ring resonator.

Printable nanostructured silicon solar cells for high-performance, large-area flexible photovoltaics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sung-Min; Biswas, Roshni; Li, Weigu; Kang, Dongseok; Chan, Lesley; Yoon, Jongseung

2014-10-28

Nanostructured forms of crystalline silicon represent an attractive materials building block for photovoltaics due to their potential benefits to significantly reduce the consumption of active materials, relax the requirement of materials purity for high performance, and hence achieve greatly improved levelized cost of energy. Despite successful demonstrations for their concepts over the past decade, however, the practical application of nanostructured silicon solar cells for large-scale implementation has been hampered by many existing challenges associated with the consumption of the entire wafer or expensive source materials, difficulties to precisely control materials properties and doping characteristics, or restrictions on substrate materials and scalability. Here we present a highly integrable materials platform of nanostructured silicon solar cells that can overcome these limitations. Ultrathin silicon solar microcells integrated with engineered photonic nanostructures are fabricated directly from wafer-based source materials in configurations that can lower the materials cost and can be compatible with deterministic assembly procedures to allow programmable, large-scale distribution, unlimited choices of module substrates, as well as lightweight, mechanically compliant constructions. Systematic studies on optical and electrical properties, photovoltaic performance in experiments, as well as numerical modeling elucidate important design rules for nanoscale photon management with ultrathin, nanostructured silicon solar cells and their interconnected, mechanically flexible modules, where we demonstrate 12.4% solar-to-electric energy conversion efficiency for printed ultrathin (∼ 8 μm) nanostructured silicon solar cells when configured with near-optimal designs of rear-surface nanoposts, antireflection coating, and back-surface reflector.

Light extraction from GaN-based LED structures on silicon-on-insulator substrates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tripathy, S.; Teo, S.L.; Lin, V.K.X.; Chen, M.F. [Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology, and Research), 117602 (Singapore); Dadgar, A.; Krost, A. [Institut fuer Exerimentelle Physik, Otto-von Guericke Universitaet Magdeburg, Universitaetsplatz 1, 39016 Magdeburg (Germany); AZZURRO Semiconductors AG, Universitaetsplatz 1, 39016 Magdeburg (Germany); Christen, J. [Institut fuer Exerimentelle Physik, Otto-von Guericke Universitaet Magdeburg, Universitaetsplatz 1, 39016 Magdeburg (Germany)

2010-01-15

Nano-patterning of GaN-based devices is a promising technology in the development of high output power devices. Recent researches have been focused on the realization of two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PhC) structure to improve light extraction efficiency and to control the direction of emission. In this study, we have demonstrated improved light extraction from green light emitting diode (LED) structures on thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates using surface nanopatterning. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to probe the size, shape, and etch depth of nano-patterns on the LED surfaces. Different types of nanopatterns were created by e-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. The LED structures after post processing are studied by photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The GaN nanophotonic structures formed by ICP etching led to more than five-fold increase in the intensity of the green emission. The improved light extraction is due to the combination of SOI substrate reflectivity and photonic structures on top GaN LED surfaces. (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Characterization of a Wavelength Converter for 256-QAM Signals Based on an AlGaAs-On-Insulator Nano-waveguide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Da Ros, Francesco; Yankov, Metodi Plamenov; Porto da Silva, Edson

2016-01-01

High efficiency and broadband wavelength conversion in a 9-mm AlGaAs-On-Insulator waveguide is shown to provide high-quality (OSNR > 30 dB) idler generation over a 28-nm bandwidth enabling error-free conversion of 10-GBd 256-QAM with OSNR penalty below 2.5 dB....

A Numerical Study on Phonon Spectral Contributions to Thermal Conduction in Silicon-on-Insulator Transistor Using Electron-Phonon Interaction Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Hyung-sun; Koh, Young Ha; Jin, Jae Sik [Chosun College of Science and Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2017-06-15

The aim of this study is to understand the phonon transfer characteristics of a silicon thin film transistor. For this purpose, the Joule heating mechanism was considered through the electron-phonon interaction model whose validation has been done. The phonon transport characteristics were investigated in terms of phonon mean free path for the variations in the device power and silicon layer thickness from 41 nm to 177 nm. The results may be used for developing the thermal design strategy for achieving reliability and efficiency of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistor, further, they will increase the understanding of heat conduction in SOI systems, which are very important in the semiconductor industry and the nano-fabrication technology.

High-density oxidized porous silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gharbi, Ahmed; Souifi, Abdelkader; Remaki, Boudjemaa; Halimaoui, Aomar; Bensahel, Daniel

2012-01-01

We have studied oxidized porous silicon (OPS) properties using Fourier transform infraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy and capacitance–voltage C–V measurements. We report the first experimental determination of the optimum porosity allowing the elaboration of high-density OPS insulators. This is an important contribution to the research of thick integrated electrical insulators on porous silicon based on an optimized process ensuring dielectric quality (complete oxidation) and mechanical and chemical reliability (no residual pores or silicon crystallites). Through the measurement of the refractive indexes of the porous silicon (PS) layer before and after oxidation, one can determine the structural composition of the OPS material in silicon, air and silica. We have experimentally demonstrated that a porosity approaching 56% of the as-prepared PS layer is required to ensure a complete oxidation of PS without residual silicon crystallites and with minimum porosity. The effective dielectric constant values of OPS materials determined from capacitance–voltage C–V measurements are discussed and compared to FTIR results predictions. (paper)

Development of high-efficiency solar cells on silicon web

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, D. L.; Greggi, J.; Okeeffe, T. W.; Rai-Choudhury, P.

1986-01-01

Work was performed to improve web base material with a goal of obtaining solar cell efficiencies in excess of 18% (AM1). Efforts in this program are directed toward identifying carrier loss mechanisms in web silicon, eliminating or reducing these mechanisms, designing a high efficiency cell structure with the aid of numerical models, and fabricating high efficiency web solar cells. Fabrication techniques must preserve or enhance carrier lifetime in the bulk of the cell and minimize recombination of carriers at the external surfaces. Three completed cells were viewed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to investigate further the relation between structural defects and electrical performance of web cells. Consistent with past TEM examinations, the cell with the highest efficiency (15.0%) had no dislocations but did have 11 twin planes.

Silicon-Light: a European FP7 Project Aiming at High Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells on Foil

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Soppe, W.; Haug, F.-J.; Couty, P.

2011-01-01

Silicon-Light is a European FP7 project, which started January 1st, 2010 and aims at development of low cost, high-efficiency thin film silicon solar cells on foil. Three main routes are explored to achieve these goals: a) advanced light trapping by implementing nanotexturization through UV Nano...... calculations of ideal nanotextures for light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells; the fabrication of masters and the replication and roll-to-roll fabrication of these nanotextures. Further, results on ITO variants with improved work function are presented. Finally, the status of cell fabrication on foils...

Glass-embedded two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal devices with a broad bandwidth waveguide and a high quality nanocavity.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Seung-Woo; Han, Jin-Kyu; Song, Bong-Shik; Noda, Susumu

2010-08-30

To enhance the mechanical stability of a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab structure and maintain its excellent performance, we designed a glass-embedded silicon photonic crystal device consisting of a broad bandwidth waveguide and a nanocavity with a high quality (Q) factor, and then fabricated the structure using spin-on glass (SOG). Furthermore, we showed that the refractive index of the SOG could be tuned from 1.37 to 1.57 by varying the curing temperature of the SOG. Finally, we demonstrated a glass-embedded heterostructured cavity with an ultrahigh Q factor of 160,000 by adjusting the refractive index of the SOG.

Review of status developments of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jingjing; Yao, Yao; Xiao, Shaoqing; Gu, Xiaofeng

2018-03-01

In order to further improve cell efficiency and reduce cost in achieving grid parity, a large number of PV manufacturing companies, universities and research institutes have been devoted to a variety of low-cost and high-efficiency crystalline Si solar cells. In this article, the cell structures, characteristics and efficiency progresses of several types of high-efficiency crystalline Si solar cells that have been in small scale production or are promising in mass production are presented, including passivated emitter rear cell, tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cell, interdigitated back contact cell, heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer cell, and heterojunction solar cells with interdigitated back contacts. Both the industrialization status and future development trend of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells are also pinpointed.

Widely tunable microwave phase shifter based on silicon-on-insulator dual-microring resonator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Liu, Liu; Xue, Weiqi

2010-01-01

We propose and demonstrate tunable microwave phase shifters based on electrically tunable silicon-on-insulator microring resonators. The phase-shifting range and the RF-power variation are analyzed. A maximum phase-shifting range of 0~600° is achieved by utilizing a dual-microring resonator...

Silicon on insulator technology. Characteristics. Applications; Technologies silicium sur isolant. Caracteristiques. Exemples d'application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suat, J. P.; Peccoud, L.; Le Goascoz, V.; Garcia, M.; Mackowiak, E.

1975-01-31

The advantages resulting from a SOS (Silicon-on-Sapphire) MOS technology are demonstrated. Experimental results giving the performance of C.MOS and depletion-enrichment P-channel technologies are presented, with an application of Silicon on insulator on development, that is to say a 1024 bits MNOS memory, peripheral circuits being developed according to the depletion-enrichment technology.

The status of silicon ribbon growth technology for high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Ciszek, T. F.

1985-01-01

More than a dozen methods have been applied to the growth of silicon ribbons, beginning as early as 1963. The ribbon geometry has been particularly intriguing for photovoltaic applications, because it might provide large area, damage free, nearly continuous substrates without the material loss or cost of ingot wafering. In general, the efficiency of silicon ribbon solar cells has been lower than that of ingot cells. The status of some ribbon growth techniques that have achieved laboratory efficiencies greater than 13.5% are reviewed, i.e., edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG), edge-supported pulling (ESP), ribbon against a drop (RAD), and dendritic web growth (web).

Wafer scale formation of monocrystalline silicon-based Mie resonators via silicon-on-insulator dewetting.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbarchi, Marco; Naffouti, Meher; Vial, Benjamin; Benkouider, Abdelmalek; Lermusiaux, Laurent; Favre, Luc; Ronda, Antoine; Bidault, Sébastien; Berbezier, Isabelle; Bonod, Nicolas

2014-11-25

Subwavelength-sized dielectric Mie resonators have recently emerged as a promising photonic platform, as they combine the advantages of dielectric microstructures and metallic nanoparticles supporting surface plasmon polaritons. Here, we report the capabilities of a dewetting-based process, independent of the sample size, to fabricate Si-based resonators over large scales starting from commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. Spontaneous dewetting is shown to allow the production of monocrystalline Mie-resonators that feature two resonant modes in the visible spectrum, as observed in confocal scattering spectroscopy. Homogeneous scattering responses and improved spatial ordering of the Si-based resonators are observed when dewetting is assisted by electron beam lithography. Finally, exploiting different thermal agglomeration regimes, we highlight the versatility of this technique, which, when assisted by focused ion beam nanopatterning, produces monocrystalline nanocrystals with ad hoc size, position, and organization in complex multimers.

Multi-granularity Bandwidth Allocation for Large-Scale WDM/TDM PON

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Ziyue; Gan, Chaoqin; Ni, Cuiping; Shi, Qiongling

2017-12-01

WDM (wavelength-division multiplexing)/TDM (time-division multiplexing) PON (passive optical network) is being viewed as a promising solution for delivering multiple services and applications, such as high-definition video, video conference and data traffic. Considering the real-time transmission, QoS (quality of services) requirements and differentiated services model, a multi-granularity dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) in both domains of wavelengths and time for large-scale hybrid WDM/TDM PON is proposed in this paper. The proposed scheme achieves load balance by using the bandwidth prediction. Based on the bandwidth prediction, the wavelength assignment can be realized fairly and effectively to satisfy the different demands of various classes. Specially, the allocation of residual bandwidth further augments the DBA and makes full use of bandwidth resources in the network. To further improve the network performance, two schemes named extending the cycle of one free wavelength (ECoFW) and large bandwidth shrinkage (LBS) are proposed, which can prevent transmission from interruption when the user employs more than one wavelength. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Silicon-on-insulator based nanopore cavity arrays for lipid membrane investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchholz, K; Tinazli, A; Kleefen, A; Dorfner, D; Pedone, D; Rant, U; Tampé, R; Abstreiter, G; Tornow, M

2008-11-05

We present the fabrication and characterization of nanopore microcavities for the investigation of transport processes in suspended lipid membranes. The cavities are situated below the surface of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. Single cavities and large area arrays were prepared using high resolution electron-beam lithography in combination with reactive ion etching (RIE) and wet chemical sacrificial underetching. The locally separated compartments have a circular shape and allow the enclosure of picoliter volume aqueous solutions. They are sealed at their top by a 250 nm thin Si membrane featuring pores with diameters from 2 µm down to 220 nm. The Si surface exhibits excellent smoothness and homogeneity as verified by AFM analysis. As biophysical test system we deposited lipid membranes by vesicle fusion, and demonstrated their fluid-like properties by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. As clearly indicated by AFM measurements in aqueous buffer solution, intact lipid membranes successfully spanned the pores. The nanopore cavity arrays have potential applications in diagnostics and pharmaceutical research on transmembrane proteins.

Peculiarities of electronic structure of silicon-on-insulator structures and their interaction with synchrotron radiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir A. Terekhov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available SOI (silicon-on-insulator structures with strained and unstrained silicon layers were studied by ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy with the use of synchrotron radiation techniques. Analysis of X-ray data has shown a noticeable transformation of the electron energy spectrum and local partial density of states distribution in valence and conduction bands in the strained silicon layer of the SOI structure. USXES Si L2,3 spectra analysis revealed a decrease of the distance between the L2v′ и L1v points in the valence band of the strained silicon layer as well as a shift of the first two maxima of the XANES first derivation spectra to the higher energies with respect to conduction band bottom Ec. At the same time the X-ray standing waves of synchrotron radiation (λ~12–20 nm are formed in the silicon-on-insulator structure with and without strains of the silicon layer. Moreover changing the synchrotron radiation grazing angle θ by 2° leads to a change of the electromagnetic field phase to the opposite.

Compact high-efficiency vortex beam emitter based on a silicon photonics micro-ring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Shimao; Ding, Yunhong; Guan, Xiaowei

2018-01-01

Photonic integrated devices that emit vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum are becoming key components for multiple applications. Here we propose and demonstrate a high-efficiency vortex beam emitter based on a silicon micro-ring resonator integrated with a metal mirror. Such a compact...

Fundamental understanding and development of low-cost, high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

ROHATGI,A.; NARASIMHA,S.; MOSCHER,J.; EBONG,A.; KAMRA,S.; KRYGOWSKI,T.; DOSHI,P.; RISTOW,A.; YELUNDUR,V.; RUBY,DOUGLAS S.

2000-05-01

The overall objectives of this program are (1) to develop rapid and low-cost processes for manufacturing that can improve yield, throughput, and performance of silicon photovoltaic devices, (2) to design and fabricate high-efficiency solar cells on promising low-cost materials, and (3) to improve the fundamental understanding of advanced photovoltaic devices. Several rapid and potentially low-cost technologies are described in this report that were developed and applied toward the fabrication of high-efficiency silicon solar cells.

Improved bandwidth and quantum efficiency in silicon photodiodes using photon-manipulating micro/nanostructures operating in the range of 700-1060 nm

Science.gov (United States)

Cansizoglu, Hilal; Gao, Yang; Ghandiparsi, Soroush; Kaya, Ahmet; Perez, Cesar Bartolo; Mayet, Ahmed; Ponizovskaya Devine, Ekaterina; Cansizoglu, Mehmet F.; Yamada, Toshishige; Elrefaie, Aly F.; Wang, Shih-Yuan; Islam, M. Saif

2017-08-01

Nanostructures allow broad spectrum and near-unity optical absorption and contributed to high performance low-cost Si photovoltaic devices. However, the efficiency is only a few percent higher than a conventional Si solar cell with thicker absorption layers. For high speed surface illuminated photodiodes, the thickness of the absorption layer is critical for short transit time and RC time. Recently a CMOS-compatible micro/nanohole silicon (Si) photodiode (PD) with more than 20 Gb/s data rate and with 52 % quantum efficiency (QE) at 850 nm was demonstrated. The achieved QE is over 400% higher than a similar Si PD with the same thickness but without absorption enhancement microstructure holes. The micro/nanoholes increases the QE by photon trapping, slow wave effects and generate a collective assemble of modes that radiate laterally, resulting in absorption enhancement and therefore increase in QE. Such Si PDs can be further designed to enhance the bandwidth (BW) of the PDs by reducing the device capacitance with etched holes in the pin junction. Here we present the BW and QE of Si PDs achievable with micro/nanoholes based on a combination of empirical evidence and device modeling. Higher than 50 Gb/s data rate with greater than 40% QE at 850 nm is conceivable in transceivers designed with such Si PDs that are integrated with photon trapping micro and nanostructures. By monolithic integration with CMOS/BiCMOS integrated circuits such as transimpedance amplifiers, equalizers, limiting amplifiers and other application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), the data rate can be increased to more than 50 Gb/s.

Ultracompact high-efficiency polarising beam splitter based on silicon nanobrick arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Guoxing; Liu, Guogen; Kenney, Mitchell Guy; Li, Zile; He, Ping'an; Li, Song; Ren, Zhi; Deng, Qiling

2016-03-21

Since the transmission of anisotropic nano-structures is sensitive to the polarisation of an incident beam, a novel polarising beam splitter (PBS) based on silicon nanobrick arrays is proposed. With careful design of such structures, an incident beam with polarisation direction aligned with the long axis of the nanobrick is almost totally reflected (~98.5%), whilst that along the short axis is nearly totally transmitted (~94.3%). More importantly, by simply changing the width of the nanobrick we can shift the peak response wavelength from 1460 nm to 1625 nm, covering S, C and L bands of the fiber telecommunications windows. The silicon nanobrick-based PBS can find applications in many fields which require ultracompactness, high efficiency, and compatibility with semiconductor industry technologies.

High-field Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization in silicon below the metal-insulator transition.

Science.gov (United States)

Dementyev, Anatoly E; Cory, David G; Ramanathan, Chandrasekhar

2011-04-21

Single crystal silicon is an excellent system to explore dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), as it exhibits a continuum of properties from metallic to insulating as a function of doping concentration and temperature. At low doping concentrations DNP has been observed to occur via the solid effect, while at very high-doping concentrations an Overhauser mechanism is responsible. Here we report the hyperpolarization of (29)Si in n-doped silicon crystals, with doping concentrations in the range of (1-3) × 10(17) cm(-3). In this regime exchange interactions between donors become extremely important. The sign of the enhancement in our experiments and its frequency dependence suggest that the (29)Si spins are directly polarized by donor electrons via an Overhauser mechanism within exchange-coupled donor clusters. The exchange interaction between donors only needs to be larger than the silicon hyperfine interaction (typically much smaller than the donor hyperfine coupling) to enable this Overhauser mechanism. Nuclear polarization enhancement is observed for a range of donor clusters in which the exchange energy is comparable to the donor hyperfine interaction. The DNP dynamics are characterized by a single exponential time constant that depends on the microwave power, indicating that the Overhauser mechanism is a rate-limiting step. Since only about 2% of the silicon nuclei are located within 1 Bohr radius of the donor electron, nuclear spin diffusion is important in transferring the polarization to all the spins. However, the spin-diffusion time is much shorter than the Overhauser time due to the relatively weak silicon hyperfine coupling strength. In a 2.35 T magnetic field at 1.1 K, we observed a DNP enhancement of 244 ± 84 resulting in a silicon polarization of 10.4 ± 3.4% following 2 h of microwave irradiation.

Crystal growth for high-efficiency silicon solar cells workshop: Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Dumas, K. A.

1985-01-01

The state of the art in the growth of silicon crystals for high-efficiency solar cells are reviewed, sheet requirements are defined, and furture areas of research are identified. Silicon sheet material characteristics that limit cell efficiencies and yields were described as well as the criteria for the ideal sheet-growth method. The device engineers wish list to the material engineer included: silicon sheet with long minority carrier lifetime that is uniform throughout the sheet, and which doesn't change during processing; and sheet material that stays flat throughout device processing, has uniform good mechanical strength, and is low cost. Impurities in silicon solar cells depreciate cell performance by reducing diffusion length and degrading junctions. The impurity behavior, degradation mechanisms, and variations in degradation threshold with diffusion length for silicon solar cells were described.

High-End Silicon PDICs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Zimmermann

2008-05-01

Full Text Available An overview on integrated silicon photodiodes and photodiode integrated circuits (PDICs or optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs for optical storage systems (OSS and fiber receivers is given. It is demonstrated, that by using low-cost silicon technologies high-performance OEICs being true competitors for some III/V-semiconductor OEICs can be realized. OSS-OEICs with bandwidths of up to 380 MHz and fiber receivers with maximum data rates of up to 11 Gbps are described. Low-cost data comm receivers for plastic optical fibers (POF as well as new circuit concepts for OEICs and highly parallel optical receivers are described also in the following.

Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixers on Silicon-on-Insulator Substrates for Terahertz Frequencies

Science.gov (United States)

Skalare, Anders; Stern, Jeffrey; Bumble, Bruce; Maiwald, Frank

2005-01-01

A terahertz Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixer design using device substrates based on Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology is described. This substrate technology allows very thin chips (6 pm) with almost arbitrary shape to be manufactured, so that they can be tightly fitted into a waveguide structure and operated at very high frequencies with only low risk for power leakages and resonance modes. The NbTiN-based bolometers are contacted by gold beam-leads, while other beamleads are used to hold the chip in place in the waveguide test fixture. The initial tests yielded an equivalent receiver noise temperature of 3460 K double-sideband at a local oscillator frequency of 1.462 THz and an intermediate frequency of 1.4 GHz.

Fluorescent porous silicon biological probes with high quantum efficiency and stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Tu, Chang-Ching; Chou, Ying-Nien; Hung, Hsiang-Chieh; Wu, Jingda; Jiang, Shaoyi; Lin, Lih Y

2014-12-01

We demonstrate porous silicon biological probes as a stable and non-toxic alternative to organic dyes or cadmium-containing quantum dots for imaging and sensing applications. The fluorescent silicon quantum dots which are embedded on the porous silicon surface are passivated with carboxyl-terminated ligands through stable Si-C covalent bonds. The porous silicon bio-probes have shown photoluminescence quantum yield around 50% under near-UV excitation, with high photochemical and thermal stability. The bio-probes can be efficiently conjugated with antibodies, which is confirmed by a standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method.

Industrially feasible, dopant-free, carrier-selective contacts for high-efficiency silicon solar cells

KAUST Repository

Yang, Xinbo

2017-05-31

Dopant-free, carrier-selective contacts (CSCs) on high efficiency silicon solar cells combine ease of deposition with potential optical benefits. Electron-selective titanium dioxide (TiO) contacts, one of the most promising dopant-free CSC technologies, have been successfully implemented into silicon solar cells with an efficiency over 21%. Here, we report further progress of TiO contacts for silicon solar cells and present an assessment of their industrial feasibility. With improved TiO contact quality and cell processing, a remarkable efficiency of 22.1% has been achieved using an n-type silicon solar cell featuring a full-area TiO contact. Next, we demonstrate the compatibility of TiO contacts with an industrial contact-firing process, its low performance sensitivity to the wafer resistivity, its applicability to ultrathin substrates as well as its long-term stability. Our findings underscore the great appeal of TiO contacts for industrial implementation with their combination of high efficiency with robust fabrication at low cost.

High performance high-κ/metal gate complementary metal oxide semiconductor circuit element on flexible silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2016-02-29

Thinned silicon based complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS)electronics can be physically flexible. To overcome challenges of limited thinning and damaging of devices originated from back grinding process, we show sequential reactive ion etching of silicon with the assistance from soft polymeric materials to efficiently achieve thinned (40 μm) and flexible (1.5 cm bending radius) silicon based functional CMOSinverters with high-κ/metal gate transistors. Notable advances through this study shows large area of silicon thinning with pre-fabricated high performance elements with ultra-large-scale-integration density (using 90 nm node technology) and then dicing of such large and thinned (seemingly fragile) pieces into smaller pieces using excimer laser. The impact of various mechanical bending and bending cycles show undeterred high performance of flexible siliconCMOSinverters. Future work will include transfer of diced silicon chips to destination site, interconnects, and packaging to obtain fully flexible electronic systems in CMOS compatible way.

Polarization-Independent Wideband High-Index-Contrast Grating Mirror

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bekele, Dagmawi Alemayehu; Park, Gyeong Cheol; Malureanu, Radu

2015-01-01

Island-type two-dimensional high-index-contrast grating mirror based on a standard silicon-on-insulator wafer have been experimentally demonstrated. The measured spectra shows a bandwidth of ∼192 nm with a reflectivity over 99% as well as polarization independence. Numerical simulations show...

Large-Area Binary Blazed Grating Coupler between Nanophotonic Waveguide and LED

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongqiang Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A large-area binary blazed grating coupler for the arrayed waveguide grating (AWG demodulation integrated microsystem on silicon-on-insulator (SOI was designed for the first time. Through the coupler, light can be coupled into the SOI waveguide from the InP-based C-band LED for the AWG demodulation integrated microsystem to function. Both the length and width of the grating coupler are 360 μm, as large as the InP-based C-band LED light emitting area in the system. The coupler was designed and optimized based on the finite difference time domain method. When the incident angle of the light source is 0°, the coupling efficiency of the binary blazed grating is 40.92%, and the 3 dB bandwidth is 72 nm at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

Bandwidth-Efficient Communication through 225 MHz Ka-band Relay Satellite Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Downey, Joseph; Downey, James; Reinhart, Richard C.; Evans, Michael Alan; Mortensen, Dale John

2016-01-01

The communications and navigation space infrastructure of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of a constellation of relay satellites (called Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS)) and a global set of ground stations to receive and deliver data to researchers around the world from mission spacecraft throughout the solar system. Planning is underway to enhance and transform the infrastructure over the coming decade. Key to the upgrade will be the simultaneous and efficient use of relay transponders to minimize cost and operations while supporting science and exploration spacecraft. Efficient use of transponders necessitates bandwidth efficient communications to best use and maximize data throughput within the allocated spectrum. Experiments conducted with NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed on the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to evaluate advanced communication techniques, such as bandwidth-efficient modulations, in an operational flight system. Demonstrations of these new techniques in realistic flight conditions provides critical experience and reduces the risk of using these techniques in future missions. Efficient use of spectrum is enabled by using high-order modulations coupled with efficient forward error correction codes. This paper presents a high-rate, bandwidth-efficient waveform operating over the 225 MHz Ka-band service of the TDRS System (TDRSS). The testing explores the application of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), 248-phase shift keying (PSK) and 1632- amplitude PSK (APSK) providing over three bits-per-second-per-Hertz (3 bsHz) modulation combined with various LDPC encoding rates to maximize throughput. With a symbol rate of 200 Mbaud, coded data rates of 1000 Mbps were tested in the laboratory and up to 800 Mbps over the TDRS 225 MHz channel. This paper will present on the high-rate waveform design, channel characteristics, performance results, compensation

Compact wavelength-insensitive fabrication-tolerant silicon-on-insulator beam splitter.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasigade, Gilles; Le Roux, Xavier; Marris-Morini, Delphine; Cassan, Eric; Vivien, Laurent

2010-11-01

A star coupler-based beam splitter for rib waveguides is reported. A design method is presented and applied in the case of silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides. Experimental results are in good agreement with simulations. Excess loss lower than 1 dB is experimentally obtained for star coupler lengths from 0.5 to 1 μm. Output balance is better than 1 dB, which is the measurement accuracy, and broadband transmission is obtained over 90 nm.

Research of high speed data readout and pre-processing system based on xTCA for silicon pixel detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jingzhou; Lin Haichuan; Guo Fang; Liu Zhen'an; Xu Hao; Gong Wenxuan; Liu Zhao

2012-01-01

As the development of the detector, Silicon pixel detectors have been widely used in high energy physics experiments. It needs data processing system with high speed, high bandwidth and high availability to read data from silicon pixel detectors which generate more large data. The same question occurs on Belle II Pixel Detector which is a new style silicon pixel detector used in SuperKEKB accelerator with high luminance. The paper describes the research of High speed data readout and pre-processing system based on xTCA for silicon pixel detector. The system consists of High Performance Computer Node (HPCN) based on xTCA and ATCA frame. The HPCN consists of 4XFPs based on AMC, 1 AMC Carrier ATCA Board (ACAB) and 1 Rear Transmission Module. It characterized by 5 high performance FPGAs, 16 fiber links based on RocketIO, 5 Gbit Ethernet ports and DDR2 with capacity up to 18GB. In a ATCA frame, 14 HPCNs make up a system using the high speed backplane to achieve the function of data pre-processing and trigger. This system will be used on the trigger and data acquisition system of Belle II Pixel detector. (authors)

Gadolinium oxide coated fully depleted silicon-on-insulator transistors for thermal neutron dosimetry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vitale, Steven A., E-mail: steven.vitale@ll.mit.edu; Gouker, Pascale M.

2013-09-01

Fully depleted silicon-on-insulator transistors coated with gadolinium oxide are shown to be effective thermal neutron dosimeters. The theoretical neutron detection efficiency is calculated to be higher for Gd{sub 2}O{sub 3} than for other practical converter materials. Proof-of-concept dosimeter devices were fabricated and tested during thermal neutron irradiation. The transistor current changes linearly with neutron dose, consistent with increasing positive charge in the SOI buried oxide layer generated by ionization from high energy {sup 157}Gd(n,γ){sup 158}Gd conversion electrons. The measured neutron sensitivity is approximately 1/6 the maximum theoretical value, possibly due to electron–hole recombination or conversion electron loss in interconnect wiring above the transistors. -- Highlights: • A novel Gd{sub 2}O{sub 3} coated FDSOI MOSFET thermal neutron dosimeter is presented. • Dosimeter can detect charges generated from {sup 157}Gd(n,γ){sup 158}Gd conversion electrons. • Measured neutron sensitivity is comparable to that calculated theoretically. • Dosimeter requires zero power during operation, enabling new application areas.

Solar thermoelectric generators fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Leon, Maria Theresa; Chong, Harold; Kraft, Michael

2014-01-01

Solar thermal power generation is an attractive electricity generation technology as it is environment-friendly, has the potential for increased efficiency, and has high reliability. The design, modelling, and evaluation of solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate are presented in this paper. Solar concentration is achieved by using a focusing lens to concentrate solar input onto the membrane of the STEG. A thermal model is developed based on energy balance and heat transfer equations using lumped thermal conductances. This thermal model is shown to be in good agreement with actual measurement results. For a 1 W laser input with a spot size of 1 mm, a maximum open-circuit voltage of 3.06 V is obtained, which translates to a temperature difference of 226 °C across the thermoelements and delivers 25 µW of output power under matched load conditions. Based on solar simulator measurements, a maximum TEG voltage of 803 mV was achieved by using a 50.8 mm diameter plano-convex lens to focus solar input to a TEG with a length of 1000 µm, width of 15 µm, membrane diameter of 3 mm, and 114 thermocouples. This translates to a temperature difference of 18 °C across the thermoelements and an output power under matched load conditions of 431 nW. This paper demonstrates that by utilizing a solar concentrator to focus solar radiation onto the hot junction of a TEG, the temperature difference across the device is increased; subsequently improving the TEG’s efficiency. By using materials that are compatible with standard CMOS and MEMS processes, integration of solar-driven TEGs with on-chip electronics is seen to be a viable way of solar energy harvesting where the resulting microscale system is envisioned to have promising applications in on-board power sources, sensor networks, and autonomous microsystems. (paper)

Implant damage and redistribution of indium in indium-implanted thin silicon-on-insulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Peng; An Zhenghua; Zhu Ming; Fu, Ricky K.Y.; Chu, Paul K.; Montgomery, Neil; Biswas, Sukanta

2004-01-01

The indium implant damage and diffusion behavior in thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) with a 200 nm top silicon layer were studied for different implantation energies and doses. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in the channeling mode (RBS/C) was used to characterize the implant damage before and after annealing. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was used to study the indium transient enhanced diffusion (TED) behavior in the top Si layer of the SOI structure. An anomalous redistribution of indium after relatively high energy (200 keV) and dose (1 x 10 14 cm -2 ) implantation was observed in both bulk Si and SOI substrates. However, there exist differences in these two substrates that are attributable to the more predominant out-diffusion of indium as well as the influence of the buried oxide layer in the SOI structure

Impurity effects in silicon for high efficiency solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkins, R. H.; Rohatgi, A.

1986-01-01

Model analyses indicate that sophisticated solar cell designs including, e.g., back surface fields, optical reflectors, surface passivation, and double layer antireflective coatings can produce devices with conversion efficiencies above 20 percent (AM1). To realize this potential, the quality of the silicon from which the cells are made must be improved; and these excellent electrical properties must be maintained during device processing. As the cell efficiency rises, the sensitivity to trace contaminants also increases. For example, the threshold Ti impurity concentration at which cell performance degrades is more than an order of magnitude lower for an 18-percent cell. Similar behavior occurs for numerous other metal species which introduce deep level traps that stimulate the recombination of photogenerated carriers in silicon. Purification via crystal growth in conjunction with gettering steps to preserve the large diffusion length of the as-grown material can lead to the production of devices with efficiencies aboved 18 percent, as has been verified experimentally.

Development of high efficiency solar cells on silicon web

Science.gov (United States)

Rohatgi, A.; Meier, D. L.; Campbell, R. B.; Schmidt, D. N.; Rai-Choudhury, P.

1984-01-01

Web base material is being improved with a goal toward obtaining solar cell efficiencies in excess of 18% (AM1). Carrier loss mechanisms in web silicon was investigated, techniques were developed to reduce carrier recombination in the web, and web cells were fabricated using effective surface passivation. The effect of stress on web cell performance was also investigated.

High efficiency on-chip Dielectric Resonator Antennna using micromachining technology

KAUST Repository

Sallam, Mai O.

2015-10-26

In this paper, a novel cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) operating at 60 GHz is introduced. The antenna is fabricated using a high-resistivity silicon wafer. The DR is defined in the wafer using micromachining technology. The feeding network is located at the other side of the wafer. The proposed antenna is simulated using HFSS and the results are verified by measurements. The antenna radiation is mainly along the broadside direction. The measured gain, radiation efficiency, and bandwidth are 7 dBi, 74.65%, and 2.23 GHz respectively. The antenna is characterized by high polarization purity where the maximum cross-polarization is -15 dB. © 2015 IEEE.

High efficiency on-chip Dielectric Resonator Antennna using micromachining technology

KAUST Repository

Sallam, Mai O.; Serry, Mohamed; Shamim, Atif; De Raedt, Walter; Sedky, Sherif; Vandenbosch, Guy A. E.; Soliman, Ezzeldin A.

2015-01-01

In this paper, a novel cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) operating at 60 GHz is introduced. The antenna is fabricated using a high-resistivity silicon wafer. The DR is defined in the wafer using micromachining technology. The feeding network is located at the other side of the wafer. The proposed antenna is simulated using HFSS and the results are verified by measurements. The antenna radiation is mainly along the broadside direction. The measured gain, radiation efficiency, and bandwidth are 7 dBi, 74.65%, and 2.23 GHz respectively. The antenna is characterized by high polarization purity where the maximum cross-polarization is -15 dB. © 2015 IEEE.

Realization of an ultra-compact polarization beam splitter using asymmetric MMI based on silicon nitride / silicon-on-insulator platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Xiao; Aitchison, J Stewart; Mojahedi, Mo

2017-04-03

We have experimentally demonstrated a compact polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on the silicon nitride/silicon-on-insulator platform using the recently proposed augmented-low-index-guiding (ALIG) waveguide structure. The two orthogonal polarizations are split in an asymmetric multimode interference (MMI) section, which was 1.6 μm wide and 4.8 μm long. The device works well over the entire C-band wavelength range and has a measured low insertion loss of less than 1 dB. The polarization extinction ratio at the Bar Port is approximately 17 dB and at the Cross Port is approximately 25 dB. The design of the device is robust and has a good fabrication tolerance.

Highly efficient luminescent solar concentrators based on earth-abundant indirect-bandgap silicon quantum dots

Science.gov (United States)

Meinardi, Francesco; Ehrenberg, Samantha; Dhamo, Lorena; Carulli, Francesco; Mauri, Michele; Bruni, Francesco; Simonutti, Roberto; Kortshagen, Uwe; Brovelli, Sergio

2017-02-01

Building-integrated photovoltaics is gaining consensus as a renewable energy technology for producing electricity at the point of use. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) could extend architectural integration to the urban environment by realizing electrode-less photovoltaic windows. Crucial for large-area LSCs is the suppression of reabsorption losses, which requires emitters with negligible overlap between their absorption and emission spectra. Here, we demonstrate the use of indirect-bandgap semiconductor nanostructures such as highly emissive silicon quantum dots. Silicon is non-toxic, low-cost and ultra-earth-abundant, which avoids the limitations to the industrial scaling of quantum dots composed of low-abundance elements. Suppressed reabsorption and scattering losses lead to nearly ideal LSCs with an optical efficiency of η = 2.85%, matching state-of-the-art semi-transparent LSCs. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that optimized silicon quantum dot LSCs have a clear path to η > 5% for 1 m2 devices. We are finally able to realize flexible LSCs with performances comparable to those of flat concentrators, which opens the way to a new design freedom for building-integrated photovoltaics elements.

The Microwave Noise Behaviour Of Dual Material Gate Silicon On Insulator

Science.gov (United States)

Jafar, N.; Soin, N.

2009-06-01

This work presents the noise behaviour due to the applied Dual Material Gate (DMG) on the 75 nm n-channel Silicon On Insulator (SOI) device operating in the fully depletion mode, particularly for microwave circuit design. Influences of DMG properties namely the gate length ratio (L1:L2) and gate material workfunction difference (ΔΦM) as well as structural and operational parameters which are silicon thickness (TSi) and threshold voltage (VTH) setting variation on the noise performance were carried out on simulation basis using ATLAS 2D. Results show better noise performance in DMG as compare to the standard gate structure of FD-SOI devices. Higher VTH for DMG design is recommended for minimized noise figure in line with the advantage of inverse VTH roll-off characteristics for short channel effects suppression.

Proposal of a broadband, polarization-insensitive and high-efficiency hot-carrier schottky photodetector integrated with a plasmonic silicon ridge waveguide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Liu; Kou, Pengfei; Shen, Jianqi; Lee, El Hang; He, Sailing

2015-01-01

We propose a broadband, polarization-insensitive and high-efficiency plasmonic Schottky diode for detection of sub-bandgap photons in the optical communication wavelength range through internal photoemission (IPE). The distinctive features of this design are that it has a gold film covering both the top and the sidewalls of a dielectric silicon ridge waveguide with the Schottky contact formed at the gold–silicon interface and the sidewall coverage of gold can be easily tuned by an insulating layer. An extensive physical model on IPE of hot carriers is presented in detail and is applied to calculate and examine the performance of this detector. In comparison with a diode having only the top gold contact, the polarization sensitivity of the responsivity is greatly minimized in our photodetector with gold film covering both the top and the sidewall. Much higher responsivities for both polarizations are also achieved over a broad wavelength range of 1.2–1.6 μm. Moreover, the Schottky contact is only 4 μm long, leading to a very small dark current. Our design is very promising for practical applications in high-density silicon photonic integration. (paper)

A multi-level capacitor-less memory cell fabricated on a nano-scale strained silicon-on-insulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Jea-Gun; Kim, Seong-Je; Shin, Mi-Hee; Song, Seung-Hyun; Shim, Tae-Hun; Chung, Sung-Woong; Enomoto, Hirofumi

2011-01-01

A multi-level capacitor-less memory cell was fabricated with a fully depleted n-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor on a nano-scale strained silicon channel on insulator (FD sSOI n-MOSFET). The 0.73% biaxial tensile strain in the silicon channel of the FD sSOI n-MOSFET enhanced the effective electron mobility to ∼ 1.7 times that with an unstrained silicon channel. This thereby enables both front- and back-gate cell operations, demonstrating eight-level volatile memory-cell operation with a 1 ms retention time and 12 μA memory margin. This is a step toward achieving a terabit volatile memory cell.

High-bandwidth piezoresistive force probes with integrated thermal actuation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doll, Joseph C; Pruitt, Beth L

2012-01-01

We present high-speed force probes with on-chip actuation and sensing for the measurement of pN-scale forces at the microsecond timescale. We achieve a high resonant frequency in water (1–100 kHz) with requisite low spring constants (0.3–40 pN nm −1 ) and low integrated force noise (1–100 pN) by targeting probe dimensions on the order of 300 nm thick, 1–2 μm wide and 30–200 μm long. Forces are measured using silicon piezoresistors, while the probes are actuated thermally with an aluminum unimorph and silicon heater. The piezoresistive sensors are designed using the open-source numerical optimization code that incorporates constraints on operating temperature. Parylene passivation enables operation in ionic media and we demonstrate simultaneous actuation and sensing. The improved design and fabrication techniques that we describe enable a 10–20-fold improvement in force resolution or measurement bandwidth over prior piezoresistive cantilevers of comparable thickness. (paper)

High bandwidth piezoresistive force probes with integrated thermal actuation

Science.gov (United States)

Doll, Joseph C.; Pruitt, Beth L.

2012-01-01

We present high-speed force probes with on-chip actuation and sensing for the measurement of pN-scale forces at the microsecond time scale. We achieve a high resonant frequency in water (1–100 kHz) with requisite low spring constants (0.3–40 pN/nm) and low integrated force noise (1–100 pN) by targeting probe dimensions on the order of 300 nm thick, 1–2 μm wide and 30–200 μm long. Forces are measured using silicon piezoresistors while the probes are actuated thermally with an aluminum unimorph and silicon heater. The piezoresistive sensors are designed using open source numerical optimization code that incorporates constraints on operating temperature. Parylene passivation enables operation in ionic media and we demonstrate simultaneous actuation and sensing. The improved design and fabrication techniques that we describe enable a 10–20 fold improvement in force resolution or measurement bandwidth over prior piezoresistive cantilevers of comparable thickness. PMID:23175616

High efficiency grating couplers based on shared process with CMOS MOSFETs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu Chao; Sheng Zhen; Wu Ai-Min; Wang Xi; Zou Shi-Chang; Gan Fu-Wan; Li Le; Albert Pang

2013-01-01

Grating couplers are widely investigated as coupling interfaces between silicon-on-insulator waveguides and optical fibers. In this work, a high-efficiency and complementary metal—oxide—semiconductor (CMOS) process compatible grating coupler is proposed. The poly-Si layer used as a gate in the CMOS metal—oxide—semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is combined with a normal fully etched grating coupler, which greatly enhances its coupling efficiency. With optimal structure parameters, a coupling efficiency can reach as high as ∼ 70% at a wavelength of 1550 nm as indicated by simulation. From the angle of fabrication, all masks and etching steps are shared between MOSFETs and grating couplers, thereby making the high performance grating couplers easily integrated with CMOS circuits. Fabrication errors such as alignment shift are also simulated, showing that the device is quite tolerant in fabrication. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

Improved contact metallization for high efficiency EFG polycrystalline silicon solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dube, C.E.; Gonsiorawski, R.C.

1990-01-01

Improvements in the performance of polycrystalline silicon solar cells based on a novel, laser patterned contact process are described. Small lots of cells having an average conversion efficiency of 14 + %, with several cells approaching 15%, are reported for cells of 45 cm 2 area. The high efficiency contact design is based on YAG laser patterning of the silicon nitride anti-reflection coating. The Cu metallization is done using light-induced plating, with the cell providing the driving voltage for the plating process. The Cu electrodeposits into the laser defined windows in the AR coating for reduced contact area, following which the Cu bridges on top of the Ar coating to form a continuous finger pattern. The higher cell conversion efficiency is attributed to reduced shadow loss, higher junction quality, and reduced metal-semiconductor interfacial area

High efficiency optoelectronic terahertz sources

Science.gov (United States)

Lampin, Jean-François; Peytavit, Emilien; Akalin, Tahsin; Ducournau, G.; Hindle, Francis; Mouret, Gael

2010-08-01

We have developed a new generation of optoelectronic large bandwidth terahertz sources based on TEM horn antennas monolithically integrated with several types of photodetectors: low-temperature grown GaAs (LTG-GaAs) planar photoconductors, vertically integrated LTG-GaAs photoconductors on silicon substrate and uni-travelling-carrier photodiodes. Results of pulsed (time-domain) and photomixing (CW, frequency domain) experiments are presented.

Bandwidth-Efficient Communication through 225 MHz Ka-band Relay Satellite Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Downey, Joseph A.; Downey, James M.; Reinhart, Richard C.; Evans, Michael A.; Mortensen, Dale J.

2016-01-01

The communications and navigation space infrastructure of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of a constellation of relay satellites (called Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS)) and a global set of ground stations to receive and deliver data to researchers around the world from mission spacecraft throughout the solar system. Planning is underway to enhance and transform the infrastructure over the coming decade. Key to the upgrade will be the simultaneous and efficient use of relay transponders to minimize cost and operations while supporting science and exploration spacecraft. Efficient use of transponders necessitates bandwidth efficient communications to best use and maximize data throughput within the allocated spectrum. Experiments conducted with NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed on the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to evaluate advanced communication techniques, such as bandwidth-efficient modulations, in an operational flight system. Demonstrations of these new techniques in realistic flight conditions provides critical experience and reduces the risk of using these techniques in future missions. Efficient use of spectrum is enabled by using high-order modulations coupled with efficient forward error correction codes. This paper presents a high-rate, bandwidth-efficient waveform operating over the 225 MHz Ka-band service of the TDRS System (TDRSS). The testing explores the application of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), 2/4/8-phase shift keying (PSK) and 16/32- amplitude PSK (APSK) providing over three bits-per-second-per-Hertz (3 b/s/Hz) modulation combined with various LDPC encoding rates to maximize through- put. With a symbol rate of 200 M-band, coded data rates of 1000 Mbps were tested in the laboratory and up to 800 Mbps over the TDRS 225 MHz channel. This paper will present on the high-rate waveform design, channel characteristics, performance results

Energy efficiency in elastic-bandwidth optical networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vizcaino, Jorge Lopez; Ye, Yabin; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso

2011-01-01

of elastic bandwidth allocation, opens new horizons in the operation of optical networks. In this paper, we compare the network planning problem in an elastic bandwidth CO-OFDM-based network and a fixed-grid WDM network. We highlight the benefits that bandwidth elasticity and the selection of different......The forecasted growth in the Internet traffic has made the operators and industry to be concerned about the power consumption of the networks, and to become interested in alternatives to plan and operate the networks in a more energy efficient manner. The introduction of OFDM, and its property...

Crosstalk analysis of silicon-on-insulator nanowire-arrayed waveguide grating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Kai-Li; An Jun-Ming; Zhang Jia-Shun; Wang Yue; Wang Liang-Liang; Li Jian-Guang; Wu Yuan-Da; Yin Xiao-Jie; Hu Xiong-Wei

2016-01-01

The factors influencing the crosstalk of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) are analyzed using the transfer function method. The analysis shows that wider and thicker arrayed waveguides, outsider fracture of arrayed waveguide, and larger channel space, could mitigate the deterioration of crosstalk. The SOI nanowire AWGs with different arrayed waveguide widths are fabricated by using deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) and inductively coupled plasma etching (ICP) technology. The measurement results show that the crosstalk performance is improved by about 7 dB through adopting 800 nm arrayed waveguide width. (paper)

Silicon-on-Insulator Lateral-Insulated-Gate-Bipolar-Transistor with Built-in Self-anti-ESD Diode

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaojun Cheng

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Power SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator devices have an inherent sandwich structure of MOS (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor gate which is very easy to suffer ESD (Electro-Static Discharge overstress. To solve this reliability problem, studies on design and modification of a built-in self-anti-ESD diode for a preliminarily optimized high voltage SOI LIGBT (Lateral-Insulated-Gate-Bipolar-Transistor were carried out on the Silvaco TCAD (Technology-Computer-Aided-Design platform. According to the constrains of the technological process, the new introduction of the N+ doped region into P-well region that form the built-in self-anti-ESD diode should be done together with the doping of source under the same mask. The modifications were done by adjusting the vertical impurity profile in P-well into retrograde distribution and designing a cathode plate with a proper length to cover the forward depletion terminal and make sure that the thickness of the cathode plate is the same as that of the gate plate. The simulation results indicate that the modified device structure is compatible with the original one in process and design, the breakdown voltage margin of the former was expanded properly, and both the transient cathode voltages are clamped low enough very quickly. Therefore, the design and optimization results of the modified device structure of the built-in self-anti-ESD diode for the given SOI LIGBT meet the given requirements.

Extreme temperature stability of thermally insulating graphene-mesoporous-silicon nanocomposite

Science.gov (United States)

Kolhatkar, Gitanjali; Boucherif, Abderraouf; Rahim Boucherif, Abderrahim; Dupuy, Arthur; Fréchette, Luc G.; Arès, Richard; Ruediger, Andreas

2018-04-01

We demonstrate the thermal stability and thermal insulation of graphene-mesoporous-silicon nanocomposites (GPSNC). By comparing the morphology of GPSNC carbonized at 650 °C as-formed to that after annealing, we show that this nanocomposite remains stable at temperatures as high as 1050 °C due to the presence of a few monolayers of graphene coating on the pore walls. This does not only make this material compatible with most thermal processes but also suggests applications in harsh high temperature environments. The thermal conductivity of GPSNCs carbonized at temperatures in the 500 °C-800 °C range is determined through Raman spectroscopy measurements. They indicate that the thermal conductivity of the composite is lower than that of silicon, with a value of 13 ± 1 W mK-1 at room temperature, and not affected by the thin graphene layer, suggesting a role of the high concentration of carbon related-defects as indicated by the high intensity of the D-band compared to G-band of the Raman spectra. This morphological stability at high temperature combined with a high thermal insulation make GPSNC a promising candidate for a broad range of applications including microelectromechanical systems and thermal effect microsystems such as flow sensors or IR detectors. Finally, at 120 °C, the thermal conductivity remains equal to that at room temperature, attesting to the potential of using our nanocomposite in devices that operate at high temperatures such as microreactors for distributed chemical conversion, solid oxide fuel cells, thermoelectric devices or thermal micromotors.

Adiabatic Nanofocusing in Hybrid Gap Plasmon Waveguides on the Silicon-on-Insulator Platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, Michael P; Lafone, Lucas; Rakovich, Aliaksandra; Sidiropoulos, Themistoklis P H; Rahmani, Mohsen; Maier, Stefan A; Oulton, Rupert F

2016-02-10

We present an experimental demonstration of a new class of hybrid gap plasmon waveguides on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Created by the hybridization of the plasmonic mode of a gap in a thin metal sheet and the transverse-electric (TE) photonic mode of an SOI slab, this waveguide is designed for efficient adiabatic nanofocusing simply by varying the gap width. For gap widths greater than 100 nm, the mode is primarily photonic in character and propagation lengths can be many tens of micrometers. For gap widths below 100 nm, the mode becomes plasmonic in character with field confinement predominantly within the gap region and with propagation lengths of a few microns. We estimate the electric field intensity enhancement in hybrid gap plasmon waveguide tapers at 1550 nm by three-photon absorption of selectively deposited CdSe/ZnS quantum dots within the gap. Here, we show electric field intensity enhancements of up to 167 ± 26 for a 24 nm gap, proving the viability of low loss adiabatic nanofocusing on a commercially relevant photonics platform.

Fiber-chip edge coupler with large mode size for silicon photonic wire waveguides.

Science.gov (United States)

Papes, Martin; Cheben, Pavel; Benedikovic, Daniel; Schmid, Jens H; Pond, James; Halir, Robert; Ortega-Moñux, Alejandro; Wangüemert-Pérez, Gonzalo; Ye, Winnie N; Xu, Dan-Xia; Janz, Siegfried; Dado, Milan; Vašinek, Vladimír

2016-03-07

Fiber-chip edge couplers are extensively used in integrated optics for coupling of light between planar waveguide circuits and optical fibers. In this work, we report on a new fiber-chip edge coupler concept with large mode size for silicon photonic wire waveguides. The coupler allows direct coupling with conventional cleaved optical fibers with large mode size while circumventing the need for lensed fibers. The coupler is designed for 220 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. It exhibits an overall coupling efficiency exceeding 90%, as independently confirmed by 3D Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) and fully vectorial 3D Eigenmode Expansion (EME) calculations. We present two specific coupler designs, namely for a high numerical aperture single mode optical fiber with 6 µm mode field diameter (MFD) and a standard SMF-28 fiber with 10.4 µm MFD. An important advantage of our coupler concept is the ability to expand the mode at the chip edge without leading to high substrate leakage losses through buried oxide (BOX), which in our design is set to 3 µm. This remarkable feature is achieved by implementing in the SiO 2 upper cladding thin high-index Si 3 N 4 layers. The Si 3 N 4 layers increase the effective refractive index of the upper cladding near the facet. The index is controlled along the taper by subwavelength refractive index engineering to facilitate adiabatic mode transformation to the silicon wire waveguide while the Si-wire waveguide is inversely tapered along the coupler. The mode overlap optimization at the chip facet is carried out with a full vectorial mode solver. The mode transformation along the coupler is studied using 3D-FDTD simulations and with fully-vectorial 3D-EME calculations. The couplers are optimized for operating with transverse electric (TE) polarization and the operating wavelength is centered at 1.55 µm.

On Bandwidth Efficient Modulation for High-Data-Rate Wireless LAN Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stolpman Victor

2002-01-01

Full Text Available We address the problem of high-data-rate orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM systems under restrictive bandwidth constraints. Based on recent theoretic results, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO configurations are best suited for this problem. In this paper, we examine several MIMO configurations suitable for high rate transmission. In all scenarios considered, perfect channel state information (CSI is assumed at the receiver. In constrast, availability of CSI at the transmitter is addressed separately. We show that powerful space-time codes can be developed by combining some simple well-known techniques. In fact, we show that for certain configurations, these space-time MIMO configurations are near optimum in terms of outage capacity as compared to previously published codes. Performance evaluation of these techniques is demonstrated within the IEEE 802.11a framework via Monte Carlo simulations.

Photonic Hilbert transformers based on laterally apodized integrated waveguide Bragg gratings on a SOI wafer.

Science.gov (United States)

Bazargani, Hamed Pishvai; Burla, Maurizio; Chrostowski, Lukas; Azaña, José

2016-11-01

We experimentally demonstrate high-performance integer and fractional-order photonic Hilbert transformers based on laterally apodized Bragg gratings in a silicon-on-insulator technology platform. The sub-millimeter-long gratings have been fabricated using single-etch electron beam lithography, and the resulting HT devices offer operation bandwidths approaching the THz range, with time-bandwidth products between 10 and 20.

Guided acoustic and optical waves in silicon-on-insulator for Brillouin scattering and optomechanics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher J. Sarabalis

2016-10-01

Full Text Available We numerically study silicon waveguides on silica showing that it is possible to simultaneously guide optical and acoustic waves in the technologically important silicon on insulator (SOI material system. Thin waveguides, or fins, exhibit geometrically softened mechanical modes at gigahertz frequencies with phase velocities below the Rayleigh velocity in glass, eliminating acoustic radiation losses. We propose slot waveguides on glass with telecom optical frequencies and strong radiation pressure forces resulting in Brillouin gains on the order of 500 and 50 000 W−1m−1 for backward and forward Brillouin scattering, respectively.

A pile-up phenomenon during arsenic diffusion in silicon-on-insulator structures formed by oxygen implantation

Science.gov (United States)

Normand, P.; Tsoukalas, D.; Guillemot, N.; Chenevier, P.

1989-10-01

Arsenic diffusion in silicon-on-insulator formed by deep oxygen implantation is studied by secondary ion mass spectroscopy and speading resistance measurements. An enhanced diffusivity as well as a pile-up phenomenon are observed in the thin silicon layer. The McNabb and Foster equations [Trans. TMS-AIME 22, 618 (1963)] for diffusion with trapping are solved in order to simulate this last effect.

Large-size, high-uniformity, random silver nanowire networks as transparent electrodes for crystalline silicon wafer solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Shouyi; Ouyang, Zi; Jia, Baohua; Gu, Min

2013-05-06

Metal nanowire networks are emerging as next generation transparent electrodes for photovoltaic devices. We demonstrate the application of random silver nanowire networks as the top electrode on crystalline silicon wafer solar cells. The dependence of transmittance and sheet resistance on the surface coverage is measured. Superior optical and electrical properties are observed due to the large-size, highly-uniform nature of these networks. When applying the nanowire networks on the solar cells with an optimized two-step annealing process, we achieved as large as 19% enhancement on the energy conversion efficiency. The detailed analysis reveals that the enhancement is mainly caused by the improved electrical properties of the solar cells due to the silver nanowire networks. Our result reveals that this technology is a promising alternative transparent electrode technology for crystalline silicon wafer solar cells.

Silicon coupled-ring resonator structures for slow light applications: potential, impairments and ultimate limits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canciamilla, A; Torregiani, M; Ferrari, C; Morichetti, F; Melloni, A; De La Rue, R M; Samarelli, A; Sorel, M

2010-01-01

Coupled-ring resonator-based slow light structures are reported and discussed. By combining the advantages of high index contrast silicon-on-insulator technology with an efficient thermo-optical activation, they provide an on-chip solution with a bandwidth of up to 100 GHz and a slowdown factor of up to 16, as well as a continuous reconfiguration scheme and a fine tunability. The performance of these devices is investigated in detail for both static and dynamic operation, in order to evaluate their potential in optical signal processing applications at high bit rate. The main impairments imposed by fabrication imperfections are also discussed in relation to the slowdown factor. In particular, the analysis of the impact of backscatter, disorder and two-photon absorption on the device transfer function reveals the ultimate limits of these structures and provides valuable design rules for their optimization

A high control bandwidth design method for aalborg inverter under weak grid condition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Weimin; Zhou, Cong; Wang, Houqin

2017-01-01

Aalborg Inverter is a kind of high efficient Buck-Boost inverter. Since it may work in “Buck-Boost” mode, the control bandwidth should be high enough to ensure a good performance under any grid condition. However, during the “Boost” operation, the control bandwidth depends much on the grid...

Demonstration of AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors with silicon-oxy-nitride as the gate insulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balachander, K.; Arulkumaran, S.; Egawa, T.; Sano, Y.; Baskar, K.

2005-01-01

AlGaN/GaN metal-oxide-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MOSHEMTs) were fabricated with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon oxy-nitride (SiON) as an insulating layer. The compositions of SiON thin films were confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The fabricated MOSHEMTs exhibited a very high saturation current density of 1.1 A/mm coupled with high positive operational gate voltage up to +7 V. The MOSHEMTs also exhibited four orders of low gate leakage current and high forward-on voltage when compared with the conventional HEMTs. The drain current collapse using gate pulse measurements showed only a negligible difference in the saturation current density revealing the drastic improvement in passivation of the surface states due to the high quality of dielectric thin films deposited. Thus, based on the improved direct-current operation, SiON can be considered to be a potential gate oxide comparable with other dielectric insulators

Helium ion beam induced electron emission from insulating silicon nitride films under charging conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Petrov, Yu. V.; Anikeva, A. E.; Vyvenko, O. F.

2018-06-01

Secondary electron emission from thin silicon nitride films of different thicknesses on silicon excited by helium ions with energies from 15 to 35 keV was investigated in the helium ion microscope. Secondary electron yield measured with Everhart-Thornley detector decreased with the irradiation time because of the charging of insulating films tending to zero or reaching a non-zero value for relatively thick or thin films, respectively. The finiteness of secondary electron yield value, which was found to be proportional to electronic energy losses of the helium ion in silicon substrate, can be explained by the electron emission excited from the substrate by the helium ions. The method of measurement of secondary electron energy distribution from insulators was suggested, and secondary electron energy distribution from silicon nitride was obtained.

Amorphous silicon as high index photonic material

Science.gov (United States)

Lipka, T.; Harke, A.; Horn, O.; Amthor, J.; Müller, J.

2009-05-01

Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) photonics has become an attractive research topic within the area of integrated optics. This paper aims to fabricate SOI-structures for optical communication applications with lower costs compared to standard fabrication processes as well as to provide a higher flexibility with respect to waveguide and substrate material choice. Amorphous silicon is deposited on thermal oxidized silicon wafers with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The material is optimized in terms of optical light transmission and refractive index. Different a-Si:H waveguides with low propagation losses are presented. The waveguides were processed with CMOS-compatible fabrication technologies and standard DUV-lithography enabling high volume production. To overcome the large mode-field diameter mismatch between incoupling fiber and sub-μm waveguides three dimensional, amorphous silicon tapers were fabricated with a KOH etched shadow mask for patterning. Using ellipsometric and Raman spectroscopic measurements the material properties as refractive index, layer thickness, crystallinity and material composition were analyzed. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) experiments of amorphous thin films and rib waveguides were performed aiming to tune the refractive index of the deposited a-Si:H waveguide core layer after deposition.

Monolayer graphene-insulator-semiconductor emitter for large-area electron lithography

Science.gov (United States)

Kirley, Matthew P.; Aloui, Tanouir; Glass, Jeffrey T.

2017-06-01

The rapid adoption of nanotechnology in fields as varied as semiconductors, energy, and medicine requires the continual improvement of nanopatterning tools. Lithography is central to this evolving nanotechnology landscape, but current production systems are subject to high costs, low throughput, or low resolution. Herein, we present a solution to these problems with the use of monolayer graphene in a graphene-insulator-semiconductor (GIS) electron emitter device for large-area electron lithography. Our GIS device displayed high emission efficiency (up to 13%) and transferred large patterns (500 × 500 μm) with high fidelity (industries and opening opportunities in nanomanufacturing.

Large-scale quantum photonic circuits in silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harris Nicholas C.

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Quantum information science offers inherently more powerful methods for communication, computation, and precision measurement that take advantage of quantum superposition and entanglement. In recent years, theoretical and experimental advances in quantum computing and simulation with photons have spurred great interest in developing large photonic entangled states that challenge today’s classical computers. As experiments have increased in complexity, there has been an increasing need to transition bulk optics experiments to integrated photonics platforms to control more spatial modes with higher fidelity and phase stability. The silicon-on-insulator (SOI nanophotonics platform offers new possibilities for quantum optics, including the integration of bright, nonclassical light sources, based on the large third-order nonlinearity (χ(3 of silicon, alongside quantum state manipulation circuits with thousands of optical elements, all on a single phase-stable chip. How large do these photonic systems need to be? Recent theoretical work on Boson Sampling suggests that even the problem of sampling from e30 identical photons, having passed through an interferometer of hundreds of modes, becomes challenging for classical computers. While experiments of this size are still challenging, the SOI platform has the required component density to enable low-loss and programmable interferometers for manipulating hundreds of spatial modes.

Influence of germanium on thermal dewetting and agglomeration of the silicon template layer in thin silicon-on-insulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, P P; Yang, B; Rugheimer, P P; Roberts, M M; Savage, D E; Lagally, M G; Liu Feng

2009-01-01

We investigate the influence of heteroepitaxially grown Ge on the thermal dewetting and agglomeration of the Si(0 0 1) template layer in ultrathin silicon-on-insulator (SOI). We show that increasing Ge coverage gradually destroys the long-range ordering of 3D nanocrystals along the (1 3 0) directions and the 3D nanocrystal shape anisotropy that are observed in the dewetting and agglomeration of pure SOI(0 0 1). The results are qualitatively explained by Ge-induced bond weakening and decreased surface energy anisotropy. Ge lowers the dewetting and agglomeration temperature to as low as 700 0 C.

Local sensor based on nanowire field effect transistor from inhomogeneously doped silicon on insulator

Science.gov (United States)

Presnov, Denis E.; Bozhev, Ivan V.; Miakonkikh, Andrew V.; Simakin, Sergey G.; Trifonov, Artem S.; Krupenin, Vladimir A.

2018-02-01

We present the original method for fabricating a sensitive field/charge sensor based on field effect transistor (FET) with a nanowire channel that uses CMOS-compatible processes only. A FET with a kink-like silicon nanowire channel was fabricated from the inhomogeneously doped silicon on insulator wafer very close (˜100 nm) to the extremely sharp corner of a silicon chip forming local probe. The single e-beam lithographic process with a shadow deposition technique, followed by separate two reactive ion etching processes, was used to define the narrow semiconductor nanowire channel. The sensors charge sensitivity was evaluated to be in the range of 0.1-0.2 e /√{Hz } from the analysis of their transport and noise characteristics. The proposed method provides a good opportunity for the relatively simple manufacture of a local field sensor for measuring the electrical field distribution, potential profiles, and charge dynamics for a wide range of mesoscopic objects. Diagnostic systems and devices based on such sensors can be used in various fields of physics, chemistry, material science, biology, electronics, medicine, etc.

The use of large area silicon sensors for thermal neutron detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schulte, R.L.; Swanson, F.; Kesselman, M.

1994-01-01

The use of large area planar silicon detectors coupled with gadolinium foils has been investigated to develop a thermal neutron detector having a large area-efficiency (Aε) product. Noise levels due to high detector capacitance limit the size of silicon detectors that can be utilized. Calculations using the Monte Carlo code, MCNP, have been made to determine the variation of intrinsic detection efficiency as a function of the discriminator threshold level required to eliminate the detector noise. Measurements of the noise levels for planar silicon detectors of various resistivities (400, 3000 and 5000 Ω cm) have been made and the optimal detector area-efficiency products have been determined. The response of a Si-Gd-Si sandwich detector with areas between 1 cm 2 and 10.5 cm 2 is presented and the effects of the detector capacitance and reverse current are discussed. ((orig.))

Disordered Nanohole Patterns in Metal-Insulator Multilayer for Ultra-broadband Light Absorption: Atomic Layer Deposition for Lithography Free Highly repeatable Large Scale Multilayer Growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghobadi, Amir; Hajian, Hodjat; Dereshgi, Sina Abedini; Bozok, Berkay; Butun, Bayram; Ozbay, Ekmel

2017-11-08

In this paper, we demonstrate a facile, lithography free, and large scale compatible fabrication route to synthesize an ultra-broadband wide angle perfect absorber based on metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) stack design. We first conduct a simulation and theoretical modeling approach to study the impact of different geometries in overall stack absorption. Then, a Pt-Al 2 O 3 multilayer is fabricated using a single atomic layer deposition (ALD) step that offers high repeatability and simplicity in the fabrication step. In the best case, we get an absorption bandwidth (BW) of 600 nm covering a range of 400 nm-1000 nm. A substantial improvement in the absorption BW is attained by incorporating a plasmonic design into the middle Pt layer. Our characterization results demonstrate that the best configuration can have absorption over 0.9 covering a wavelength span of 400 nm-1490 nm with a BW that is 1.8 times broader compared to that of planar design. On the other side, the proposed structure retains its absorption high at angles as wide as 70°. The results presented here can serve as a beacon for future performance enhanced multilayer designs where a simple fabrication step can boost the overall device response without changing its overall thickness and fabrication simplicity.

Physical processes in high field insulating liquid conduction

Science.gov (United States)

Mazarakis, Michael; Kiefer, Mark; Leckbee, Joshua; Anderson, Delmar; Wilkins, Frank; Obregon, Robert

2017-10-01

In the power grid transmission where a large amount of energy is transmitted to long distances, High Voltage DC (HVDC) transmission of up to 1MV becomes more attractive since is more efficient than the counterpart AC. However, two of the most difficult problems to solve are the cable connections to the high voltage power sources and their insulation from the ground. The insulating systems are usually composed of transformer oil and solid insulators. The oil behavior under HVDC is similar to that of a weak electrolyte. Its behavior under HVDC is dominated more by conductivity than dielectric constant. Space charge effects in the oil bulk near high voltage electrodes and impeded plastic insulators affect the voltage oil hold-off. We have constructed an experimental facility where we study the oil and plastic insulator behavior in an actual HVDC System. Experimental results will be presented and compared with the present understanding of the physics governing the oil behavior under very high electrical stresses. Sandia National Laboratories managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. D.O.E., NNSA under contract DE-NA-0003525.

High-efficiency power transfer for silicon-based photonic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Gyeongho; Yu, Kyoungsik

2018-02-01

We demonstrate an efficient coupling of guided light of 1550 nm from a standard single-mode optical fiber to a silicon waveguide using the finite-difference time-domain method and propose a fabrication method of tapered optical fibers for efficient power transfer to silicon-based photonic integrated circuits. Adiabatically-varying fiber core diameters with a small tapering angle can be obtained using the tube etching method with hydrofluoric acid and standard single-mode fibers covered by plastic jackets. The optical power transmission of the fundamental HE11 and TE-like modes between the fiber tapers and the inversely-tapered silicon waveguides was calculated with the finite-difference time-domain method to be more than 99% at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The proposed method for adiabatic fiber tapering can be applied in quantum optics, silicon-based photonic integrated circuits, and nanophotonics. Furthermore, efficient coupling within the telecommunication C-band is a promising approach for quantum networks in the future.

Silicon solar cells with high efficiencies. Final report; Silicium-Solarzellen mit hoechsten Wirkungsgraden. Abschlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wettling, W.; Knobloch, J.; Glunz, S.W.; Henninger, V.; Kamerewerd, F.J.; Koester, B.; Leimenstoll, A.; Schaeffer, E.; Schumacher, J.; Sterk, S.; Warta, W.

1996-06-01

In this report the basic activities for the development of the silicon high efficiency solar cell technology are described. The project had two main goals: (i) The improvement of efficiencies using a systematic optimization of all cell parameters and technology steps and (ii) the simplification of the technology towards the possibilities of an industrial production, keeping the cell efficiency at a high level. Starting from the LBSF technology, developed at Fraunhofer ISE, the reduction of all loss mechanisms led to efficiencies up to 22.5% on FZ-silicon. Using a modification of this technology efficiencies of up to 21.7% have been reached on Cz-silicon. Even after the reduction of the number of photolithographic steps from six to three efficiencies up to 21.6% on FZ- and 19.5% on Cz-silicon have been obtained. These are best values in an international comparison. (orig.) [Deutsch] In diesem Projektbericht werden grundlegende Arbeiten zur Entwicklung der Silicium-`Highefficiency`-Solarzellentechnologie beschrieben. Das Projekt hatte zwei Hauptziele: (i) Die Erhoehung der Wirkungsgrade durch eine systematische Optimierung aller Zellparameter und aller Technologieschritte und (ii) die Vereinfachung der Technologie unter Beibehaltung sehr hoher Wirkungsgrade mit dem Ziel einer Annaeherung an die Moeglichkeiten der Industriefertigung. Ausgehend von der im Fraunhofer ISE entwickelten LBSF-Technologie gelang es durch Reduzierung aller Verlustmechanismen, Wirkungsgrade bis zu 22.5% auf FZ-Silicium zu erreichen. Nach Anpassung der Technologie wurden auf Cz-Silicium Wirkungsgrade bis 21.7% erzielt. Ein von sechs auf drei Fotomaskenschritte reduzierter Prozess erzielte immerhin noch Werte bis 21.6% auf FZ- und 19.5% auf Cz-Material. Alle dieser Werte stellen im internationalen Vergleich Spitzenleistungen dar. (orig.)

Impact of crystal orientation on the modulation bandwidth of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Monavarian, M.; Rashidi, A.; Aragon, A. A.; Oh, S. H.; Rishinaramangalam, A. K.; DenBaars, S. P.; Feezell, D.

2018-01-01

High-speed InGaN/GaN blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are needed for future gigabit-per-second visible-light communication systems. Large LED modulation bandwidths are typically achieved at high current densities, with reports close to 1 GHz bandwidth at current densities ranging from 5 to 10 kA/cm2. However, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of InGaN/GaN LEDs is quite low at high current densities due to the well-known efficiency droop phenomenon. Here, we show experimentally that nonpolar and semipolar orientations of GaN enable higher modulation bandwidths at low current densities where the IQE is expected to be higher and power dissipation is lower. We experimentally compare the modulation bandwidth vs. current density for LEDs on nonpolar (10 1 ¯ 0 ), semipolar (20 2 ¯ 1 ¯) , and polar (" separators="|0001 ) orientations. In agreement with wavefunction overlap considerations, the experimental results indicate a higher modulation bandwidth for the nonpolar and semipolar LEDs, especially at relatively low current densities. At 500 A/cm2, the nonpolar LED has a 3 dB bandwidth of ˜1 GHz, while the semipolar and polar LEDs exhibit bandwidths of 260 MHz and 75 MHz, respectively. A lower carrier density for a given current density is extracted from the RF measurements for the nonpolar and semipolar LEDs, consistent with the higher wavefunction overlaps in these orientations. At large current densities, the bandwidth of the polar LED approaches that of the nonpolar and semipolar LEDs due to coulomb screening of the polarization field. The results support using nonpolar and semipolar orientations to achieve high-speed LEDs at low current densities.

Space and military radiation effects in silicon-on-insulator devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwank, J.R.

1996-09-01

Advantages in transient ionizing and single-event upset (SEU) radiation hardness of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology spurred much of its early development. Both of these advantages are a direct result of the reduced charge collection volume inherent to SOI technology. The fact that SOI transistor structures do not include parasitic n-p-n-p paths makes them immune to latchup. Even though considerable improvement in transient and single-event radiation hardness can be obtained by using SOI technology, there are some attributes of SOI devices and circuits that tend to limit their overall hardness. These attributes include the bipolar effect that can ultimately reduce the hardness of SOI ICs to SEU and transient ionizing radiation, and charge buildup in buried and sidewall oxides that can degrade the total-dose hardness of SOI devices. Nevertheless, high-performance SOI circuits can be fabricated that are hardened to both space and nuclear radiation environments, and radiation-hardened systems remain an active market for SOI devices. The effects of radiation on SOI MOS devices are reviewed

A silicon-on-insulator vertical nanogap device for electrical transport measurements in aqueous electrolyte solution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strobel, Sebastian [Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Am Coulombwall, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Arinaga, Kenji [Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Am Coulombwall, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Hansen, Allan [Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Am Coulombwall, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Tornow, Marc [Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Am Coulombwall, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

2007-07-25

A novel concept for metal electrodes with few 10 nm separation for electrical conductance measurements in an aqueous electrolyte environment is presented. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material with 10 nm buried silicon dioxide serves as a base substrate for the formation of SOI plateau structures which, after recess-etching the thin oxide layer, thermal oxidation and subsequent metal thin film evaporation, feature vertically oriented nanogap electrodes at their exposed sidewalls. During fabrication only standard silicon process technology without any high-resolution nanolithographic techniques is employed. The vertical concept allows an array-like parallel processing of many individual devices on the same substrate chip. As analysed by cross-sectional TEM analysis the devices exhibit a well-defined material layer architecture, determined by the chosen material thicknesses and process parameters. To investigate the device in aqueous solution, we passivated the sample surface by a polymer layer, leaving a micrometre-size fluid access window to the nanogap region only. First current-voltage characteristics of a 65 nm gap device measured in 60 mM buffer solution reveal excellent electrical isolation behaviour which suggests applications in the field of biomolecular electronics in a natural environment.

Ultra-thin silicon (UTSi) on insulator CMOS transceiver and time-division multiplexed switch chips for smart pixel integration

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Liping; Sawchuk, Alexander A.

2001-12-01

We describe the design, fabrication and functionality of two different 0.5 micron CMOS optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) chips based on the Peregrine Semiconductor Ultra-Thin Silicon on insulator technology. The Peregrine UTSi silicon- on-sapphire (SOS) technology is a member of the silicon-on- insulator (SOI) family. The low-loss synthetic sapphire substrate is optically transparent and has good thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion properties, which meet the requirements for flip-chip bonding of VCSELs and other optoelectronic input-output components. One chip contains transceiver and network components, including four channel high-speed CMOS transceiver modules, pseudo-random bit stream (PRBS) generators, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and other test circuits. The transceiver chips can operate in both self-testing mode and networking mode. An on- chip clock and true-single-phase-clock (TSPC) D-flip-flop have been designed to generate a PRBS at over 2.5 Gb/s for the high-speed transceiver arrays to operate in self-testing mode. In the networking mode, an even number of transceiver chips forms a ring network through free-space or fiber ribbon interconnections. The second chip contains four channel optical time-division multiplex (TDM) switches, optical transceiver arrays, an active pixel detector and additional test devices. The eventual applications of these chips will require monolithic OEICs with integrated optical input and output. After fabrication and testing, the CMOS transceiver array dies will be packaged with 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), and metal-semiconductor- metal (MSM) or GaAs p-i-n detector die arrays to achieve high- speed optical interconnections. The hybrid technique could be either wire bonding or flip-chip bonding of the CMOS SOS smart-pixel arrays with arrays of VCSELs and photodetectors onto an optoelectronic chip carrier as a multi-chip module (MCM).

High-speed 2 × 2 silicon-based electro-optic switch with nanosecond switch time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xue-Jun, Xu; Shao-Wu, Chen; Hai-Hua, Xu; Yang, Sun; Yu-De, Yu; Jin-Zhong, Yu; Qi-Ming, Wang

2009-01-01

A 2 × 2 electro-optic switch is experimentally demonstrated using the optical structure of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a submicron rib waveguide and the electrical structure of a PIN diode on silicon-on-insulator (SOI). The switch behaviour is achieved through the plasma dispersion effect of silicon. The device has a modulation arm of 1 mm in length and cross-section of 400 nm×340 nm. The measurement results show that the switch has a V π L π figure of merit of 0.145 V·cm and the extinction ratios of two output ports and cross talk are 40 dB, 28 dB and −28 dB, respectively. A 3 dB modulation bandwidth of 90 MHz and a switch time of 6.8 ns for the rise edge and 2.7 ns for the fall edge are also demonstrated

Design and Fabrication of Silicon-on-Silicon-Carbide Substrates and Power Devices for Space Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gammon P.M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A new generation of power electronic semiconductor devices are being developed for the benefit of space and terrestrial harsh-environment applications. 200-600 V lateral transistors and diodes are being fabricated in a thin layer of silicon (Si wafer bonded to silicon carbide (SiC. This novel silicon-on-silicon-carbide (Si/SiC substrate solution promises to combine the benefits of silicon-on-insulator (SOI technology (i.e device confinement, radiation tolerance, high and low temperature performance with that of SiC (i.e. high thermal conductivity, radiation hardness, high temperature performance. Details of a process are given that produces thin films of silicon 1, 2 and 5 μm thick on semi-insulating 4H-SiC. Simulations of the hybrid Si/SiC substrate show that the high thermal conductivity of the SiC offers a junction-to-case temperature ca. 4× less that an equivalent SOI device; reducing the effects of self-heating, and allowing much greater power density. Extensive electrical simulations are used to optimise a 600 V laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (LDMOSFET implemented entirely within the silicon thin film, and highlight the differences between Si/SiC and SOI solutions.

Micro knife-edge optical measurement device in a silicon-on-insulator substrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Yi; Pan, Jiun-Hung

2007-05-14

The knife-edge method is a commonly used technique to characterize the optical profiles of laser beams or focused spots. In this paper, we present a micro knife-edge scanner fabricated in a silicon-on-insulator substrate using the micro-electromechanical-system technology. A photo detector can be fabricated in the device to allow further integration with on-chip signal conditioning circuitry. A novel backside deep reactive ion etching process is proposed to solve the residual stress effect due to the buried oxide layer. Focused optical spot profile measurement is demonstrated.

Accelerated life test of an ONO stacked insulator film for a silicon micro-strip detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okuno, Shoji; Ikeda, Hirokazu; Saitoh, Yutaka

1996-01-01

We have used to acquire the signal through an integrated capacitor for a silicon micro-strip detector. When we have been using a double-sided silicon micro-strip detector, we have required a long-term stability and a high feasibility for the integrated capacitor. An oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) insulator film was theoretically expected to have a superior nature in terms of long term reliability. In order to test long term reliability for integrated capacitor of a silicon micro-strip detector, we made a multi-channel measuring system for capacitors

Proceedings of the Flat-Plate Solar Array Project Workshop on Crystal Gowth for High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Dumas, K. A. (Editor)

1985-01-01

A Workshop on Crystal Growth for High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells was held December 3 and 4, 1984, in San Diego, California. The Workshop offered a day and a half of technical presentations and discussions and an afternoon session that involved a panel discussion and general discussion of areas of research that are necessary to the development of materials for high-efficiency solar cells. Topics included the theoretical and experimental aspects of growing high-quality silicon crystals, the effects of growth-process-related defects on photovoltaic devices, and the suitability of various growth technologies as cost-effective processes. Fifteen invited papers were presented, with a discussion period following each presentation. The meeting was organized by the Flat-Plate Solar Array Project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These Proceedings are a record of the presentations and discussions, edited for clarity and continuity.

The use of large area silicon sensors for thermal neutron detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schulte, R.L. (Research and Development Center, Mail Stop: A01-26, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Bethpage, NY 11714 (United States)); Swanson, F. (Research and Development Center, Mail Stop: A01-26, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Bethpage, NY 11714 (United States)); Kesselman, M. (Research and Development Center, Mail Stop: A01-26, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Bethpage, NY 11714 (United States))

1994-12-30

The use of large area planar silicon detectors coupled with gadolinium foils has been investigated to develop a thermal neutron detector having a large area-efficiency (A[epsilon]) product. Noise levels due to high detector capacitance limit the size of silicon detectors that can be utilized. Calculations using the Monte Carlo code, MCNP, have been made to determine the variation of intrinsic detection efficiency as a function of the discriminator threshold level required to eliminate the detector noise. Measurements of the noise levels for planar silicon detectors of various resistivities (400, 3000 and 5000 [Omega] cm) have been made and the optimal detector area-efficiency products have been determined. The response of a Si-Gd-Si sandwich detector with areas between 1 cm[sup 2] and 10.5 cm[sup 2] is presented and the effects of the detector capacitance and reverse current are discussed. ((orig.))

An integrated optic ethanol vapor sensor based on a silicon-on-insulator microring resonator coated with a porous ZnO film.

Science.gov (United States)

Yebo, Nebiyu A; Lommens, Petra; Hens, Zeger; Baets, Roel

2010-05-24

Optical structures fabricated on silicon-on-insulator technology provide a convenient platform for the implementation of highly compact, versatile and low cost devices. In this work, we demonstrate the promise of this technology for integrated low power and low cost optical gas sensing. A room temperature ethanol vapor sensor is demonstrated using a ZnO nanoparticle film as a coating on an SOI micro-ring resonator of 5 microm in radius. The local coating on the ring resonators is prepared from colloidal suspensions of ZnO nanoparticles of around 3 nm diameter. The porous nature of the coating provides a large surface area for gas adsorption. The ZnO refractive index change upon vapor adsorption shifts the microring resonance through evanescent field interaction. Ethanol vapor concentrations down to 100 ppm are detected with this sensing configuration and a detection limit below 25 ppm is estimated.

Silicon hybrid integration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xianyao; Yuan Taonu; Shao Shiqian; Shi Zujun; Wang Yi; Yu Yude; Yu Jinzhong

2011-01-01

Recently,much attention has concentrated on silicon based photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which provide a cost-effective solution for high speed, wide bandwidth optical interconnection and optical communication.To integrate III-V compounds and germanium semiconductors on silicon substrates,at present there are two kinds of manufacturing methods, i.e., heteroepitaxy and bonding. Low-temperature wafer bonding which can overcome the high growth temperature, lattice mismatch,and incompatibility of thermal expansion coefficients during heteroepitaxy, has offered the possibility for large-scale heterogeneous integration. In this paper, several commonly used bonding methods are reviewed, and the future trends of low temperature wafer bonding envisaged. (authors)

A Difference in Using Atomic Layer Deposition or Physical Vapour Deposition TiN as Electrode Material in Metal-Insulator-Metal and Metal-Insulator-Silicon Capacitors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groenland, A.W.; Wolters, Robertus A.M.; Kovalgin, Alexeij Y.; Schmitz, Jurriaan

2011-01-01

In this work, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and metal-insulator-silicon (MIS) capacitors are studied using titanium nitride (TiN) as the electrode material. The effect of structural defects on the electrical properties on MIS and MIM capacitors is studied for various electrode configurations. In the

AlGaAs-On-Insulator Nanowire with 750 nm FWM Bandwidth, -9 dB CW Conversion Efficiency, and Ultrafast Operation Enabling Record Tbaud Wavelength Conversion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Ottaviano, Luisa; Semenova, Elizaveta

2015-01-01

We present an AlGaAs-on-insulator platform for integrated nonlinear photonics. We demonstrate the highest reported conversion efficiency/length/pump-power, ultra-broadband fourwave mixing, and first-ever wavelength conversion of 1.28-Tbaud serial data signals in a 3-mm long dispersion-engineered AlGa...

Natural Contamination and Surface Flashover on Silicone Rubber Surface under Haze–Fog Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ang Ren

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Anti-pollution flashover of insulator is important for power systems. In recent years, haze-fog weather occurs frequently, which makes discharge occurs easily on the insulator surface and accelerates insulation aging of insulator. In order to study the influence of haze-fog on the surface discharge of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber, an artificial haze-fog lab was established. Based on four consecutive years of insulator contamination accumulation and atmospheric sampling in haze-fog environment, the contamination configuration appropriate for RTV-coated surface discharge test under simulation environment of haze-fog was put forward. ANSYS Maxwell was used to analyze the influence of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface attachments on electric field distribution. The changes of droplet on the polluted room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface and the corresponding surface flashover voltage under alternating current (AC, direct current (DC positive polar (+, and DC negative polar (− power source were recorded by a high speed camera. The results are as follows: The main ion components from haze-fog atmospheric particles are NO3−, SO42−, NH4+, and Ca2+. In haze-fog environment, both the equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD and non-soluble deposit density (NSDD of insulators are higher than that under general environment. The amount of large particles on the AC transmission line is greater than that of the DC transmission line. The influence of DC polarity power source on the distribution of contamination particle size is not significant. After the deposition of haze-fog, the local conductivity of the room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface increased, which caused the flashover voltage reduce. Discharge is liable to occur at the triple junction point of droplet, air, and room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface. After the deformation or movement of droplets, a new triple junction

Trade-off between bandwidth and efficiency in semipolar (20 2 ¯ 1 ¯) InGaN/GaN single- and multiple-quantum-well light-emitting diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Monavarian, M.; Rashidi, A.; Aragon, A. A.; Nami, M.; Oh, S. H.; DenBaars, S. P.; Feezell, D.

2018-05-01

InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with large modulation bandwidths are desirable for visible-light communication. Along with modulation speed, the consideration of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) under operating conditions is also important. Here, we report the modulation characteristics of semipolar (20 2 ¯ 1 ¯ ) InGaN/GaN (LEDs) with single-quantum well (SQW) and multiple-quantum-well (MQW) active regions grown on free-standing semipolar GaN substrates with peak internal quantum efficiencies (IQEs) of 0.93 and 0.73, respectively. The MQW LEDs exhibit on average about 40-80% higher modulation bandwidth, reaching 1.5 GHz at 13 kA/cm2, but about 27% lower peak IQE than the SQW LEDs. We extract the differential carrier lifetimes (DLTs), RC parasitics, and carrier escape lifetimes and discuss their role in the bandwidth and IQE characteristics. A coulomb-enhanced capture process is shown to rapidly reduce the DLT of the MQW LED at high current densities. Auger recombination is also shown to play little role in increasing the speed of the LEDs. Finally, we investigate the trade-offs between the bandwidth and efficiency and introduce the bandwidth-IQE product as a potential figure of merit for optimizing speed and efficiency in InGaN/GaN LEDs.

Fully etched apodized grating coupler on the SOI platform with −058 dB coupling efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ding, Yunhong; Peucheret, Christophe; Ou, Haiyan

2014-01-01

We design and fabricate an ultrahigh coupling efficiency (CE) fully etched apodized grating coupler on the silicon- on-insulator (SOI) platform using subwavelength photonic crystals and bonded aluminum mirror. Fabrication error sensitivity andcoupling angle dependence are experimentally investiga......We design and fabricate an ultrahigh coupling efficiency (CE) fully etched apodized grating coupler on the silicon- on-insulator (SOI) platform using subwavelength photonic crystals and bonded aluminum mirror. Fabrication error sensitivity andcoupling angle dependence are experimentally...

HOLE-BLOCKING LAYERS FOR SILICON/ORGANIC HETEROJUNCTIONS: A NEW CLASS OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY LOW-COST PV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sturm, James [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

2017-12-04

This project is the first investigation of the use of thin titanium dioxide layers on silicon as a hole-blocking / electron-transparent selective contact to silicon. The work was motivated by the goal of a high-efficiency low-cost silicon-based solar cells that could be processed entirely at low temperature (300 Degree Celsius) or less, without requiring plasma-processing.

Using silicon nanostructures for the improvement of silicon solar cells' efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torre, J. de la; Bremond, G.; Lemiti, M.; Guillot, G.; Mur, P.; Buffet, N.

2006-01-01

Silicon nanostructures (ns-Si) show interesting optical and electrical properties as a result of the band gap widening caused by quantum confinement effects. Along with their potential utilization for silicon-based light emitters' fabrication, they could also represent an appealing option for the improvement of energy conversion efficiency in silicon-based solar cells whether by using their luminescence properties (photon down-conversion) or the excess photocurrent produced by an improved high-energy photon's absorption. In this work, we report on the morphological and optical studies of non-stoichiometric silica (SiO x ) and silicon nitride (SiN x ) layers containing silicon nanostructures (ns-Si) in view of their application for solar cell's efficiency improvement. The morphological studies of the samples performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) unambiguously show the presence of ns-Si in a crystalline form for high temperature-annealed SiO x layers and for low temperature deposition of SiN x layers. The photoluminescence emission (PL) shows a rather high efficiency in both kind of layers with an intensity of only a factor ∼ 100 lower than that of porous silicon (pi-Si). The photocurrent spectroscopy (PC) shows a significant increase of absorption at high photon energy excitation most probably related to photon absorption within ns-Si quantized states. Moreover, the absorption characteristics obtained from PC spectra show a good agreement with the PL emission states unambiguously demonstrating a same origin, related to Q-confined excitons within ns-Si. Finally, the major asset of this material is the possibility to incorporate it to solar cells manufacturing processing for an insignificant cost

Development of High Efficiency Four-Terminal Perovskite-Silicon Tandems

Science.gov (United States)

Duong, The Duc

This thesis is concerned with the development of high efficiency four-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with the potential to reduce the cost of solar energy. The work focuses on perovskite top cells and can be divided into three main parts: developing low parasitic absorption and efficient semi-transparent perovskite cells, doping perovskite materials with rubidium, and optimizing perovskite material's bandgap with quadruple-cation and mixed-halide. A further section investigates the light stability of optimized bandgap perovskite cells. In a four-terminal mechanically stacked tandem, the perovskite top cell requires two transparent contacts at both the front and rear sides. Through detailed optical and electrical power loss analysis of the tandem efficiency due to non-ideal properties of the two transparent contacts, optimal contact parameters in term of sheet resistance and transparency are identified. Indium doped tin oxide by sputtering is used for both two transparent contacts and their deposition parameters are optimized separately. The semi-transparent perovskite cell using MAPbI3 has an efficiency of more than 12% with less than 12% parasitic absorption and up to 80% transparency in the long wavelength region. Using a textured foil as anti-reflection coating, an outstanding average transparency of 84% in the long wavelength is obtained. The low parasitic absorption allows an opaque version of the semi-transparent perovskite cell to operate efficiently in a filterless spectrum splitting perovskite-silicon tandem configuration. To further enhance the performance of perovskite cells, it is essential to improve the quality of perovskite films. This can be achieved with mixed-perovskite FAPbI3/MAPbBr3. However, mixed-perovskite films normally contain small a small amount of a non-perovskite phase, which is detrimental for the cell performance. Rb-doping is found to eliminate the formation of the non-perovskite phase and enhance the crystallinity of

Forming of nanocrystal silicon films by implantation of high dose of H+ in layers of silicon on isolator and following fast thermal annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tyschenko, I.E.; Popov, V.P.; Talochkin, A.B.; Gutakovskij, A.K.; Zhuravlev, K.S.

2004-01-01

Formation of nanocrystalline silicon films during rapid thermal annealing of the high-dose H + ion implanted silicon-on-insulator structures was studied. It was found, that Si nanocrystals had formed alter annealings at 300-400 deg C, their formation being strongly limited by the hydrogen content in silicon and also by the annealing time. It was supposed that the nucleation of crystalline phase occurred inside the silicon islands between micropores. It is conditioned by ordering Si-Si bonds as hydrogen atoms are leaving their sites in silicon network. No coalescence of micropores takes place during the rapid thermal annealing at the temperatures up to ∼ 900 deg C. Green-orange photoluminescence was observed on synthesized films at room temperature [ru

Silicon photonics fiber-to-the-home transceiver array based on transfer-printing-based integration of III-V photodetectors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing; De Groote, Andreas; Abbasi, Amin; Loi, Ruggero; O'Callaghan, James; Corbett, Brian; Trindade, António José; Bower, Christopher A; Roelkens, Gunther

2017-06-26

A 4-channel silicon photonics transceiver array for Point-to-Point (P2P) fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) optical networks at the central office (CO) side is demonstrated. A III-V O-band photodetector array was integrated onto the silicon photonic transmitter through transfer printing technology, showing a polarization-independent responsivity of 0.39 - 0.49 A/W in the O-band. The integrated PDs (30 × 40 μm 2 mesa) have a 3 dB bandwidth of 11.5 GHz at -3 V bias. Together with high-speed C-band silicon ring modulators whose bandwidth is up to 15 GHz, operation of the transceiver array at 10 Gbit/s is demonstrated. The use of transfer printing for the integration of the III-V photodetectors allows for an efficient use of III-V material and enables the scalable integration of III-V devices on silicon photonics wafers, thereby reducing their cost.

Record high efficiency of screen-printed silicon aluminum back surface field solar cell: 20.29%

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ki Hyung; Park, Chang Sub; Doo Lee, Jae; Youb Lim, Jong; Yeon, Je Min; Kim, Il Hwan; Lee, Eun Joo; Cho, Young Hyun

2017-08-01

We have achieved a record high cell efficiency of 20.29% for an industrial 6-in. p-type monocrystalline silicon solar cell with a full-area aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) by simply modifying the cell structure and optimizing the process with the existing cell production line. The cell efficiency was independently confirmed by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). To increase the cell efficiency, for example, in four busbars, double printing, a lightly doped emitter with a sheet resistance of 90 to 100 Ω/□, and front surface passivation by using silicon oxynitride (SiON) on top of a silicon nitride (SiN x ) antireflection layer were adopted. To optimize front side processing, PC1D simulation was carried out prior to cell fabrication. The resulting efficiency gain is 0.64% compared with that in the reference cells with three busbars, a single antireflection coating layer, and a low-sheet-resistance emitter.

Silicon-on-insulator-based polarization-independent 1×3 broadband beam splitter with adiabatic coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Yuanhao; Liu, Lei; Chang, Limin; Li, Zhiyong; Tan, Manqing; Yu, Yude

2017-10-01

We propose and numerically simulate a polarization-independent 1×3 broadband beam splitter based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology with adiabatic coupling. The designed structure is simulated by beam-propagation-method (BPM) and gets simulated transmission uniformity of three outputs better than 0.3dB for TE-polarization and 0.8dB for TM-polarization in a broadband of 180nm.

Ultracompact on-chip photothermal power monitor based on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Hao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We propose and demonstrate an ultracompact on-chip photothermal power monitor based on a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPWG, which consists of a metal strip, a silicon core, and a silicon oxide (SiO2 insulator layer between them. When light injected to an HPWG is absorbed by the metal strip, the temperature increases and the resistance of the metal strip changes accordingly due to the photothermal and thermal resistance effects of the metal. Therefore, the optical power variation can be monitored by measuring the resistance of the metal strip on the HPWG. To obtain the electrical signal for the resistance measurement conveniently, a Wheatstone bridge circuit is monolithically integrated with the HPWG on the same chip. As the HPWG has nanoscale light confinement, the present power monitor is as short as ~3 μm, which is the smallest photothermal power monitor reported until now. The compactness helps to improve the thermal efficiency and the response speed. For the present power monitor fabricated with simple fabrication processes, the measured responsivity is as high as about 17.7 mV/mW at a bias voltage of 2 V and the power dynamic range is as large as 35 dB.

Modelling of a DBR laser based on Raman effect in a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Leonardis, Francesco; Dimastrodonato, Valeria; Passaro, Vittorio M N

2008-01-01

In this paper, third-order nonlinearities in silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides are investigated to obtain complete modelling, describing the behaviour of a stimulated Raman scattering based laser. The simulations of a distributed Bragg reflector laser operation in a time domain allow for the first time to study in detail the dependence of threshold and output powers on different device parameters. Both continuous wave and pulsed laser operations are theoretically demonstrated, as well as their dependence on device parameters

Thin-film piezoelectric-on-silicon resonators for high-frequency reference oscillator applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdolvand, Reza; Lavasani, Hossein M; Ho, Gavin K; Ayazi, Farrokh

2008-12-01

This paper studies the application of lateral bulk acoustic thin-film piezoelectric-on-substrate (TPoS) resonators in high-frequency reference oscillators. Low-motional-impedance TPoS resonators are designed and fabricated in 2 classes--high-order and coupled-array. Devices of each class are used to assemble reference oscillators and the performance characteristics of the oscillators are measured and discussed. Since the motional impedance of these devices is small, the transimpedance amplifier (TIA) in the oscillator loop can be reduced to a single transistor and 3 resistors, a format that is very power-efficient. The lowest reported power consumption is approximately 350 microW for an oscillator operating at approximately 106 MHz. A passive temperature compensation method is also utilized by including the buried oxide layer of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate in the structural resonant body of the device, and a very small (-2.4 ppm/ degrees C) temperature coefficient of frequency is obtained for an 82-MHz oscillator.

Large aperture deformable mirror with a transferred single-crystal silicon membrane actuated using large-stroke PZT Unimorph Actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Hishinumat, Yoshikazu; Yang, Eui - Hyeok (EH)

2005-01-01

We have demonstrated a large aperture (50 mm x 50 mm) continuous membrane deformable mirror (DM) with a large-stroke piezoelectric unimorph actuator array. The DM consists of a continuous, large aperture, silicon membrane 'transferred' in its entirety onto a 20 x 20 piezoelectric unimorph actuator array. A PZT unimorph actuator, 2.5 mm in diameter with optimized PZT/Si thickness and design showed a deflection of 5.7 [m at 20V. An assembled DM showed an operating frequency bandwidth of 30 kHz and influence function of approximately 30%.

High-Power and High-Efficiency 1.3- µm Superluminescent Diode With Flat-Top and Ultrawide Emission Bandwidth

KAUST Repository

Khan, Mohammed Zahed Mustafa; Alhashim, Hala H.; Ng, Tien Khee; Ooi, Boon S.

2015-01-01

We report on a flat-top and ultrawide emission bandwidth of 125 nm from InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum-well (MQW) superluminescent diode with antireflection coated and tilted ridge-waveguide device configuration. A total output power in excess of 70 mW with an average power spectral density of 0.56 mW/nm and spectral ripple ≤ 1.2 ± 0.5 dB is measured from the device. Wall-plug efficiency and output power as high as 14% and 80 mW, respectively, is demonstrated from this batch of devices. We attribute the broad emission to the inherent inhomogeneity of the electron-heavy-hole (e-hh) and electron-light-hole (e-lh) recombination of the ground state and the first excited state of the MQWs and their simultaneous emission.

High-Power and High-Efficiency 1.3- µm Superluminescent Diode With Flat-Top and Ultrawide Emission Bandwidth

KAUST Repository

Khan, Mohammed Zahed Mustafa

2015-02-01

We report on a flat-top and ultrawide emission bandwidth of 125 nm from InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum-well (MQW) superluminescent diode with antireflection coated and tilted ridge-waveguide device configuration. A total output power in excess of 70 mW with an average power spectral density of 0.56 mW/nm and spectral ripple ≤ 1.2 ± 0.5 dB is measured from the device. Wall-plug efficiency and output power as high as 14% and 80 mW, respectively, is demonstrated from this batch of devices. We attribute the broad emission to the inherent inhomogeneity of the electron-heavy-hole (e-hh) and electron-light-hole (e-lh) recombination of the ground state and the first excited state of the MQWs and their simultaneous emission.

An investigation into the use of large area silicon semiconductors in microwave systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holliday, H.R.

1999-09-01

Semiconductor microwave devices are usually manufactured using micron or sub-micron geometries. The equipment needed for these techniques has a high capital cost and demands high overheads. The material traditionally processed for microwave applications is gallium arsenide but during the period of this investigation a move towards the use of silicon and silicon germanium has emerged. This study, which is essentially practical, covers a range of new ideas for components using large area silicon devices. In the course of the study considerable progress has also been made in the understanding of the behaviour of silicon at microwave frequencies, and some of the initial Concepts were shown to be invalid. An accurate determination of the dielectric constant of silicon has been made using quasi optical techniques at microwave frequencies. The fabrication techniques described originate from methods used at Q-par Angus to manufacture large area silicon nuclear radiation detectors. Developed at the University of Birmingham, these are 'wet chemistry' methods that preclude the need for diffusion or other conventional semiconductor processing techniques. Novel microwave components have been developed using these techniques. These include an optically controlled attenuator with multioctave bandwidth and good dynamic range; window devices to reduce the radar cross section of microwave antennas; and microwave cavity devices including a variable-Q cavity. Concepts for millimeter wave filters are discussed, as are areas for further research. During the attenuator study Wheeler's equations have been extended to cover truncated microstrip. It was observed at an early stage in the work that optical excitation was very effective as a method of controlling the devices. This fits well with current trends in electro-optical devices. The piezo resistance effect in silicon has been briefly investigated and a mechanical attenuator exploiting this effect has been developed. (author)

High-Efficiency Volume Reflection of an Ultrarelativistic Proton Beam with a Bent Silicon Crystal

CERN Document Server

Scandale, Walter; Carnera, Alberto; Della Mea, Gianantonio; De Salvador, Davide; Milan, Riccardo; Vomiero, Alberto; Baricordi, Stefano; Dalpiaz, Pietro; Fiorini, Massimiliano; Guidi, Vincenzo; Martinelli,Giuliano; Mazzolari, Andrea; Milan, Emiliano; Ambrosi, Giovanni; Azzarello, Philipp; Battiston, Roberto; Bertucci, Bruna; Burger, William J; Ionica, Maria; Zuccon, Paolo; Cavoto, Gianluca; Santacesaria, Roberta; Valente, Paolo; Vallazza, Erik; Afonin, Alexander G; Baranov, Vladimir T; Chesnokov, Yury A; Kotov, Vladilen I; Maisheev, Vladimir A; Yaznin, Igor A; Afansiev, Sergey V; Kovalenko, Alexander D; Taratin, Alexander M; Denisov, Alexander S; Gavrikov, Yury A; Ivanov, Yuri M; Ivochkin, Vladimir G; Kosyanenko, Sergey V; Petrunin, Anatoli A; Skorobogatov, Vyacheslav V; Suvorov, Vsevolod M; Bolognini, Davide; Foggetta,Luca; Hasan, Said; Prest, Michela

2007-01-01

The volume reflection phenomenon was detected while investigating 400 GeV proton interactions with bent silicon crystals in the external beam H8 of the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Such a process was observed for a wide interval of crystal orientations relative to the beam axis, and its efficiency exceeds 95%, thereby surpassing any previously observed value. These observations suggest new perspectives for the manipulation of high-energy beams, e.g., for collimation and extraction in new-generation hadron colliders, such as the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

BECSI: Bandwidth Efficient Certificate Status Information Distribution Mechanism for VANETs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Gañán

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Certificate revocation is a challenging task, especiallyin mobile network environments such as vehicular ad Hoc networks (VANETs.According to the IEEE 1609.2 security standard for VANETs, public keyinfrastructure (PKI will provide this functionality by means of certificate revocation lists (CRLs.When a certificate authority (CAneeds to revoke a certificate, itglobally distributes CRLs.Transmitting these lists pose a problem as they require high update frequencies and a lot of bandwidth. In this article, we propose BECSI, aBandwidth Efficient Certificate Status Informationmechanism to efficiently distributecertificate status information (CSI in VANETs.By means of Merkle hash trees (MHT, BECSI allowsto retrieve authenticated CSI not onlyfrom the infrastructure but also from vehicles actingas mobile repositories.Since these MHTs are significantly smaller than the CRLs, BECSIreduces the load on the CSI repositories and improves the response time for the vehicles.Additionally, BECSI improves the freshness of the CSIby combining the use of delta-CRLs with MHTs.Thus, vehicles that have cached the most current CRLcan download delta-CRLs to have a complete list of revoked certificates.Once a vehicle has the whole list of revoked certificates, it can act as mobile repository.

Thin silicon foils produced by epoxy-induced spalling of silicon for high efficiency solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martini, R., E-mail: roberto.martini@imec.be [Department of Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark 10, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Kepa, J.; Stesmans, A. [Department of Physics, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200 D, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Debucquoy, M.; Depauw, V.; Gonzalez, M.; Gordon, I. [imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Poortmans, J. [Department of Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark 10, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Universiteit Hasselt, Martelarenlaan 42, B-3500 Hasselt (Belgium)

2014-10-27

We report on the drastic improvement of the quality of thin silicon foils produced by epoxy-induced spalling. In the past, researchers have proposed to fabricate silicon foils by spalling silicon substrates with different stress-inducing materials to manufacture thin silicon solar cells. However, the reported values of effective minority carrier lifetime of the fabricated foils remained always limited to ∼100 μs or below. In this work, we investigate epoxy-induced exfoliated foils by electron spin resonance to analyze the limiting factors of the minority carrier lifetime. These measurements highlight the presence of disordered dangling bonds and dislocation-like defects generated by the exfoliation process. A solution to remove these defects compatible with the process flow to fabricate solar cells is proposed. After etching off less than 1 μm of material, the lifetime of the foil increases by more than a factor of 4.5, reaching a value of 461 μs. This corresponds to a lower limit of the diffusion length of more than 7 times the foil thickness. Regions with different lifetime correlate well with the roughness of the crack surface which suggests that the lifetime is now limited by the quality of the passivation of rough surfaces. The reported values of the minority carrier lifetime show a potential for high efficiency (>22%) thin silicon solar cells.

Thin silicon foils produced by epoxy-induced spalling of silicon for high efficiency solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martini, R.; Kepa, J.; Stesmans, A.; Debucquoy, M.; Depauw, V.; Gonzalez, M.; Gordon, I.; Poortmans, J.

2014-01-01

We report on the drastic improvement of the quality of thin silicon foils produced by epoxy-induced spalling. In the past, researchers have proposed to fabricate silicon foils by spalling silicon substrates with different stress-inducing materials to manufacture thin silicon solar cells. However, the reported values of effective minority carrier lifetime of the fabricated foils remained always limited to ∼100 μs or below. In this work, we investigate epoxy-induced exfoliated foils by electron spin resonance to analyze the limiting factors of the minority carrier lifetime. These measurements highlight the presence of disordered dangling bonds and dislocation-like defects generated by the exfoliation process. A solution to remove these defects compatible with the process flow to fabricate solar cells is proposed. After etching off less than 1 μm of material, the lifetime of the foil increases by more than a factor of 4.5, reaching a value of 461 μs. This corresponds to a lower limit of the diffusion length of more than 7 times the foil thickness. Regions with different lifetime correlate well with the roughness of the crack surface which suggests that the lifetime is now limited by the quality of the passivation of rough surfaces. The reported values of the minority carrier lifetime show a potential for high efficiency (>22%) thin silicon solar cells.

Fabrication of Si-based planar type patch clamp biosensor using silicon on insulator substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Z.L.; Asano, T.; Uno, H.; Tero, R.; Suzui, M.; Nakao, S.; Kaito, T.; Shibasaki, K.; Tominaga, M.; Utsumi, Y.; Gao, Y.L.; Urisu, T.

2008-01-01

The aim of this paper is to fabricate the planar type patch clamp ion-channel biosensor, which is suitable for the high throughput screening, using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The micropore with 1.2 μm diameter is formed through the top Si layer and the SiO 2 box layer of the SOI substrate by focused ion beam (FIB). Then the substrate is assembled into the microfluidic circuit. The human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK-293) cell transfected with transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) is positioned on the micropore and the whole-cell configuration is formed by the suction. Capsaicin is added to the extracellular solution as a ligand molecule, and the channel current showing the desensitization unique to TRPV1 is measured successfully

Planar Fully-Depleted-Silicon-On-Insulator technologies: Toward the 28 nm node and beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Doris, B.; DeSalvo, B.; Cheng, K.; Morin, P.; Vinet, M.

2016-03-01

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the research done in the last decade on planar Fully-Depleted-Silicon-On-Insulator (FDSOI) technologies in the frame of the joint development program between IBM, ST Microelectronics and CEA-LETI. In particular, we review the technological developments ranging from substrate engineering to process modules that enable functionality and improve FDSOI performance over several generations. Various multi Vt integration schemes to maximize the benefits of the thin BOX FDSOI platform are discussed. Manufacturability as well as scalability concerns are highlighted and addressed. In addition, this work provides understanding of the performance/power trade-offs for FDSOI circuits and device variability. Finally, clear directions for future application-specific products are given, demonstrating that FDSOI is an attractive CMOS option for next generation high performance and low-power applications.

Fabrication of Si-based planar type patch clamp biosensor using silicon on insulator substrate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Z.L.; Asano, T. [Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Uno, H. [Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Tero, R. [Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Suzui, M.; Nakao, S. [Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Kaito, T. [SII NanoTechnology Inc., 36-1, Takenoshita, Oyama-cho, Sunto-gun, Shizuoka, 410-1393 (Japan); Shibasaki, K.; Tominaga, M. [Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, 5-1, Higashiyama, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8787 (Japan); Utsumi, Y. [Laboratory of Advanced Science and Technology for Industry, University of Hyogo, 3-1-2, Koto, Kamigori, Ako-gun, Hyogo, 678-1205 (Japan); Gao, Y.L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester University, Rochester, New York 14627 (United States); Urisu, T. [Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan); Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585 (Japan)], E-mail: urisu@ims.ac.jp

2008-03-03

The aim of this paper is to fabricate the planar type patch clamp ion-channel biosensor, which is suitable for the high throughput screening, using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The micropore with 1.2 {mu}m diameter is formed through the top Si layer and the SiO{sub 2} box layer of the SOI substrate by focused ion beam (FIB). Then the substrate is assembled into the microfluidic circuit. The human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK-293) cell transfected with transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) is positioned on the micropore and the whole-cell configuration is formed by the suction. Capsaicin is added to the extracellular solution as a ligand molecule, and the channel current showing the desensitization unique to TRPV1 is measured successfully.

Broadband wavelength conversion in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide with silicon nitride layer

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jiang; Li, Yongfang; Wang, Zhaolu; Han, Jing; Huang, Nan; Liu, Hongjun

2018-01-01

Broadband wavelength conversion based on degenerate four-wave mixing is theoretically investigated in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) waveguide with silicon nitride inter-cladding layer (a-Si:HN). We have found that enhancement of the non-linear effect of a-Si:H waveguide nitride intermediate layer facilitates broadband wavelength conversion. Conversion bandwidth of 490 nm and conversion efficiency of 11.4 dB were achieved in a numerical simulation of a 4 mm-long a-Si:HN waveguide under 1.55 μm continuous wave pumping. This broadband continuous-wave wavelength converter has potential applications in photonic networks, a type of readily manufactured low-cost highly integrated optical circuits.

Teleoperation over low bandwidth communication links

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fryer, R.J.; Mair, G.M.; Clark, N.; Heng, J.

1996-01-01

Teleoperation is well established for many areas of hazardous environment working. Where such environments are well structured and contained, such as within a working plant, communications bandwidths need not be a constraining factor. However where the worksite is remote, large, poorly structured or damaged communications rapidly become a critical factor in the efficient deployment and use of teleoperation equipment. The paper justifies and describes means which we are exploring to reduce the required communications bandwidth for teleoperation whist retaining full functionality. Techniques involved include incorporation of local intelligence at the worksite, with bandwidth devoted to high-level up-link control signals and down-link feedback, and the use of highly compressed video feeding 'virtual reality type' HMDs to provide maximum system transparency for the operator. The work is drawing on previous experience with an 'anthropomorphic robot heat' for telepresence work, and proprietary algorithms capable of compressing full colour video to standard telephone modem data rates. (Author)

Combined Heat Transfer in High-Porosity High-Temperature Fibrous Insulations: Theory and Experimental Validation

Science.gov (United States)

Daryabeigi, Kamran; Cunnington, George R.; Miller, Steve D.; Knutson, Jeffry R.

2010-01-01

Combined radiation and conduction heat transfer through various high-temperature, high-porosity, unbonded (loose) fibrous insulations was modeled based on first principles. The diffusion approximation was used for modeling the radiation component of heat transfer in the optically thick insulations. The relevant parameters needed for the heat transfer model were derived from experimental data. Semi-empirical formulations were used to model the solid conduction contribution of heat transfer in fibrous insulations with the relevant parameters inferred from thermal conductivity measurements at cryogenic temperatures in a vacuum. The specific extinction coefficient for radiation heat transfer was obtained from high-temperature steady-state thermal measurements with large temperature gradients maintained across the sample thickness in a vacuum. Standard gas conduction modeling was used in the heat transfer formulation. This heat transfer modeling methodology was applied to silica, two types of alumina, and a zirconia-based fibrous insulation, and to a variation of opacified fibrous insulation (OFI). OFI is a class of insulations manufactured by embedding efficient ceramic opacifiers in various unbonded fibrous insulations to significantly attenuate the radiation component of heat transfer. The heat transfer modeling methodology was validated by comparison with more rigorous analytical solutions and with standard thermal conductivity measurements. The validated heat transfer model is applicable to various densities of these high-porosity insulations as long as the fiber properties are the same (index of refraction, size distribution, orientation, and length). Furthermore, the heat transfer data for these insulations can be obtained at any static pressure in any working gas environment without the need to perform tests in various gases at various pressures.

High temperature resistant cermet and ceramic compositions. [for thermal resistant insulators and refractory coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, W. M. (Inventor)

1978-01-01

High temperature oxidation resistance, high hardness and high abrasion and wear resistance are properties of cermet compositions particularly to provide high temperature resistant refractory coatings on metal substrates, for use as electrical insulation seals for thermionic converters. The compositions comprise a sintered body of particles of a high temperature resistant metal or metal alloy, preferably molybdenum or tungsten particles, dispersed in and bonded to a solid solution formed of aluminum oxide and silicon nitride, and particularly a ternary solid solution formed of a mixture of aluminum oxide, silicon nitride and aluminum nitride. Ceramic compositions comprising a sintered solid solution of aluminum oxide, silicon nitride and aluminum nitride are also described.

A monolithically integrated detector-preamplifier on high-resistivity silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holland, S.; Spieler, H.

1990-02-01

A monolithically integrated detector-preamplifier on high-resistivity silicon has been designed, fabricated and characterized. The detector is a fully depleted p-i-n diode and the preamplifier is implemented in a depletion-mode PMOS process which is compatible with detector processing. The amplifier is internally compensated and the measured gain-bandwidth product is 30 MHz with an input-referred noise of 15 nV/√Hz in the white noise regime. Measurements with an Am 241 radiation source yield an equivalent input noise charge of 800 electrons at 200 ns shaping time for a 1.4 mm 2 detector with on-chip amplifier in an experimental setup with substantial external pickup

Fabrication of high quality GaAs-on-insulator via ion-cut of epitaxial GaAs/Ge heterostructure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chang, Yongwei; Zhang, Miao [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Deng, Chuang; Men, Chuanling [School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093 (China); Chen, Da [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Zhu, Lei; Yu, Wenjie; Wei, Xing [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Di, Zengfeng, E-mail: zfdi@mail.sim.ac.cn [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China); Wang, Xi [State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050 (China)

2015-08-15

Highlights: • GaAs-on-insulator has been achieved by integrating of epitaxy, ion-cut and selective chemical etching. • Superior to the direct ion-cut of bulk GaAs layer with the H implantation fluence 2.0 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −2}, the fabrication of GaAs-on-insulator by the transfer of GaAs/Ge heterostructure only needs H implantation fluence as low as 0.8 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −2}. • The crystalline quality of the top GaAs layer of the final GaAs-on-insulator wafer is not affected by the implantation process and comparable to the as-grown status. - Abstract: Due to the extraordinary electron mobility, III–V compounds are considered as the ideal candidate channel materials for future electronic devices. In this study, a novel approach for the fabrication of high-crystalline quality GaAs-on-insulator has been proposed by integrating of ion-cut and selective chemical etching. GaAs layer with good crystalline quality has been epitaxially grown on Ge by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). With H implantation and wafer bonding process, the GaAs/Ge heterostructure is transferred onto silicon dioxide wafer after the proper thermal treatment. Superior to the direct ion-cut of GaAs layer, which requires the H implantation fluence as high as 2.0 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −2}, the transfer of GaAs/Ge heterostructure in the present study only needs the implantation of 0.8 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −2} H ions. GaAs-on-insulator structure was successfully achieved by the selective chemical etching of defective Ge layer using SF{sub 6} plasma. As the GaAs/Ge heterostructure can be easily epitaxy grown on silicon platform, the proposed approach for GaAs-on-insulator manufacturing is rather compatible with mature Si integrated circuits (ICs) technology and thus can be integrated to push the microelectronic technology to post-Si era.

Fabrication of high quality GaAs-on-insulator via ion-cut of epitaxial GaAs/Ge heterostructure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Yongwei; Zhang, Miao; Deng, Chuang; Men, Chuanling; Chen, Da; Zhu, Lei; Yu, Wenjie; Wei, Xing; Di, Zengfeng; Wang, Xi

2015-01-01

Highlights: • GaAs-on-insulator has been achieved by integrating of epitaxy, ion-cut and selective chemical etching. • Superior to the direct ion-cut of bulk GaAs layer with the H implantation fluence 2.0 × 10 17 cm −2 , the fabrication of GaAs-on-insulator by the transfer of GaAs/Ge heterostructure only needs H implantation fluence as low as 0.8 × 10 17 cm −2 . • The crystalline quality of the top GaAs layer of the final GaAs-on-insulator wafer is not affected by the implantation process and comparable to the as-grown status. - Abstract: Due to the extraordinary electron mobility, III–V compounds are considered as the ideal candidate channel materials for future electronic devices. In this study, a novel approach for the fabrication of high-crystalline quality GaAs-on-insulator has been proposed by integrating of ion-cut and selective chemical etching. GaAs layer with good crystalline quality has been epitaxially grown on Ge by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). With H implantation and wafer bonding process, the GaAs/Ge heterostructure is transferred onto silicon dioxide wafer after the proper thermal treatment. Superior to the direct ion-cut of GaAs layer, which requires the H implantation fluence as high as 2.0 × 10 17 cm −2 , the transfer of GaAs/Ge heterostructure in the present study only needs the implantation of 0.8 × 10 17 cm −2 H ions. GaAs-on-insulator structure was successfully achieved by the selective chemical etching of defective Ge layer using SF 6 plasma. As the GaAs/Ge heterostructure can be easily epitaxy grown on silicon platform, the proposed approach for GaAs-on-insulator manufacturing is rather compatible with mature Si integrated circuits (ICs) technology and thus can be integrated to push the microelectronic technology to post-Si era

Analysis and design of tunable wideband microwave photonics phase shifter based on Fabry-Perot cavity and Bragg mirrors in silicon-on-insulator waveguide.

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Pengfei; Zhou, Jingran; Chen, Weiyou; Li, Fumin; Li, Haibin; Liu, Caixia; Ruan, Shengping; Dong, Wei

2010-04-20

We designed a microwave (MW) photonics phase shifter, consisting of a Fabry-Perot filter, a phase modulation region (PMR), and distributed Bragg reflectors, in a silicon-on-insulator rib waveguide. The thermo-optics effect was employed to tune the PMR. It was theoretically demonstrated that the linear MW phase shift of 0-2pi could be achieved by a refractive index variation of 0-9.68x10(-3) in an ultrawideband (about 38?GHz-1.9?THz), and the corresponding tuning resolution was about 6.92 degrees / degrees C. The device had a very compact size. It could be easily integrated in silicon optoelectronic chips and expected to be widely used in the high-frequency MW photonics field.

Air-Filled Nanopore Based High-Performance Thermal Insulation Materials

OpenAIRE

Gangåssæter, Haakon Fossen; Jelle, Bjørn Petter; Alex Mofid, Sohrab; Gao, Tao

2017-01-01

State-of-the-art thermal insulation solutions like vacuum insulation panels (VIP) and aerogels have low thermal conductivity, but their drawbacks may make them unable to be the thermal insulation solutions that will revolutionize the building industry regarding energy-efficient building envelopes. Nevertheless, learning from these materials may be crucial to make new and novel high-performance thermal insulation products. This study presents a review on the state-of-the-art air-filled thermal...

An optical MEMS accelerometer fabricated using double-sided deep reactive ion etching on silicon-on-insulator wafer

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Adrian J. T.; Li, Holden; Tan, Say Hwa; Yoon, Yong-Jin

2017-06-01

Optical MEMS devices provide fast detection, electromagnetic resilience and high sensitivity. Using this technology, an optical gratings based accelerometer design concept was developed for seismic motion detection purposes that provides miniaturization, high manufacturability, low costs and high sensitivity. Detailed in-house fabrication procedures of a double-sided deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer for a micro opto electro mechanical system (MOEMS) device are presented and discussed. Experimental results obtained show that the conceptual device successfully captured motion similar to a commercial accelerometer with an average sensitivity of 13.6 mV G-1, and a highest recorded sensitivity of 44.1 mV G-1. A noise level of 13.5 mV was detected due to experimental setup limitations. This is the first MOEMS accelerometer developed using double-sided DRIE on SOI wafer for the application of seismic motion detection, and is a breakthrough technology platform to open up options for lower cost MOEMS devices.

An optical MEMS accelerometer fabricated using double-sided deep reactive ion etching on silicon-on-insulator wafer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teo, Adrian J T; Li, Holden; Yoon, Yong-Jin; Tan, Say Hwa

2017-01-01

Optical MEMS devices provide fast detection, electromagnetic resilience and high sensitivity. Using this technology, an optical gratings based accelerometer design concept was developed for seismic motion detection purposes that provides miniaturization, high manufacturability, low costs and high sensitivity. Detailed in-house fabrication procedures of a double-sided deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer for a micro opto electro mechanical system (MOEMS) device are presented and discussed. Experimental results obtained show that the conceptual device successfully captured motion similar to a commercial accelerometer with an average sensitivity of 13.6 mV G −1 , and a highest recorded sensitivity of 44.1 mV G −1 . A noise level of 13.5 mV was detected due to experimental setup limitations. This is the first MOEMS accelerometer developed using double-sided DRIE on SOI wafer for the application of seismic motion detection, and is a breakthrough technology platform to open up options for lower cost MOEMS devices. (technical note)

Large-Scale Fabrication of Silicon Nanowires for Solar Energy Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Bingchang; Jie, Jiansheng; Zhang, Xiujuan; Ou, Xuemei; Zhang, Xiaohong

2017-10-11

The development of silicon (Si) materials during past decades has boosted up the prosperity of the modern semiconductor industry. In comparison with the bulk-Si materials, Si nanowires (SiNWs) possess superior structural, optical, and electrical properties and have attracted increasing attention in solar energy applications. To achieve the practical applications of SiNWs, both large-scale synthesis of SiNWs at low cost and rational design of energy conversion devices with high efficiency are the prerequisite. This review focuses on the recent progresses in large-scale production of SiNWs, as well as the construction of high-efficiency SiNW-based solar energy conversion devices, including photovoltaic devices and photo-electrochemical cells. Finally, the outlook and challenges in this emerging field are presented.

Observation of an optical event horizon in a silicon-on-insulator photonic wire waveguide.

Science.gov (United States)

Ciret, Charles; Leo, François; Kuyken, Bart; Roelkens, Gunther; Gorza, Simon-Pierre

2016-01-11

We report on the first experimental observation of an optical analogue of an event horizon in integrated nanophotonic waveguides, through the reflection of a continuous wave on an intense pulse. The experiment is performed in a dispersion-engineered silicon-on-insulator waveguide. In this medium, solitons do not suffer from Raman induced self-frequency shift as in silica fibers, a feature that is interesting for potential applications of optical event horizons. As shown by simulations, this also allows the observation of multiple reflections at the same time on fundamental solitons ejected by soliton fission.

Designing High-Efficiency Thin Silicon Solar Cells Using Parabolic-Pore Photonic Crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharya, Sayak; John, Sajeev

2018-04-01

We demonstrate the efficacy of wave-interference-based light trapping and carrier transport in parabolic-pore photonic-crystal, thin-crystalline silicon (c -Si) solar cells to achieve above 29% power conversion efficiencies. Using a rigorous solution of Maxwell's equations through a standard finite-difference time domain scheme, we optimize the design of the vertical-parabolic-pore photonic crystal (PhC) on a 10 -μ m -thick c -Si solar cell to obtain a maximum achievable photocurrent density (MAPD) of 40.6 mA /cm2 beyond the ray-optical, Lambertian light-trapping limit. For a slanted-parabolic-pore PhC that breaks x -y symmetry, improved light trapping occurs due to better coupling into parallel-to-interface refraction modes. We achieve the optimum MAPD of 41.6 mA /cm2 for a tilt angle of 10° with respect to the vertical axis of the pores. This MAPD is further improved to 41.72 mA /cm2 by introducing a 75-nm SiO2 antireflective coating on top of the solar cell. We use this MAPD and the associated charge-carrier generation profile as input for a numerical solution of Poisson's equation coupled with semiconductor drift-diffusion equations using a Shockley-Read-Hall and Auger recombination model. Using experimentally achieved surface recombination velocities of 10 cm /s , we identify semiconductor doping profiles that yield power conversion efficiencies over 29%. Practical considerations of additional upper-contact losses suggest efficiencies close to 28%. This improvement beyond the current world record is largely due to an open-circuit voltage approaching 0.8 V enabled by reduced bulk recombination in our thin silicon architecture while maintaining a high short-circuit current through wave-interference-based light trapping.

Processing of n{sup +}/p{sup −}/p{sup +} strip detectors with atomic layer deposition (ALD) grown Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} field insulator on magnetic Czochralski silicon (MCz-si) substrates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Härkönen, J., E-mail: jaakko.harkonen@helsinki.fi [Helsinki Institute of Physics (Finland); Tuovinen, E. [Helsinki Institute of Physics (Finland); VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Microsystems and Nanoelectronics (Finland); Luukka, P.; Gädda, A.; Mäenpää, T.; Tuominen, E.; Arsenovich, T. [Helsinki Institute of Physics (Finland); Junkes, A. [Institute for Experimental Physics, University of Hamburg (Germany); Wu, X. [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Microsystems and Nanoelectronics (Finland); Picosun Oy, Tietotie 3, FI-02150 Espoo Finland (Finland); Li, Z. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China)

2016-08-21

Detectors manufactured on p-type silicon material are known to have significant advantages in very harsh radiation environment over n-type detectors, traditionally used in High Energy Physics experiments for particle tracking. In p-type (n{sup +} segmentation on p substrate) position-sensitive strip detectors, however, the fixed oxide charge in the silicon dioxide is positive and, thus, causes electron accumulation at the Si/SiO{sub 2} interface. As a result, unless appropriate interstrip isolation is applied, the n-type strips are short-circuited. Widely adopted methods to terminate surface electron accumulation are segmented p-stop or p-spray field implantations. A different approach to overcome the near-surface electron accumulation at the interface of silicon dioxide and p-type silicon is to deposit a thin film field insulator with negative oxide charge. We have processed silicon strip detectors on p-type Magnetic Czochralski silicon (MCz-Si) substrates with aluminum oxide (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) thin film insulator, grown with Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) method. The electrical characterization by current–voltage and capacitance−voltage measurement shows reliable performance of the aluminum oxide. The final proof of concept was obtained at the test beam with 200 GeV/c muons. For the non-irradiated detector the charge collection efficiency (CCE) was nearly 100% with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of about 40, whereas for the 2×10{sup 15} n{sub eq}/cm{sup 2} proton irradiated detector the CCE was 35%, when the sensor was biased at 500 V. These results are comparable with the results from p-type detectors with the p-spray and p-stop interstrip isolation techniques. In addition, interestingly, when the aluminum oxide was irradiated with Co-60 gamma-rays, an accumulation of negative fixed oxide charge in the oxide was observed.

Characterization of three high efficiency and blue sensitive silicon photomultipliers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Otte, Adam Nepomuk, E-mail: otte@gatech.edu; Garcia, Distefano; Nguyen, Thanh; Purushotham, Dhruv

2017-02-21

We report about the optical and electrical characterization of three high efficiency and blue sensitive Silicon photomultipliers from FBK, Hamamatsu, and SensL. Key features of the tested devices when operated at 90% breakdown probability are peak photon detection efficiencies between 40% and 55%, temperature dependencies of gain and PDE that are less than 1%/°C, dark rates of ∼50 kHz/mm{sup 2} at room temperature, afterpulsing of about 2%, and direct optical crosstalk between 6% and 20%. The characteristics of all three devices impressively demonstrate how the Silicon-photomultiplier technology has improved over the past ten years. It is further demonstrated how the voltage and temperature characteristics of a number of quantities can be parameterized on the basis of physical models. The models provide a deeper understanding of the device characteristics over a wide bias and temperature range. They also serve as examples how producers could provide the characteristics of their SiPMs to users. A standardized parameterization of SiPMs would enable users to find the optimal SiPM for their application and the operating point of SiPMs without having to perform measurements thus significantly reducing design and development cycles.

III-V-on-silicon solar cells reaching 33% photoconversion efficiency in two-terminal configuration

Science.gov (United States)

Cariou, Romain; Benick, Jan; Feldmann, Frank; Höhn, Oliver; Hauser, Hubert; Beutel, Paul; Razek, Nasser; Wimplinger, Markus; Bläsi, Benedikt; Lackner, David; Hermle, Martin; Siefer, Gerald; Glunz, Stefan W.; Bett, Andreas W.; Dimroth, Frank

2018-04-01

Silicon dominates the photovoltaic industry but the conversion efficiency of silicon single-junction solar cells is intrinsically constrained to 29.4%, and practically limited to around 27%. It is possible to overcome this limit by combining silicon with high-bandgap materials, such as III-V semiconductors, in a multi-junction device. Significant challenges associated with this material combination have hindered the development of highly efficient III-V/Si solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a III-V/Si cell reaching similar performances to standard III-V/Ge triple-junction solar cells. This device is fabricated using wafer bonding to permanently join a GaInP/GaAs top cell with a silicon bottom cell. The key issues of III-V/Si interface recombination and silicon's weak absorption are addressed using poly-silicon/SiOx passivating contacts and a novel rear-side diffraction grating for the silicon bottom cell. With these combined features, we demonstrate a two-terminal GaInP/GaAs//Si solar cell reaching a 1-sun AM1.5G conversion efficiency of 33.3%.

High-Efficiency Silicon/Organic Heterojunction Solar Cells with Improved Junction Quality and Interface Passivation.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jian; Gao, Pingqi; Ling, Zhaoheng; Ding, Li; Yang, Zhenhai; Ye, Jichun; Cui, Yi

2016-12-27

Silicon/organic heterojunction solar cells (HSCs) based on conjugated polymers, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and n-type silicon (n-Si) have attracted wide attention due to their potential advantages of high efficiency and low cost. However, the state-of-the-art efficiencies are still far from satisfactory due to the inferior junction quality. Here, facile treatments were applied by pretreating the n-Si wafer in tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution and using a capping copper iodide (CuI) layer on the PEDOT:PSS layer to achieve a high-quality Schottky junction. Detailed photoelectric characteristics indicated that the surface recombination was greatly suppressed after TMAH pretreatment, which increased the thickness of the interfacial oxide layer. Furthermore, the CuI capping layer induced a strong inversion layer near the n-Si surface, resulting in an excellent field effect passivation. With the collaborative improvements in the interface chemical and electrical passivation, a competitive open-circuit voltage of 0.656 V and a high fill factor of 78.1% were achieved, leading to a stable efficiency of over 14.3% for the planar n-Si/PEDOT:PSS HSCs. Our findings suggest promising strategies to further exploit the full voltage as well as efficiency potentials for Si/organic solar cells.

Managing high-bandwidth real-time data storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bigelow, David D. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Brandt, Scott A [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bent, John M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chen, Hsing-Bung [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2009-09-23

There exist certain systems which generate real-time data at high bandwidth, but do not necessarily require the long-term retention of that data in normal conditions. In some cases, the data may not actually be useful, and in others, there may be too much data to permanently retain in long-term storage whether it is useful or not. However, certain portions of the data may be identified as being vitally important from time to time, and must therefore be retained for further analysis or permanent storage without interrupting the ongoing collection of new data. We have developed a system, Mahanaxar, intended to address this problem. It provides quality of service guarantees for incoming real-time data streams and simultaneous access to already-recorded data on a best-effort basis utilizing any spare bandwidth. It has built in mechanisms for reliability and indexing, can scale upwards to meet increasing bandwidth requirements, and handles both small and large data elements equally well. We will show that a prototype version of this system provides better performance than a flat file (traditional filesystem) based version, particularly with regard to quality of service guarantees and hard real-time requirements.

High-Efficiency Amorphous Silicon Alloy Based Solar Cells and Modules; Final Technical Progress Report, 30 May 2002--31 May 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guha, S.; Yang, J.

2005-10-01

The principal objective of this R&D program is to expand, enhance, and accelerate knowledge and capabilities for development of high-efficiency hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and amorphous silicon-germanium alloy (a-SiGe:H) related thin-film multijunction solar cells and modules with low manufacturing cost and high reliability. Our strategy has been to use the spectrum-splitting triple-junction structure, a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/a-SiGe:H, to improve solar cell and module efficiency, stability, and throughput of production. The methodology used to achieve the objectives included: (1) explore the highest stable efficiency using the triple-junction structure deposited using RF glow discharge at a low rate, (2) fabricate the devices at a high deposition rate for high throughput and low cost, and (3) develop an optimized recipe using the R&D batch large-area reactor to help the design and optimization of the roll-to-roll production machines. For short-term goals, we have worked on the improvement of a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H alloy solar cells. a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H are the foundation of current a-Si:H based thin-film photovoltaic technology. Any improvement in cell efficiency, throughput, and cost reduction will immediately improve operation efficiency of our manufacturing plant, allowing us to further expand our production capacity.

Silicon microphotonic waveguides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ta'eed, V.; Steel, M.J.; Grillet, C.; Eggleton, B.; Du, J.; Glasscock, J.; Savvides, N.

2004-01-01

Full text: Silicon microphotonic devices have been drawing increasing attention in the past few years. The high index-difference between silicon and its oxide (Δn = 2) suggests a potential for high-density integration of optical functions on to a photonic chip. Additionally, it has been shown that silicon exhibits strong Raman nonlinearity, a necessary property as light interaction can occur only by means of nonlinearities in the propagation medium. The small dimensions of silicon waveguides require the design of efficient tapers to couple light to them. We have used the beam propagation method (RSoft BeamPROP) to understand the principles and design of an inverse-taper mode-converter as implemented in several recent papers. We report on progress in the design and fabrication of silicon-based waveguides. Preliminary work has been conducted by patterning silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using optical lithography and reactive ion etching. Thus far, only rib waveguides have been designed, as single-mode ridge-waveguides are beyond the capabilities of conventional optical lithography. We have recently moved to electron beam lithography as the higher resolutions permitted will provide the flexibility to begin fabricating sub-micron waveguides

Technological development for super-high efficiency solar cells. Technological development for super-high efficiency singlecrystalline silicon solar cells (super-high efficiency singlecrystalline Si solar cells); Chokokoritsu taiyo denchi no gijutsu kaihatsu. Chokokoritsu tankessho silicon taiyo denchi no gijutsu kaihatsu (chokokoritsu tankessho silicon taiyo denchi cell no gijutsu kaihatsu)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tatsuta, M [New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Tokyo (Japan)

1994-12-01

This paper reports the study results on technological development of super-high efficiency singlecrystalline silicon solar cells in fiscal 1994. (1) On development of high-performance light receiving layer, the fine electrode for receiving surfaces was designed to reduce serial resistance, and the high-quality oxide passivation film was studied to reduce surface recombination velocity. (2) On development of forming technology of back heterojunction, the high-quality cell with B-doped fine crystalline Si film on its back was studied by heat treatment of the fine crystalline Si film, and the cell structure with high back reflectance of light was also studied. (3) On analysis for high-efficiency cells, the relation between the back recombination velocity at the interface between p-type substrate and back passivation film, and the internal collection efficiency as probe light was injected from the back, was calculated by numerical simulation. As a result, the cell back recombination velocity could be evaluated by measuring the spectral internal collection efficiency to back injection. 15 figs., 6 tabs.

High performance thermal insulation systems (HiPTI). Vacuum insulated products (VIP). Proceedings of the international conference and workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zimmermann, M.; Bertschinger, H.

2001-07-01

These are the proceedings of the International Conference and Workshop held at EMPA Duebendorf, Switzerland, in January 2001. The papers presented at the conference's first day included contributions on the role of high-performance insulation in energy efficiency - providing an overview of available technologies and reviewing physical aspects of heat transfer and the development of thermal insulation as well as the state of the art of glazing technologies such as high-performance and vacuum glazing. Also, vacuum-insulated products (VIP) with fumed silica, applications of VIP systems in technical building systems, nanogels, VIP packaging materials and technologies, measurement of physical properties, VIP for advanced retrofit solutions for buildings and existing and future applications for advanced low energy building are discussed. Finally, research and development concerning VIP for buildings are reported on. The workshops held on the second day covered a preliminary study on high-performance thermal insulation materials with gastight porosity, flexible pipes with high performance thermal insulation, evaluation of modern insulation systems by simulation methods as well as the development of vacuum insulation panels with a stainless steel envelope.

Optimization of Quantum-Dot Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Broad Spectral Bandwidth Devices

KAUST Repository

Majid, Mohammed Abdul

2012-12-01

The optimization of the key growth parameters for broad spectral bandwidth devices based on quantum dots is reported. A combination of atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence of test samples, and optoelectronic characterization of superluminescent diodes (SLDs) is used to optimize the growth conditions to obtain high-quality devices with large spectral bandwidth, radiative efficiency (due to a reduced defective-dot density), and thus output power. The defective-dot density is highlighted as being responsible for the degradation of device performance. An SLD device with 160 nm of bandwidth centered at 1230 nm is demonstrated.

Optimization of Quantum-Dot Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Broad Spectral Bandwidth Devices

KAUST Repository

Majid, Mohammed Abdul; Hugues, M.; Vézian, S.; Childs, D. T. D.; Hogg, R. A.

2012-01-01

The optimization of the key growth parameters for broad spectral bandwidth devices based on quantum dots is reported. A combination of atomic force microscopy, photoluminescence of test samples, and optoelectronic characterization of superluminescent diodes (SLDs) is used to optimize the growth conditions to obtain high-quality devices with large spectral bandwidth, radiative efficiency (due to a reduced defective-dot density), and thus output power. The defective-dot density is highlighted as being responsible for the degradation of device performance. An SLD device with 160 nm of bandwidth centered at 1230 nm is demonstrated.

Transfer-free electrical insulation of epitaxial graphene from its metal substrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Lizzit, Silvano; Larciprete, Rosanna; Lacovig, Paolo; Dalmiglio, Matteo; Orlando, Fabrizio; Baraldi, Alessandro; Gammelgaard, Lauge; Barreto, Lucas; Bianchi, Marco; Perkins, Edward; Hofmann, Philip

2012-09-12

High-quality, large-area epitaxial graphene can be grown on metal surfaces, but its transport properties cannot be exploited because the electrical conduction is dominated by the substrate. Here we insulate epitaxial graphene on Ru(0001) by a stepwise intercalation of silicon and oxygen, and the eventual formation of a SiO(2) layer between the graphene and the metal. We follow the reaction steps by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and demonstrate the electrical insulation using a nanoscale multipoint probe technique.

Transfer-Free Electrical Insulation of Epitaxial Graphene from its Metal Substrate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lizzit, Silvano; Larciprete, Rosanna; Lacovig, Paolo

2012-01-01

High-quality, large-area epitaxial graphene can be grown on metal surfaces, but its transport properties cannot be exploited because the electrical conduction is dominated by the substrate. Here we insulate epitaxial graphene on Ru(0001) by a stepwise intercalation of silicon and oxygen......, and the eventual formation of a SiO2 layer between the graphene and the metal. We follow the reaction steps by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and demonstrate the electrical insulation using a nanoscale multipoint probe technique....

High-speed detection at two micrometres with monolithic silicon photodiodes

Science.gov (United States)

Ackert, Jason J.; Thomson, David J.; Shen, Li; Peacock, Anna C.; Jessop, Paul E.; Reed, Graham T.; Mashanovich, Goran Z.; Knights, Andrew P.

2015-06-01

With continued steep growth in the volume of data transmitted over optical networks there is a widely recognized need for more sophisticated photonics technologies to forestall a ‘capacity crunch’. A promising solution is to open new spectral regions at wavelengths near 2 μm and to exploit the long-wavelength transmission and amplification capabilities of hollow-core photonic-bandgap fibres and the recently available thulium-doped fibre amplifiers. To date, photodetector devices for this window have largely relied on III-V materials or, where the benefits of integration with silicon photonics are sought, GeSn alloys, which have been demonstrated thus far with only limited utility. Here, we describe a silicon photodiode operating at 20 Gbit s-1 in this wavelength region. The detector is compatible with standard silicon processing and is integrated directly with silicon-on-insulator waveguides, which suggests future utility in silicon-based mid-infrared integrated optics for applications in communications.

Gigascale Silicon Photonic Transmitters Integrating HBT-based Carrier-injection Electroabsorption Modulator Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Enjin

Demand for more bandwidth is rapidly increasing, which is driven by data intensive applications such as high-definition (HD) video streaming, cloud storage, and terascale computing applications. Next-generation high-performance computing systems require power efficient chip-to-chip and intra-chip interconnect yielding densities on the order of 1Tbps/cm2. The performance requirements of such system are the driving force behind the development of silicon integrated optical interconnect, providing a cost-effective solution for fully integrated optical interconnect systems on a single substrate. Compared to conventional electrical interconnect, optical interconnects have several advantages, including frequency independent insertion loss resulting in ultra wide bandwidth and link latency reduction. For high-speed optical transmitter modules, the optical modulator is a key component of the optical I/O channel. This thesis presents a silicon integrated optical transmitter module design based on a novel silicon HBT-based carrier injection electroabsorption modulator (EAM), which has the merits of wide optical bandwidth, high speed, low power, low drive voltage, small footprint, and high modulation efficiency. The structure, mechanism, and fabrication of the modulator structure will be discussed which is followed by the electrical modeling of the post-processed modulator device. The design and realization of a 10Gbps monolithic optical transmitter module integrating the driver circuit architecture and the HBT-based EAM device in a 130nm BiCMOS process is discussed. For high power efficiency, a 6Gbps ultra-low power driver IC implemented in a 130nm BiCMOS process is presented. The driver IC incorporates an integrated 27-1 pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) generator for reliable high-speed testing, and a driver circuit featuring digitally-tuned pre-emphasis signal strength. With outstanding drive capability, the driver module can be applied to a wide range of carrier

Terahertz bandwidth photonic Hilbert transformers based on synthesized planar Bragg grating fabrication.

Science.gov (United States)

Sima, Chaotan; Gates, J C; Holmes, C; Mennea, P L; Zervas, M N; Smith, P G R

2013-09-01

Terahertz bandwidth photonic Hilbert transformers are proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The integrated device is fabricated via a direct UV grating writing technique in a silica-on-silicon platform. The photonic Hilbert transformer operates at bandwidths of up to 2 THz (~16 nm) in the telecom band, a 10-fold greater bandwidth than any previously reported experimental approaches. Achieving this performance requires detailed knowledge of the system transfer function of the direct UV grating writing technique; this allows improved linearity and yields terahertz bandwidth Bragg gratings with improved spectral quality. By incorporating a flat-top reflector and Hilbert grating with a waveguide coupler, an ultrawideband all-optical single-sideband filter is demonstrated.

Label-free electrical determination of trypsin activity by a silicon-on-insulator based thin film resistor.

Science.gov (United States)

Neff, Petra A; Serr, Andreas; Wunderlich, Bernhard K; Bausch, Andreas R

2007-10-08

A silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based thin film resistor is employed for the label-free determination of enzymatic activity. We demonstrate that enzymes, which cleave biological polyelectrolyte substrates, can be detected by the sensor. As an application, we consider the serine endopeptidase trypsin, which cleaves poly-L-lysine (PLL). We show that PLL adsorbs quasi-irreversibly to the sensor and is digested by trypsin directly at the sensor surface. The created PLL fragments are released into the bulk solution due to kinetic reasons. This results in a measurable change of the surface potential allowing for the determination of trypsin concentrations down to 50 ng mL(-1). Chymotrypsin is a similar endopeptidase with a different specificity, which cleaves PLL with a lower efficiency as compared to trypsin. The activity of trypsin is analyzed quantitatively employing a kinetic model for enzyme-catalyzed surface reactions. Moreover, we have demonstrated the specific inactivation of trypsin by a serine protease inhibitor, which covalently binds to the active site of the enzyme.

Integrated circuits of silicon on insulator S.O.I. technologies: State of the art and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leray, J.L.; Dupont-Nivet, E.; Raffaelli, M.; Coic, Y.M.; Musseau, O.; Pere, J.F.; Lalande, P.; Bredy, J.; Auberton-Herve, A.J.; Bruel, M.; Giffard, B.

1989-01-01

Silicon On Insulator technologies have been proposed to increase the integrated circuits performances in radiation operation. Active researches are conducted, in France and abroad. This paper reviews briefly radiation effects phenomenology in that particular type of structure S.O.I. New results are presented that show very good radiation behaviour in term of speed, dose (10 to 100 megarad (Si)), dose rate and S.E.U. performances [fr

Propagation of 1-THz bandwidth electrical pulses on high Tc superconducting transmission lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuss, M.C.; Mankiewich, P.M.; Howard, R.E.; Harvey, T.E.; Brandle, C.D.; Straugh, B.L.; Smith, P.R.

1989-01-01

The new high temperature superconductors have triggered enormous interest not only because of the unique physics involved but also because of their technical potentials, such as the promise for propagation of extremely short electrical pulses. Superconducting band caps of --20TH z are predicted assuming BCS theory for the superconductor, making lossless propagation of electrical pulses as short as 50 fs possible. Despite microwave measurements at low frequencies of several gigahertz first studies at higher frequencies by Dykaar et al have shown distortion-free propagation of 100-GHz electrical pulses on YBa 2 Cu 3 O 3 (YBCO) lines for --5-mm propagation distance. Results were also reported for aluminum coplanar lines and a YBCO ground plane. The authors report on the propagation of 1-ps electrical pulses (1-THz bandwidth) on YBCO coplanar transmission lines defined on lanthanum gallate (LaGaO 3 ) as a substrate. On LaGaO 3 , YBCO grows highly oriented as on SrTiO 3 . However, unlike SrTiO 3 , LaGaO 3 has a much lower dielectric constant and small losses in the terahertz frequency range. Electrical pulses of --750-fs duration are generated in a radiation-damaged silicon-on-sapphire photoconductive switch integrated into a 20-μm coplanar stripline with 10-μm spacing and excited with 100-fs optical pulses from a CPM laser. An μ1-THz bandwidth electrical contact is made to the YBCO coplanar stripline defined on LaGaO 3 using a flip-chip geometry. They find that electrical pulses broaden only from 750 fs to 1 ps with little loss in amplitude on traveling through their flip-chip input and propagated electrical pulses are probed by electooptic sampling in two small LiTaO 3 crystals separated by 3 mm

Silicon on insulator by ion implantation: A dream or a reality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pinizzotto, R F [Ultrastructure, Inc., Richardson, TX (USA)

1985-03-01

One method of producing a silicon-on-oxide structure is to implant a sufficient dose of oxygen into a conventional silicon substrate to synthesize a layer of SiO/sub 2/ just below the surface. If the proper implant conditions are maintained, the top silicon layer will be a single crystal. The required doses are large, but the use of commercially available medium current implanters can reduce the time to 25 minutes per wafer. This adds about $ 10 per chip in process related costs. A very large implanter (100 mA analyzed beam) may not be the best approach for scaling up the process. The power in the beam and the power required for operation of the machine are both enormous. A more conservative approach of using multiple medium current implanters may prove to be more economical in the long run.

Research on SOI-based micro-resonator devices

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Xi; Xu, Haihua; Hu, Yingtao; Zhou, Liang; Xiong, Kang; Li, Zhiyong; Li, Yuntao; Fan, Zhongchao; Han, Weihua; Yu, Yude; Yu, Jinzhong

2010-10-01

SOI (silicon-on-insulator)-based micro-resonator is the key building block of silicon photonics, which is considered as a promising solution to alleviate the bandwidth bottleneck of on-chip interconnects. Silicon-based sub-micron waveguide, microring and microdisk devices are investigated in Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The main progress in recent years is presented in this talk, such as high Q factor single mode microdisk filters, compact thirdorder microring filters with the through/drop port extinctions to be ~ 30/40 dB, fast microring electro-optical switches with the switch time of 10 Gbit/s high speed microring modulators.

High-bandwidth memory interface

CERN Document Server

Kim, Chulwoo; Song, Junyoung

2014-01-01

This book provides an overview of recent advances in memory interface design at both the architecture and circuit levels. Coverage includes signal integrity and testing, TSV interface, high-speed serial interface including equalization, ODT, pre-emphasis, wide I/O interface including crosstalk, skew cancellation, and clock generation and distribution. Trends for further bandwidth enhancement are also covered.   • Enables readers with minimal background in memory design to understand the basics of high-bandwidth memory interface design; • Presents state-of-the-art techniques for memory interface design; • Covers memory interface design at both the circuit level and system architecture level.

High efficiency diffractive grating coupler based on transferred silicon nanomembrane overlay on photonic waveguide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, Tapas Kumar; Zhou Weidong [University of Texas at Arlington, Department of Electrical Engineering, NanoFAB Center, Arlington, TX 76019-0072 (United States)

2009-04-21

We report here the design of a new type of high efficiency grating coupler, based on single crystalline Si nanomembrane overlay and stacking. Such high efficiency diffractive grating couplers are designed for the purpose of coupling light between single mode fibres and nanophotonic waveguides, and for the coupling between multiple photonic interconnect layers for compact three-dimensional vertical integration. Two-dimensional model simulation based on eigenmode expansion shows a diffractive power-up efficiency of 81% and a fibre coupling efficiency of 64%. With nanomembrane stacking, it is feasible to integrate the side-distributed Bragg reflector and bottom reflector, which can lead to the diffractive power-up efficiency and the fibre coupling efficiency of 97% and 73.5%, respectively. For a negatively detuned coupler, the bottom reflector is not needed, and the diffractive power-up efficiency can reach 98% over a large spectral range. The device is extremely tolerant to fabrication errors.

Advances in Thermal Insulation. Vacuum Insulation Panels and Thermal Efficiency to Reduce Energy Usage in Buildings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thorsell, Thomas

2012-07-01

We are coming to realize that there is an urgent need to reduce energy usage in buildings and it has to be done in a sustainable way. This thesis focuses on the performance of the building envelope; more precisely thermal performance of walls and super insulation material in the form of vacuum insulation. However, the building envelope is just one part of the whole building system, and super insulators have one major flaw: they are easily adversely affected by other problems in the built environment. Vacuum Insulation Panels are one fresh addition to the arsenal of insulation materials available to the building industry. They are composite material with a core and an enclosure which, as a composite, can reach thermal conductivities as low as 0.004 W/(mK). However, the exceptional performance relies on the barrier material preventing gas permeation, maintaining a near vacuum into the core and a minimized thermal bridge effect from the wrapping of barrier material round the edge of a panel. A serpentine edge is proposed to decrease the heat loss at the edge. Modeling and testing shows a reduction of 60 % if a reasonable serpentine edge is used. A diffusion model of permeation through multilayered barrier films with metallization coatings was developed to predict ultimate service life. The model combines numerical calculations with analytical field theory allowing for more precise determination than current models. The results using the proposed model indicate that it is possible to manufacture panels with lifetimes exceeding 50 years with existing manufacturing. Switching from the component scale to the building scale; an approach of integrated testing and modeling is proposed. Four wall types have been tested in a large range of environments with the aim to assess the hydrothermal nature and significance of thermal bridges and air leakages. The test procedure was also examined as a means for a more representative performance indicator than R-value (in USA). The

A highly efficient surface plasmon polaritons excitation achieved with a metal-coupled metal-insulator-metal waveguide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongyan Yang

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We propose a novel metal-coupled metal-insulator-metal (MC-MIM waveguide which can achieve a highly efficient surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs excitation. The MC-MIM waveguide is formed by inserting a thin metal film in the insulator of an MIM. The introduction of the metal film, functioning as an SPPs coupler, provides a space for the interaction between SPPs and a confined electromagnetic field of the intermediate metal surface, which makes energy change and phase transfer in the metal-dielectric interface, due to the joint action of incomplete electrostatic shielding effect and SPPs coupling. Impacts of the metal film with different materials and various thickness on SPPs excitation are investigated. It is shown that the highest efficient SPPs excitation is obtained when the gold film thickness is 60 nm. The effect of refractive index of upper and lower symmetric dielectric layer on SPPs excitation is also discussed. The result shows that the decay value of refractive index is 0.3. Our results indicate that this proposed MC-MIM waveguide may offer great potential in designing a new SPPs source.

Second-harmonic generation in substoichiometric silicon nitride layers

Science.gov (United States)

Pecora, Emanuele; Capretti, Antonio; Miano, Giovanni; Dal Negro, Luca

2013-03-01

Harmonic generation in optical circuits offers the possibility to integrate wavelength converters, light amplifiers, lasers, and multiple optical signal processing devices with electronic components. Bulk silicon has a negligible second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility owing to its crystal centrosymmetry. Silicon nitride has its place in the microelectronic industry as an insulator and chemical barrier. In this work, we propose to take advantage of silicon excess in silicon nitride to increase the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) efficiency. Thin films have been grown by reactive magnetron sputtering and their nonlinear optical properties have been studied by femtosecond pumping over a wide range of excitation wavelengths, silicon nitride stoichiometry and thermal processes. We demonstrate SHG in the visible range (375 - 450 nm) using a tunable 150 fs Ti:sapphire laser, and we optimize the SH emission at a silicon excess of 46 at.% demonstrating a maximum SHG efficiency of 4x10-6 in optimized films. Polarization properties, generation efficiency, and the second order nonlinear optical susceptibility are measured for all the investigated samples and discussed in terms of an effective theoretical model. Our findings show that the large nonlinear optical response demonstrated in optimized Si-rich silicon nitride materials can be utilized for the engineering of nonlinear optical functions and devices on a Si chip.

Investigation of Low-Cost Surface Processing Techniques for Large-Size Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuang-Tung Cheng

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of the present work is to develop a simple and effective method of enhancing conversion efficiency in large-size solar cells using multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si wafer. In this work, industrial-type mc-Si solar cells with area of 125×125 mm2 were acid etched to produce simultaneously POCl3 emitters and silicon nitride deposition by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD. The study of surface morphology and reflectivity of different mc-Si etched surfaces has also been discussed in this research. Using our optimal acid etching solution ratio, we are able to fabricate mc-Si solar cells of 16.34% conversion efficiency with double layers silicon nitride (Si3N4 coating. From our experiment, we find that depositing double layers silicon nitride coating on mc-Si solar cells can get the optimal performance parameters. Open circuit (Voc is 616 mV, short circuit current (Jsc is 34.1 mA/cm2, and minority carrier diffusion length is 474.16 μm. The isotropic texturing and silicon nitride layers coating approach contribute to lowering cost and achieving high efficiency in mass production.

Electrical leakage phenomenon in heteroepitaxial cubic silicon carbide on silicon

Science.gov (United States)

Pradeepkumar, Aiswarya; Zielinski, Marcin; Bosi, Matteo; Verzellesi, Giovanni; Gaskill, D. Kurt; Iacopi, Francesca

2018-06-01

Heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC films on silicon substrates are of technological interest as enablers to integrate the excellent electrical, electronic, mechanical, thermal, and epitaxial properties of bulk silicon carbide into well-established silicon technologies. One critical bottleneck of this integration is the establishment of a stable and reliable electronic junction at the heteroepitaxial interface of the n-type SiC with the silicon substrate. We have thus investigated in detail the electrical and transport properties of heteroepitaxial cubic silicon carbide films grown via different methods on low-doped and high-resistivity silicon substrates by using van der Pauw Hall and transfer length measurements as test vehicles. We have found that Si and C intermixing upon or after growth, particularly by the diffusion of carbon into the silicon matrix, creates extensive interstitial carbon traps and hampers the formation of a stable rectifying or insulating junction at the SiC/Si interface. Although a reliable p-n junction may not be realistic in the SiC/Si system, we can achieve, from a point of view of the electrical isolation of in-plane SiC structures, leakage suppression through the substrate by using a high-resistivity silicon substrate coupled with deep recess etching in between the SiC structures.

Buried MoO x/Ag Electrode Enables High-Efficiency Organic/Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells with a High Fill Factor.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Zhouhui; Gao, Peng; Sun, Teng; Wu, Haihua; Tan, Yeshu; Song, Tao; Lee, Shuit-Tong; Sun, Baoquan

2018-04-25

Silicon (Si)/organic heterojunction solar cells based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and n-type Si have attracted wide interests because they promise cost-effectiveness and high-efficiency. However, the limited conductivity of PEDOT:PSS leads to an inefficient hole transport efficiency for the heterojunction device. Therefore, a high dense top-contact metal grid electrode is required to assure the efficient charge collection efficiency. Unfortunately, the large metal grid coverage ratio electrode would lead to undesirable optical loss. Here, we develop a strategy to balance PEDOT:PSS conductivity and grid optical transmittance via a buried molybdenum oxide/silver grid electrode. In addition, the grid electrode coverage ratio is optimized to reduce its light shading effect. The buried electrode dramatically reduces the device series resistance, which leads to a higher fill factor (FF). With the optimized buried electrode, a record FF of 80% is achieved for flat Si/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction devices. With further enhancement adhesion between the PEDOT:PSS film and Si substrate by a chemical cross-linkable silance, a power conversion efficiency of 16.3% for organic/textured Si heterojunction devices is achieved. Our results provide a path to overcome the inferior organic semiconductor property to enhance the organic/Si heterojunction solar cell.

Numerical study of self-heating effects of small-size MOSFETs fabricated on silicon-on-aluminum nitride substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding Yanfang; Zhu Ziqiang; Zhu Ming; Lin Chenglu

2006-01-01

Compared with bulk-silicon technology, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology possesses many advantages but it is inevitable that the buried silicon dioxide layer also thermally insulates the metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) from the bulk due to the low thermal conductivity. One of the alternative insulator to replace the buried oxide layer is aluminum nitride (MN), which has a thermal conductivity that is about 200 times higher than that of SiO 2 (320 W·m -1 ·K -1 versus 1.4 W·m -1 ·K -l ). To investigate the self-heating effects of small-size MOSFETs fabricated on silicon-on-aluminum nitride (SOAN) substrate, a two-dimensional numerical analysis is performed by using a device simulator called MEDICI run on a Solaris workstation to simulate the electrical characteristics and temperature distribution by comparing with those of bulk and standard SOI MOSFETs. Our study suggests that AIN is a suitable alternative to silicon dioxide as a buried dielectric in SOI and expands the applications of SOI to high temperature conditions. (authors)

RAID Disk Arrays for High Bandwidth Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Moren, Bill

1996-01-01

High bandwidth applications require large amounts of data transferred to/from storage devices at extremely high data rates. Further, these applications often are 'real time' in which access to the storage device must take place on the schedule of the data source, not the storage. A good example is a satellite downlink - the volume of data is quite large and the data rates quite high (dozens of MB/sec). Further, a telemetry downlink must take place while the satellite is overhead. A storage technology which is ideally suited to these types of applications is redundant arrays of independent discs (RAID). Raid storage technology, while offering differing methodologies for a variety of applications, supports the performance and redundancy required in real-time applications. Of the various RAID levels, RAID-3 is the only one which provides high data transfer rates under all operating conditions, including after a drive failure.

Large-Area Silicon Detectors for the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter

CERN Document Server

Pree, Elias

2017-01-01

During the so-called Phase-2 Upgrade, the CMS experiment at CERN will undergo significant improvements to cope with the 10-fold luminosity increase of the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) era. Especially the forward calorimetry will suffer from very high radiation levels and intensified pileup in the detectors. For this reason, the CMS collaboration is designing a High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) to replace the existing endcap calorimeters. It features unprecedented transverse and longitudinal segmentation for both electromagnetic (CE-E) and hadronic (CE-H) compartments. The CE-E and a large fraction of CE-H will consist of a sandwich structure with silicon as active detector material. This paper presents an overview of the ongoing sensor development for the HGCAL and highlights important design features and measurement techniques. The design and layout of an 8-inch silicon sensor prototype is shown. The hexagonal sensors consist of 235 pads, each with an area of about \\mbox{1~cm$^{2}$}. Furthermore, Synopsys...

High voltage diagnostics on electrical insulation of supersonducting magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Irmisch, M.

1995-12-01

The high voltage (HV) performance of superconducting magnets of large dimensions, e.g. as needed in fusion reactors, is a challange in the field of high voltage technology, i.e. especially in the field of cryogenic high voltage components and with respect to questions of HV insulation diagnostics at low temperature. By using the development of POLO - a superconducting prototype coil of a tokamak poloidal field coil - as an example, this work deals with special problems of how to get use of conventional HV test techniques for diagnostics under special cryogenic boundary conditions. As a first approach to gain experience in the field of phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) measurements during operation of a superconductive coil, the POLO coil was subject to several high voltage tests. Compared with DC insulation resistance measurements and capacitive impulse voltage discharges to the coil, the AC PD measurements have been the only way to observe special characteristics of the electrical insulation with respect to the cooling down of the coil from 300 K to 4.2 K. The PRPD measurement technique thereby has proofed as a suitable diagnostic tool. This work can serve as basic data to be comparable within further projects of electrical insulation diagnostics at cryogenic temperatures. (orig.)

Structured Low-Density Parity-Check Codes with Bandwidth Efficient Modulation

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Michael K.; Divsalar, Dariush; Duy, Stephanie

2009-01-01

In this work, we study the performance of structured Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) Codes together with bandwidth efficient modulations. We consider protograph-based LDPC codes that facilitate high-speed hardware implementations and have minimum distances that grow linearly with block sizes. We cover various higher- order modulations such as 8-PSK, 16-APSK, and 16-QAM. During demodulation, a demapper transforms the received in-phase and quadrature samples into reliability information that feeds the binary LDPC decoder. We will compare various low-complexity demappers and provide simulation results for assorted coded-modulation combinations on the additive white Gaussian noise and independent Rayleigh fading channels.

Properties of CMOS devices and circuits fabricated on high-resistivity, detector-grade silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holland, S.

1991-11-01

A CMOS process that is compatible with silicon p-i-n radiation detectors has been developed and characterized. A total of twelve mask layers are used in the process. The NMOS device is formed in a retrograde well while the PMOS device is fabricated directly in the high-resistivity silicon. Isolation characteristics are similar to a standard foundary CMOS process. Circuit performance using 3 μm design rules has been evaluated. The measured propagation delay and power-delay product for a 51-stage ring oscillator was 1.5 ns and 43 fJ, respectively. Measurements on a simple cascode amplifier results in a gain-bandwidth product of 200 MHz at a bias current of 15 μA. The input-referred noise of the cascode amplifier is 20 nV/√Hz at 1 MHz

Efficient continuous-wave nonlinear frequency conversion in high-Q gallium nitride photonic crystal cavities on silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Sabry Mohamed

2017-03-01

Full Text Available We report on nonlinear frequency conversion from the telecom range via second harmonic generation (SHG and third harmonic generation (THG in suspended gallium nitride slab photonic crystal (PhC cavities on silicon, under continuous-wave resonant excitation. Optimized two-dimensional PhC cavities with augmented far-field coupling have been characterized with quality factors as high as 4.4 × 104, approaching the computed theoretical values. The strong enhancement in light confinement has enabled efficient SHG, achieving a normalized conversion efficiency of 2.4 × 10−3 W−1, as well as simultaneous THG. SHG emission power of up to 0.74 nW has been detected without saturation. The results herein validate the suitability of gallium nitride for integrated nonlinear optical processing.

Radiation Effects in Advanced Multiple Gate and Silicon-on-Insulator Transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Simoen, Eddy; Gaillardin, Marc; Paillet, Philippe; Reed, Robert A.; Schrimpf, Ron D.; Alles, Michael L.; El-Mamouni, Farah; Fleetwood, Daniel M.; Griffoni, Alessio; Claeys, Cor

2013-06-01

The aim of this review paper is to describe in a comprehensive manner the current understanding of the radiation response of state-of-the-art Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) and FinFET CMOS technologies. Total Ionizing Dose (TID) response, heavy-ion microdose effects and single-event effects (SEEs) will be discussed. It is shown that a very high TID tolerance can be achieved by narrow-fin SOI FinFET architectures, while bulk FinFETs may exhibit similar TID response to the planar devices. Due to the vertical nature of FinFETs, a specific heavy-ion response can be obtained, whereby the angle of incidence becomes highly important with respect to the vertical sidewall gates. With respect to SEE, the buried oxide in the SOI FinFETs suppresses the diffusion tails from the charge collection in the substrate compared to the planar bulk FinFET devices. Channel lengths and fin widths are now comparable to, or smaller than the dimensions of the region affected by the single ionizing ions or lasers used in testing. This gives rise to a high degree of sensitivity to individual device parameters and source-drain shunting during ion-beam or laser-beam SEE testing. Simulations are used to illuminate the mechanisms observed in radiation testing and the progress and needs for the numerical modeling/simulation of the radiation response of advanced SOI and FinFET transistors are highlighted.

Ultra-low power high temperature and radiation hard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) voltage reference.

Science.gov (United States)

Boufouss, El Hafed; Francis, Laurent A; Kilchytska, Valeriya; Gérard, Pierre; Simon, Pascal; Flandre, Denis

2013-12-13

This paper presents an ultra-low power CMOS voltage reference circuit which is robust under biomedical extreme conditions, such as high temperature and high total ionized dose (TID) radiation. To achieve such performances, the voltage reference is designed in a suitable 130 nm Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) industrial technology and is optimized to work in the subthreshold regime of the transistors. The design simulations have been performed over the temperature range of -40-200 °C and for different process corners. Robustness to radiation was simulated using custom model parameters including TID effects, such as mobilities and threshold voltages degradation. The proposed circuit has been tested up to high total radiation dose, i.e., 1 Mrad (Si) performed at three different temperatures (room temperature, 100 °C and 200 °C). The maximum drift of the reference voltage V(REF) depends on the considered temperature and on radiation dose; however, it remains lower than 10% of the mean value of 1.5 V. The typical power dissipation at 2.5 V supply voltage is about 20 μW at room temperature and only 75 μW at a high temperature of 200 °C. To understand the effects caused by the combination of high total ionizing dose and temperature on such voltage reference, the threshold voltages of the used SOI MOSFETs were extracted under different conditions. The evolution of V(REF) and power consumption with temperature and radiation dose can then be explained in terms of the different balance between fixed oxide charge and interface states build-up. The total occupied area including pad-ring is less than 0.09 mm2.

Benzothienobenzothiophene-Based Molecular Conductors: High Conductivity, Large Thermoelectric Power Factor, and One-Dimensional Instability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyota, Yasuhiro; Kadoya, Tomofumi; Yamamoto, Kaoru; Iijima, Kodai; Higashino, Toshiki; Kawamoto, Tadashi; Takimiya, Kazuo; Mori, Takehiko

2016-03-23

On the basis of an excellent transistor material, [1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (BTBT), a series of highly conductive organic metals with the composition of (BTBT)2XF6 (X = P, As, Sb, and Ta) are prepared and the structural and physical properties are investigated. The room-temperature conductivity amounts to 4100 S cm(-1) in the AsF6 salt, corresponding to the drift mobility of 16 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Owing to the high conductivity, this salt shows a thermoelectric power factor of 55-88 μW K(-2) m(-1), which is a large value when this compound is regarded as an organic thermoelectric material. The thermoelectric power and the reflectance spectrum indicate a large bandwidth of 1.4 eV. These salts exhibit an abrupt resistivity jump under 200 K, which turns to an insulating state below 60 K. The paramagnetic spin susceptibility, and the Raman and the IR spectra suggest 4kF charge-density waves as an origin of the low-temperature insulating state.

Complex dewetting scenarios of ultrathin silicon films for large-scale nanoarchitectures.

Science.gov (United States)

Naffouti, Meher; Backofen, Rainer; Salvalaglio, Marco; Bottein, Thomas; Lodari, Mario; Voigt, Axel; David, Thomas; Benkouider, Abdelmalek; Fraj, Ibtissem; Favre, Luc; Ronda, Antoine; Berbezier, Isabelle; Grosso, David; Abbarchi, Marco; Bollani, Monica

2017-11-01

Dewetting is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature; many different thin films of organic and inorganic substances (such as liquids, polymers, metals, and semiconductors) share this shape instability driven by surface tension and mass transport. Via templated solid-state dewetting, we frame complex nanoarchitectures of monocrystalline silicon on insulator with unprecedented precision and reproducibility over large scales. Phase-field simulations reveal the dominant role of surface diffusion as a driving force for dewetting and provide a predictive tool to further engineer this hybrid top-down/bottom-up self-assembly method. Our results demonstrate that patches of thin monocrystalline films of metals and semiconductors share the same dewetting dynamics. We also prove the potential of our method by fabricating nanotransfer molding of metal oxide xerogels on silicon and glass substrates. This method allows the novel possibility of transferring these Si-based patterns on different materials, which do not usually undergo dewetting, offering great potential also for microfluidic or sensing applications.

Effects of aging on the structural, mechanical, and thermal properties of the silicone rubber current transformer insulation bushing for a 500 kV substation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhigao; Zhang, Xinghai; Wang, Fangqiang; Lan, Xinsheng; Zhou, Yiqian

2016-01-01

In order to analyze the cracking and aging reason of the silicone rubber current transformer (CT) insulation bushing used for 8 years from a 500 kV alternating current substation, characteristics including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, mechanical properties analysis, hardness, and thermo gravimetric analysis have been carried out. The FTIR results indicated that the external surface of the silicone rubber CT insulation bushing suffered from more serious aging than the internal part, fracture of side chain Si-C bond was much more than the backbone. Mechanical properties and thermal stability results illustrated that the main aging reasons were the breakage of side chain Si-C bond and the excessive cross-linking reaction of the backbone. This study can provide valuable basis for evaluating degradation mechanism and aging state of the silicone rubber insulation bushing in electric power field.

Tunable complex-valued multi-tap microwave photonic filter based on single silicon-on-insulator microring resonator.

Science.gov (United States)

Lloret, Juan; Sancho, Juan; Pu, Minhao; Gasulla, Ivana; Yvind, Kresten; Sales, Salvador; Capmany, José

2011-06-20

A complex-valued multi-tap tunable microwave photonic filter based on single silicon-on-insulator microring resonator is presented. The degree of tunability of the approach involving two, three and four taps is theoretical and experimentally characterized, respectively. The constraints of exploiting the optical phase transfer function of a microring resonator aiming at implementing complex-valued multi-tap filtering schemes are also reported. The trade-off between the degree of tunability without changing the free spectral range and the number of taps is studied in-depth. Different window based scenarios are evaluated for improving the filter performance in terms of the side-lobe level.

Software-defined networking control plane for seamless integration of multiple silicon photonic switches in Datacom networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yiwen; Hattink, Maarten H N; Samadi, Payman; Cheng, Qixiang; Hu, Ziyiz; Gazman, Alexander; Bergman, Keren

2018-04-16

Silicon photonics based switches offer an effective option for the delivery of dynamic bandwidth for future large-scale Datacom systems while maintaining scalable energy efficiency. The integration of a silicon photonics-based optical switching fabric within electronic Datacom architectures requires novel network topologies and arbitration strategies to effectively manage the active elements in the network. We present a scalable software-defined networking control plane to integrate silicon photonic based switches with conventional Ethernet or InfiniBand networks. Our software-defined control plane manages both electronic packet switches and multiple silicon photonic switches for simultaneous packet and circuit switching. We built an experimental Dragonfly network testbed with 16 electronic packet switches and 2 silicon photonic switches to evaluate our control plane. Observed latencies occupied by each step of the switching procedure demonstrate a total of 344 µs control plane latency for data-center and high performance computing platforms.

Highly Insulating Windows Volume Purchase Program Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2013-04-01

This report documents the development, execution outcomes and lessons learned of the Highly Insulating Windows Volume Purchase (WVP) Program carried out over a three-year period from 2009 through 2012. The primary goals of the program were met: 1) reduce the incremental cost of highly insulating windows compared to ENERGY STAR windows; and 2) raise the public and potential buyers’ awareness of highly insulating windows and their benefits. A key outcome of the program is that the 2013 ENERGY STAR Most Efficient criteria for primary residential windows were adopted from the technical specifications set forth in the WVP program.

Highly Efficient Optical Pumping of Spin Defects in Silicon Carbide for Stimulated Microwave Emission

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, M.; Sperlich, A.; Kraus, H.; Ohshima, T.; Astakhov, G. V.; Dyakonov, V.

2018-05-01

We investigate the pump efficiency of silicon-vacancy-related spins in silicon carbide. For a crystal inserted into a microwave cavity with a resonance frequency of 9.4 GHz, the spin population inversion factor of 75 with the saturation optical pump power of about 350 mW is achieved at room temperature. At cryogenic temperature, the pump efficiency drastically increases, owing to an exceptionally long spin-lattice relaxation time exceeding one minute. Based on the experimental results, we find realistic conditions under which a silicon carbide maser can operate in continuous-wave mode and serve as a quantum microwave amplifier.

Power Versus Bandwidth Efficiency in Wireless Communication: The Economic Perspective

OpenAIRE

Akhtman, Jos; Hanzo, Lajos

2009-01-01

We carry out a comprehensive analysis of a range of wireless network efficiency considerations. Firstly, we explore the properties and the implications of the power- versus bandwidth-efficiency criteria. Secondly, we perform a detailed top-down analysis of a typical commercial wireless network, which emphasizes the inherent differences between the aforementioned two efficiency metrics, while demonstrating that the appropriate choice of the network optimization criterion can have a profound ef...

The High-efficiency LED Driver for Visible Light Communication Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Cihun-Siyong Alex; Lee, Yu-Chen; Lai, Jyun-Liang; Yu, Chueh-Hao; Huang, Li Ren; Yang, Chia-Yen

2016-08-08

This paper presents a LED driver for VLC. The main purpose is to solve the low data rate problem used to be in switching type LED driver. The GaN power device is proposed to replace the traditional silicon power device of switching LED driver for the purpose of increasing switching frequency of converter, thereby increasing the bandwidth of data transmission. To achieve high efficiency, the diode-connected GaN power transistor is utilized to replace the traditional ultrafast recovery diode used to be in switching type LED driver. This work has been experimentally evaluated on 350-mA output current. The results demonstrate that it supports the data of PWM dimming level encoded in the PPM scheme for VLC application. The experimental results also show that system's efficiency of 80.8% can be achieved at 1-Mb/s data rate.

Study of the photo-detection efficiency of FBK High-Density silicon photomultipliers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zappalà, G.; Regazzoni, V.; Acerbi, F.; Ferri, A.; Gola, A.; Paternoster, G.; Zorzi, N.; Piemonte, C.

2016-01-01

This work presents a study of the factors contributing to the Photo-Detection Efficiency of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs): Quantum Efficiency, Triggering Probability and Fill Factor. Two different SiPM High-Density technologies are tested, NUV-HD, based on n-on-p junction, and RGB-HD, based on p-on-n junction, developed at FBK, Trento. The quantum efficiency was measured on photodiodes produced along with the SiPMs. The triggering probability, as a function of wavelength and bias voltage, was measured on circular Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) with 100% fill factor. Square SPADs, having the same layout of single SiPM cells, were studied to measure the effective fill factor and compare it to the nominal value. The comparison of the circular and square SPADs allows to get the transition region size between the effective active area of the cell and the one defined by the layout.

Large-area hexagonal silicon detectors for the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter

Science.gov (United States)

Pree, E.

2018-02-01

During the so-called Phase-2 Upgrade, the CMS experiment at CERN will undergo significant improvements to cope with the 10-fold luminosity increase of the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) era. Especially the forward calorimetry will suffer from very high radiation levels and intensified pileup in the detectors. For this reason, the CMS collaboration is designing a High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) to replace the existing endcap calorimeters. It features unprecedented transverse and longitudinal segmentation for both electromagnetic (CE-E) and hadronic (CE-H) compartments. The CE-E and a large fraction of CE-H will consist of a sandwich structure with silicon as active detector material. This paper presents an overview of the ongoing sensor development for the HGCAL and highlights important design features and measurement techniques. The design and layout of an 8-inch silicon sensor prototype is shown. The hexagonal sensors consist of 235 pads, each with an area of about 1 cm2. Furthermore, Synopsys TCAD simulations regarding the high voltage stability of the sensors for different geometric parameters are performed. Finally, two different IV characterisation methods are compared on the same sensor.

Silicon based light emitter utilizing tunnel injection of excess carriers via MIS structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arguirov, Tzanimir; Kittler, Martin [IHP - Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics, Im Technologiepark 25, 15236 Frankfurt (Oder) (Germany); IHP/BTU Joint Lab BTU Cottbus, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 1, 03013 Cottbus (Germany); Wenger, Christian; Lukosius, Mindaugas [IHP - Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics, Im Technologiepark 25, 15236 Frankfurt (Oder) (Germany); Mchedlidze, Teimuraz [IHP/BTU Joint Lab BTU Cottbus, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 1, 03013 Cottbus (Germany); Reiche, Manfred [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle (Germany)

2011-04-15

We report on electro-luminescence from metal-insulator-semiconductor diodes (MISLED). MISLEDs prepared on silicon with HfO2 layers of different thicknesses were investigated and their properties compared with such prepared by using SiO2 insulator layer. The role of the insulator layer was studied in view of the efficiency of the band-to-band radiation from silicon. We show that the luminescence efficiency depends on the dielectric constant of the insulator as well as on its ability to conduct carriers by tunnelling. Efficiency enhancement of 3.3 times was detected when the SiO{sub 2} insulator was substituted by HfO{sub 2} in the MIS emitter. Optimal injection current exists, which leads to a maximal efficiency of the luminescence. The optimal current depends strongly on the thickness of the oxide. We relate the existence of an optimal current with the depth at which the injected minority carriers recombine radiatively. Thus the electric field in the semiconductor and the surface recombination are the factors determining the optimal injection (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Large On-Chip Amplification in Silicon via Forward Stimulated Brillouin Scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kittlaus, Eric [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States); Shin, Heedeuk [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States); Rakich, Peter [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

2015-10-15

Strong Brillouin coupling has only recently been realized in silicon using a new class of op- tomechanical waveguides that yield both optical and phononic con nement. Despite these major advances, appreciable Brillouin ampli cation has yet to be observed in silicon. Using new membrane- suspended silicon waveguide we report large Brillouin ampli cation for the rst time, reaching levels greater than 5 dB for modest pump powers, and demonstrate a record low (5 mW) threshold for net ampli cation. This work represents a crucial advance necessary to realize high-performance Brillouin lasers and ampli ers in silicon.

A high efficiency lateral light emitting device on SOI

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoang, T.; Le Minh, P.; Holleman, J.; Zieren, V.; Goossens, M.J.; Schmitz, Jurriaan

2005-01-01

The infrared light emission of lateral p/sup +/-p-n/sup +/ diodes realized on SIMOX-SOI (separation by implantation of oxygen - silicon on insulator) substrates has been studied. The confinement of the free carriers in one dimension due to the buried oxide was suggested to be a key point to increase

Photoinduced Field-Effect Passivation from Negative Carrier Accumulation for High-Efficiency Silicon/Organic Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhaolang; Yang, Zhenhai; Wu, Sudong; Zhu, Juye; Guo, Wei; Sheng, Jiang; Ye, Jichun; Cui, Yi

2017-12-26

Carrier recombination and light management of the dopant-free silicon/organic heterojunction solar cells (HSCs) based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) are the critical factors in developing high-efficiency photovoltaic devices. However, the traditional passivation technologies can hardly provide efficient surface passivation on the front surface of Si. In this study, a photoinduced electric field was induced in a bilayer antireflective coating (ARC) of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) films, due to formation of an accumulation layer of negative carriers (O 2 - species) under UV (sunlight) illumination. This photoinduced field not only suppressed the silicon surface recombination but also enhanced the built-in potential of HSCs with 84 mV increment. In addition, this photoactive ARC also displayed the outstanding light-trapping capability. The front PEDOT:PSS/Si HSC with the saturated O 2 - received a champion PCE of 15.51% under AM 1.5 simulated sunlight illumination. It was clearly demonstrated that the photoinduced electric field was a simple, efficient, and low-cost method for the surface passivation and contributed to achieve a high efficiency when applied in the Si/PEDOT:PSS HSCs.

Reentrant Metal-Insulator Transitions in Silicon -

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, John William M.

This thesis describes a study of reentrant metal -insulator transitions observed in the inversion layer of extremely high mobility Si-MOSFETs. Magneto-transport measurements were carried out in the temperature range 20mK-4.2 K in a ^3He/^4 He dilution refrigerator which was surrounded by a 15 Tesla superconducting magnet. Below a melting temperature (T_{M}~500 mK) and a critical electron density (n_{s }~9times10^{10} cm^{-2}), the Shubnikov -de Haas oscillations in the diagonal resistivity enormous maximum values at the half filled Landau levels while maintaining deep minima corresponding to the quantum Hall effect at filled Landau levels. At even lower electron densities the insulating regions began to spread and eventually a metal-insulator transition could be induced at zero magnetic field. The measurement of extremely large resistances in the milliKelvin temperature range required the use of very low currents (typically in the 10^ {-12} A range) and in certain measurements minimizing the noise was also a consideration. The improvements achieved in these areas through the use of shielding, optical decouplers and battery operated instruments are described. The transport signatures of the insulating state are considered in terms of two basic mechanisms: single particle localization with transport by variable range hopping and the formation of a collective state such as a pinned Wigner crystal or electron solid with transport through the motion of bound dislocation pairs. The experimental data is best described by the latter model. Thus the two dimensional electron system in these high mobility Si-MOSFETs provides the first and only experimental demonstration to date of the formation of an electron solid at zero and low magnetic fields in the quantum limit where the Coulomb interaction energy dominates over the zero point oscillation energy. The role of disorder in favouring either single particle localization or the formation of a Wigner crystal is explored by

Functional silicone copolymers and elastomers with high dielectric permittivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Frederikke Bahrt; Daugaard, Anders Egede; Hvilsted, Søren

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are a new and promising transducer technology and are often referred to as ‘artificial muscles’, due to their ability to undergo large deformations when stimulated by electric fields. DEs consist of a soft and thin elastomeric film sandwiched between compliant electrodes......, thereby forming a capacitor [1]. Silicone elastomers are one of the most used materials for DEs due to their high efficiency, fast response times and low viscous losses. The major disadvantage of silicone elastomers is that they possess relatively low dielectric permittivity, which means that a high...... electrical field is necessary to operate the DE. The necessary electrical field can be lowered by creating silicone elastomers with higher dielectric permittivity, i.e. with a higher energy density.The aim of this work is to create new and improved silicone elastomers with high dielectric permittivity...

Topology Optimized Photonic Wire Splitters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frandsen, Lars Hagedorn; Borel, Peter Ingo; Jensen, Jakob Søndergaard

2006-01-01

Photonic wire splitters have been designed using topology optimization. The splitters have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material and display broadband low-loss 3dB splitting in a bandwidth larger than 100 nm.......Photonic wire splitters have been designed using topology optimization. The splitters have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material and display broadband low-loss 3dB splitting in a bandwidth larger than 100 nm....

Hybrid III-V/silicon lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Kaspar, P.; Jany, C.; Le Liepvre, A.; Accard, A.; Lamponi, M.; Make, D.; Levaufre, G.; Girard, N.; Lelarge, F.; Shen, A.; Charbonnier, P.; Mallecot, F.; Duan, G.-H.; Gentner, J.-.; Fedeli, J.-M.; Olivier, S.; Descos, A.; Ben Bakir, B.; Messaoudene, S.; Bordel, D.; Malhouitre, S.; Kopp, C.; Menezo, S.

2014-05-01

The lack of potent integrated light emitters is one of the bottlenecks that have so far hindered the silicon photonics platform from revolutionizing the communication market. Photonic circuits with integrated light sources have the potential to address a wide range of applications from short-distance data communication to long-haul optical transmission. Notably, the integration of lasers would allow saving large assembly costs and reduce the footprint of optoelectronic products by combining photonic and microelectronic functionalities on a single chip. Since silicon and germanium-based sources are still in their infancy, hybrid approaches using III-V semiconductor materials are currently pursued by several research laboratories in academia as well as in industry. In this paper we review recent developments of hybrid III-V/silicon lasers and discuss the advantages and drawbacks of several integration schemes. The integration approach followed in our laboratory makes use of wafer-bonded III-V material on structured silicon-on-insulator substrates and is based on adiabatic mode transfers between silicon and III-V waveguides. We will highlight some of the most interesting results from devices such as wavelength-tunable lasers and AWG lasers. The good performance demonstrates that an efficient mode transfer can be achieved between III-V and silicon waveguides and encourages further research efforts in this direction.

Silicon Nanowires for All-Optical Signal Processing in Optical Communication

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Hu, Hao; Ji, Hua

2012-01-01

Silicon (Si), the second most abundant element on earth, has dominated in microelectronics for many decades. It can also be used for photonic devices due to its transparency in the range of optical telecom wavelengths which will enable a platform for a monolithic integration of optics...... and microelectronics. Silicon photonic nanowire waveguides fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates are crucial elements in nano-photonic integrated circuits. The strong light confinement in nanowires induced by high index contrast SOI material enhances the nonlinear effects in the silicon nanowire core...... such as four-wave mixing (FWM) which is an imperative process for optical signal processing. Since the current mature silicon fabrication technology enables a precise dimension control on nanowires, dispersion engineering can be performed by tailoring nanowire dimensions to realize an efficient nonlinear...

Electromechanical stability of electro-active silicone filled with high permittivity particles undergoing large deformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Liwu; Liu, Yanju; Zhang, Zhen; Leng, Jinsong; Li, Bo

2010-01-01

In this paper, an expression for the permittivity of electro-active silicone undergoing large deformation with high permittivity particles filled uniformly has been proposed. Two expressions are proposed for the permittivity, one based on experimental tests and the other based on the theory of composite material. By applying the thermodynamic model incorporating linear dielectric permittivity and nonlinear hyperelastic performance, the mechanical performance and electromechanical stability of the coupling system constituted by silicone filled with PMN–PT have been studied. The results show that the critical electric field decreases, namely the stability performance of the system declines when the content of PMN–PT c(v) increases and the electrostrictive coefficients increase. The results are beneficial for us to understand deeply the influence of the filled particle on the stability performance of silicone and to guide the design and manufacture of actuators and sensors based on dielectric elastomers

Coarse-Grain Bandwidth Estimation Scheme for Large-Scale Network

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Kar-Ming; Jennings, Esther H.; Sergui, John S.

2013-01-01

A large-scale network that supports a large number of users can have an aggregate data rate of hundreds of Mbps at any time. High-fidelity simulation of a large-scale network might be too complicated and memory-intensive for typical commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools. Unlike a large commercial wide-area-network (WAN) that shares diverse network resources among diverse users and has a complex topology that requires routing mechanism and flow control, the ground communication links of a space network operate under the assumption of a guaranteed dedicated bandwidth allocation between specific sparse endpoints in a star-like topology. This work solved the network design problem of estimating the bandwidths of a ground network architecture option that offer different service classes to meet the latency requirements of different user data types. In this work, a top-down analysis and simulation approach was created to size the bandwidths of a store-and-forward network for a given network topology, a mission traffic scenario, and a set of data types with different latency requirements. These techniques were used to estimate the WAN bandwidths of the ground links for different architecture options of the proposed Integrated Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Network. A new analytical approach, called the "leveling scheme," was developed to model the store-and-forward mechanism of the network data flow. The term "leveling" refers to the spreading of data across a longer time horizon without violating the corresponding latency requirement of the data type. Two versions of the leveling scheme were developed: 1. A straightforward version that simply spreads the data of each data type across the time horizon and doesn't take into account the interactions among data types within a pass, or between data types across overlapping passes at a network node, and is inherently sub-optimal. 2. Two-state Markov leveling scheme that takes into account the second order behavior of

Irradiation effects on high efficiency Si solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen Duy, T.; Amingual, D.; Colardelle, P.; Bernard, J.

1974-01-01

By optimizing the diffusion parameters, high efficiency cells are obtained with 2ohmsxcm (13.5% AMO) and 10ohmsxcm (12.5% AMO) silicon material. These new cells have been submitted to radiation tests under 1MeV, 2MeV electrons and 2.5MeV protons. Their behavior under irradiation is found to be dependent only on the bulk material. By using the same resistivity silicon, the rate of degradation is exactly the same than those of conventional cells. The power increase, due to a better superficial response of the cell, is maintained after irradiation. These results show that new high efficiency cells offer an E.O.L. power higher than conventional cells [fr

Influence for high intensity irradiation on characteristics of silicon strip-detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anokhin, I.E.; Pugatch, V.M.; Zinets, O.S.

1995-01-01

Full text: Silicon strip detectors (SSD) are widely used for the coordinate determination of short-range as well as minimum ionizing particles with high spatial resolution. Submicron position sensitivity of strip-detectors for short-range particles has been studied by means of two dimensional analyses of charges collected by neighboring strips as well as by measurement of charge collection times [1]. Silicon strip detectors was also used for testing high energy electron beam [2]. Under large fluences the radiation defects are stored and such characteristics of strip-detectors as an accuracy of the coordinate determination and the registration efficiency are significantly changed. Radiation defects lead to a decrease of the lifetime and mobility of charge carriers and therefore to changes of conditions for the charge collection in detectors. The inhomogeneity in spatial distribution if defects and electrical field plays an important role in the charge collection. In this report the role of the diffusion and drift in the charge collection in silicon strip-detectors under irradiation up to 10 Mrad has been studied. The electric field distribution and its dependence on the radiation dose in the detector have been calculated. It is shown that for particles incident between adjacent strips the coordinate determination precision depends strongly on the detector geometry and the electric field distribution, particularly in the vicinity of strips. Measuring simultaneously the collected charges and collection times on adjacent strips one can essentially improve reliability of the coordinate determination for short-range particles. Usually SSD are fabricated on n-type wafers. It is well known that under high intensity irradiation n-Si material converts into p-Si as far as p-type silicon is more radiative hard than n-type silicon [3] it is reasonable to fabricate SSD using high resistivity p-Si. Characteristics of SSD in basis n-and P-Si have been compared and higher

Numerical quantification and minimization of perimeter losses in high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Altermatt, P.P.; Heiser, Gernot; Green, M.A. [New South Wales Univ., Kensington, NSW (Australia)

1996-09-01

This paper presents a quantitative analysis of perimeter losses in high-efficiency silicon solar cells. A new method of numerical modelling is used, which provides the means to simulate a full-sized solar cell, including its perimeter region. We analyse the reduction in efficiency due to perimeter losses as a function of the distance between the active cell area and the cut edge. It is shown how the optimum distance depends on whether the cells in the panel are shingled or not. The simulations also indicate that passivating the cut-face with a thermal oxide does not increase cell efficiency substantially. Therefore, doping schemes for the perimeter domain are suggested in order to increase efficiency levels above present standards. Finally, perimeter effects in cells that remain embedded in the wafer during the efficiency measurement are outlined. (author)

Crystalline-Amorphous Core−Shell Silicon Nanowires for High Capacity and High Current Battery Electrodes

KAUST Repository

Cui, Li-Feng

2009-01-14

Silicon is an attractive alloy-type anode material for lithium ion batteries because of its highest known capacity (4200 mAh/g). However silicon\\'s large volume change upon lithium insertion and extraction, which causes pulverization and capacity fading, has limited its applications. Designing nanoscale hierarchical structures is a novel approach to address the issues associated with the large volume changes. In this letter, we introduce a core-shell design of silicon nanowires for highpower and long-life lithium battery electrodes. Silicon crystalline- amorphous core-shell nanowires were grown directly on stainless steel current collectors by a simple one-step synthesis. Amorphous Si shells instead of crystalline Si cores can be selected to be electrochemically active due to the difference of their lithiation potentials. Therefore, crystalline Si cores function as a stable mechanical support and an efficient electrical conducting pathway while amorphous shells store Li ions. We demonstrate here that these core-shell nanowires have high charge storage capacity (̃1000 mAh/g, 3 times of carbon) with ̃90% capacity retention over 100 cycles. They also show excellent electrochemical performance at high rate charging and discharging (6.8 A/g, ̃20 times of carbon at 1 h rate). © 2009 American Chemical Society.

Ultrathin silicon oxynitride layer on GaN for dangling-bond-free GaN/insulator interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishio, Kengo; Yayama, Tomoe; Miyazaki, Takehide; Taoka, Noriyuki; Shimizu, Mitsuaki

2018-01-23

Despite the scientific and technological importance of removing interface dangling bonds, even an ideal model of a dangling-bond-free interface between GaN and an insulator has not been known. The formation of an atomically thin ordered buffer layer between crystalline GaN and amorphous SiO 2 would be a key to synthesize a dangling-bond-free GaN/SiO 2 interface. Here, we predict that a silicon oxynitride (Si 4 O 5 N 3 ) layer can epitaxially grow on a GaN(0001) surface without creating dangling bonds at the interface. Our ab initio calculations show that the GaN/Si 4 O 5 N 3 structure is more stable than silicon-oxide-terminated GaN(0001) surfaces. The electronic properties of the GaN/Si 4 O 5 N 3 structure can be tuned by modifying the chemical components near the interface. We also propose a possible approach to experimentally synthesize the GaN/Si 4 O 5 N 3 structure.

Fabrication and characterization of NiO based metal-insulator-metal diode using Langmuir-Blodgett method for high frequency rectification

Science.gov (United States)

Azad, Ibrahim; Ram, Manoj K.; Goswami, D. Yogi; Stefanakos, Elias

2018-04-01

Thin film metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes have attracted significant attention for use in infrared energy harvesting and detection applications. As demonstrated over the past decades, MIM or metal-insulator-insulator-metal (MIIM) diodes can operate at the THz frequencies range by quantum tunneling of electrons. The aim of this work is to synthesize required ultra-thin insulating layers and fabricate MIM diodes using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. The nickel stearate (NiSt) LB precursor film was deposited on glass, silicon (Si), ITO glass and gold coated silicon substrates. The photodesorption (UV exposure) and the thermodesorption (annealing at 100 °C and 350 °C) methods were used to remove organic components from the NiSt LB film and to achieve a uniform homogenous nickel oxide (NiO) film. These ultrathin NiO films were characterized by EDS, AFM, FTIR and cyclic voltammetry methods, respectively. The MIM diode was fabricated by depositing nickel (Ni) on the NiO film, all on a gold (Au) plated silicon (Si) substrate. The current (I)-voltage (V) characteristics of the fabricated diode were studied to understand the conduction mechanism assumed to be tunneling of electron through the ultra-thin insulating layer. The sensitivity of the diode was measured to be as high as 35 V-1. The diode resistance was ˜100 ohms (at a bias voltage of 0.60 V), and the rectification ratio was about 22 (for a signal voltage of ±200 mV). At the bias point, the diode response demonstrated significant non-linearity and high asymmetry, which are very desirable characteristics for applications in infrared detection and harvesting.

Double Compression Expansion Engine: A Parametric Study on a High-Efficiency Engine Concept

KAUST Repository

Bhavani Shankar, Vijai Shankar

2018-04-03

The Double compression expansion engine (DCEE) concept has exhibited a potential for achieving high brake thermal efficiencies (BTE). The effect of different engine components on system efficiency was evaluated in this work using GT Power simulations. A parametric study on piston insulation, convection heat transfer multiplier, expander head insulation, insulation of connecting pipes, ports and tanks, and the expander intake valve lift profiles was conducted to understand the critical parameters that affected engine efficiency. The simulations were constrained to a constant peak cylinder pressure of 300 bar, and a fixed combustion phasing. The results from this study would be useful in making technology choices that will help realise the potential of this engine concept.

Ultralow power continuous-wave frequency conversion in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ke-Yao; Foster, Amy C

2012-04-15

We demonstrate wavelength conversion through nonlinear parametric processes in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) with maximum conversion efficiency of -13 dB at telecommunication data rates (10 GHz) using only 15 mW of pump peak power. Conversion bandwidths as large as 150 nm (20 THz) are measured in continuous-wave regime at telecommunication wavelengths. The nonlinear refractive index of the material is determined by four-wave mixing (FWM) to be n(2)=7.43×10(-13) cm(2)/W, approximately an order of magnitude larger than that of single crystal silicon. © 2012 Optical Society of America

Analysis of OFF-state and ON-state performance in a silicon-on-insulator power MOSFET with a low-k dielectric trench

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Zhigang; Zhang Bo; Li Zhaoji

2013-01-01

A novel silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET with a variable low-k dielectric trench (LDT MOSFET) is proposed and its performance and characteristics are investigated. The trench in the drift region between drain and source is filled with low-k dielectric to extend the effective drift region. At OFF state, the low-k dielectric trench (LDT) can sustain high voltage and enhance the dielectric field due to the accumulation of ionized charges. At the same time, the vertical dielectric field in the buried oxide can also be enhanced by these ionized charges. Additionally, ON-state analysis of LDT MOSFET demonstrates excellent forward characteristics, such as low gate-to-drain charge density ( 2 ) and a robust safe operating area (0–84 V). (semiconductor devices)

Brain inspired high performance electronics on flexible silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2014-01-01

Brain's stunning speed, energy efficiency and massive parallelism makes it the role model for upcoming high performance computation systems. Although human brain components are a million times slower than state of the art silicon industry components

Materials and Light Management for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

OpenAIRE

Tan, H.

2015-01-01

Direct conversion of sunlight into electricity is one of the most promising approaches to provide sufficient renewable energy for humankind. Solar cells are such devices which can efficiently generate electricity from sunlight through the photovoltaic effect. Thin-film silicon solar cells, a type of photovoltaic (PV) devices which deploy the chemical-vapor-deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) and their alloys as the absorber layers and doped ...

Performance of the THS4302 and the Class V Radiation-Tolerant THS4304-SP Silicon Germanium Wideband Amplifiers at Extreme Temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Richard L.; Elbuluk, Malik; Hammoud, Ahmad; VanKeuls, Frederick W.

2009-01-01

This report discusses the performance of silicon germanium, wideband gain amplifiers under extreme temperatures. The investigated devices include Texas Instruments THS4304-SP and THS4302 amplifiers. Both chips are manufactured using the BiCom3 process based on silicon germanium technology along with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) buried oxide layers. The THS4304-SP device was chosen because it is a Class V radiation-tolerant (150 kRad, TID silicon), voltage-feedback operational amplifier designed for use in high-speed analog signal applications and is very desirable for NASA missions. It operates with a single 5 V power supply [1]. It comes in a 10-pin ceramic flatpack package, and it provides balanced inputs, low offset voltage and offset current, and high common mode rejection ratio. The fixed-gain THS4302 chip, which comes in a 16-pin leadless package, offers high bandwidth, high slew rate, low noise, and low distortion [2]. Such features have made the amplifier useful in a number of applications such as wideband signal processing, wireless transceivers, intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) preamplifier, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) output buffer, measurement instrumentation, and medical and industrial imaging.

Ultraviolet Plasmonic Aluminium Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient Light Incoupling on Silicon Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinan Zhang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Plasmonic metal nanoparticles supporting localized surface plasmon resonances have attracted a great deal of interest in boosting the light absorption in solar cells. Among the various plasmonic materials, the aluminium nanoparticles recently have become a rising star due to their unique ultraviolet plasmonic resonances, low cost, earth-abundance and high compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS manufacturing process. Here, we report some key factors that determine the light incoupling of aluminium nanoparticles located on the front side of silicon solar cells. We first numerically study the scattering and absorption properties of the aluminium nanoparticles and the influence of the nanoparticle shape, size, surface coverage and the spacing layer on the light incoupling using the finite difference time domain method. Then, we experimentally integrate 100-nm aluminium nanoparticles on the front side of silicon solar cells with varying silicon nitride thicknesses. This study provides the fundamental insights for designing aluminium nanoparticle-based light trapping on solar cells.

UV and air stability of high-efficiency photoluminescent silicon nanocrystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Jihua, E-mail: yangj@umn.edu [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Liptak, Richard [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Department of Physics and Optical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 5500 Wabash Ave, Terre Haute, IN 47803 (United States); Rowe, David; Wu, Jeslin [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Casey, James; Witker, David [Dow Corning Corporation, 2200 W. Salzburg Road, Midland, MI 48686 (United States); Campbell, Stephen A. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Kortshagen, Uwe, E-mail: kortshagen@umn.edu [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)

2014-12-30

The effects of UV light and air exposure on the photoluminescent properties of nonthermal plasma-synthesized silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) were investigated. Si NCs with high-efficiency photoluminescence (PL) have been achieved via a post-synthesis hydrosilylation process. Photobleaching is observed within the first few hours of ultra-violet (UV) irradiation. Equilibrium is reached after ∼4 h of UV exposure wherein the Si NCs are able to retain 52% of the initially measured PL quantum yield (PLQY). UV-treated Si NCs showed recovery of PL with time. Gas-phase passivation of Si NCs by hydrogen afterglow injection improves PLQY and PL stability against UV and air exposure. Additionally, phosphorous doping can also improve UV stability of photoluminescent Si NCs.

Ultra-high-speed Optical Signal Processing using Silicon Photonics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oxenløwe, Leif Katsuo; Ji, Hua; Jensen, Asger Sellerup

with a photonic layer on top to interconnect them. For such systems, silicon is an attractive candidate enabling both electronic and photonic control. For some network scenarios, it may be beneficial to use optical on-chip packet switching, and for high data-density environments one may take advantage...... of the ultra-fast nonlinear response of silicon photonic waveguides. These chips offer ultra-broadband wavelength operation, ultra-high timing resolution and ultra-fast response, and when used appropriately offer energy-efficient switching. In this presentation we review some all-optical functionalities based...... on silicon photonics. In particular we use nano-engineered silicon waveguides (nanowires) [1] enabling efficient phasematched four-wave mixing (FWM), cross-phase modulation (XPM) or self-phase modulation (SPM) for ultra-high-speed optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals. We show...

Knee implant imaging at 3 Tesla using high-bandwidth radiofrequency pulses.

Science.gov (United States)

Bachschmidt, Theresa J; Sutter, Reto; Jakob, Peter M; Pfirrmann, Christian W A; Nittka, Mathias

2015-06-01

To investigate the impact of high-bandwidth radiofrequency (RF) pulses used in turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences or combined with slice encoding for metal artifact correction (SEMAC) on artifact reduction at 3 Tesla in the knee in the presence of metal. Local transmit/receive coils feature increased maximum B1 amplitude, reduced SAR exposition and thus enable the application of high-bandwidth RF pulses. Susceptibility-induced through-plane distortion scales inversely with the RF bandwidth and the view angle, hence blurring, increases for higher RF bandwidths, when SEMAC is used. These effects were assessed for a phantom containing a total knee arthroplasty. TSE and SEMAC sequences with conventional and high RF bandwidths and different contrasts were tested on eight patients with different types of implants. To realize scan times of 7 to 9 min, SEMAC was always applied with eight slice-encoding steps and distortion was rated by two radiologists. A local transmit/receive knee coil enables the use of an RF bandwidth of 4 kHz compared with 850 Hz in conventional sequences. Phantom scans confirm the relation of RF bandwidth and through-plane distortion, which can be reduced up to 79%, and demonstrate the increased blurring for high-bandwidth RF pulses. In average, artifacts in this RF mode are rated hardly visible for patients with joint arthroplasties, when eight SEMAC slice-encoding steps are applied, and for patients with titanium fixtures, when TSE is used. The application of high-bandwidth RF pulses by local transmit coils substantially reduces through-plane distortion artifacts at 3 Tesla. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The dark side of silicon energy efficient computing in the dark silicon era

CERN Document Server

Liljeberg, Pasi; Hemani, Ahmed; Jantsch, Axel; Tenhunen, Hannu

2017-01-01

This book presents the state-of-the art of one of the main concerns with microprocessors today, a phenomenon known as "dark silicon". Readers will learn how power constraints (both leakage and dynamic power) limit the extent to which large portions of a chip can be powered up at a given time, i.e. how much actual performance and functionality the microprocessor can provide. The authors describe their research toward the future of microprocessor development in the dark silicon era, covering a variety of important aspects of dark silicon-aware architectures including design, management, reliability, and test. Readers will benefit from specific recommendations for mitigating the dark silicon phenomenon, including energy-efficient, dedicated solutions and technologies to maximize the utilization and reliability of microprocessors. Enables readers to understand the dark silicon phenomenon and why it has emerged, including detailed analysis of its impacts; Presents state-of-the-art research, as well as tools for mi...

Thermal radiative near field transport between vanadium dioxide and silicon oxide across the metal insulator transition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Menges, F.; Spieser, M.; Riel, H.; Gotsmann, B., E-mail: bgo@zurich.ibm.com [IBM Research-Zurich, Säumerstrasse 4, CH-8803 Rüschlikon (Switzerland); Dittberner, M. [IBM Research-Zurich, Säumerstrasse 4, CH-8803 Rüschlikon (Switzerland); Photonics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Novotny, L. [Photonics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich (Switzerland); Passarello, D.; Parkin, S. S. P. [IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120 (United States)

2016-04-25

The thermal radiative near field transport between vanadium dioxide and silicon oxide at submicron distances is expected to exhibit a strong dependence on the state of vanadium dioxide which undergoes a metal-insulator transition near room temperature. We report the measurement of near field thermal transport between a heated silicon oxide micro-sphere and a vanadium dioxide thin film on a titanium oxide (rutile) substrate. The temperatures of the 15 nm vanadium dioxide thin film varied to be below and above the metal-insulator-transition, and the sphere temperatures were varied in a range between 100 and 200 °C. The measurements were performed using a vacuum-based scanning thermal microscope with a cantilevered resistive thermal sensor. We observe a thermal conductivity per unit area between the sphere and the film with a distance dependence following a power law trend and a conductance contrast larger than 2 for the two different phase states of the film.

Performance of current-in-plane pseudo-spin-valve devices on CMOS silicon-on-insulator underlayers

Science.gov (United States)

Katti, R. R.; Zou, D.; Reed, D.; Schipper, D.; Hynes, O.; Shaw, G.; Kaakani, H.

2003-05-01

Prior work has shown that current-in-plane (CIP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) pseudo-spin-valve (PSV) devices grown on bulk Si wafers and bulk complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) underlayers exhibit write and read characteristics that are suitable for application as nonvolatile memory devices. In this work, CIP GMR PSV devices fabricated on silicon-on-insulator CMOS underlayers are shown to support write and read performance. Reading and writing fields for selected devices are shown to be approximately 25%-50% that of unselected devices, which provides a margin for reading and writing specific bits in a memory without overwriting bits and without disturbing other bits. The switching characteristics of experimental devices were compared to and found to be similar with Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert micromagnetic modeling results, which allowed inferring regions of reversible and irreversible rotations in magnetic reversal processes.

Radiation tests on selected electrical insulating materials for high-power and high voltage application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liptak, G.; Schuler, R.; Haberthuer, B.; Mueller, H.; Zeier, W.; Maier, P.; Schoenbacher, H.

1985-01-01

This report presents a comprehensive set of test results on the irradiation of insulating materials and systems used for the windings of rotating machines, dry-type transformers, and magnet coils. The materials were: Novolac, bisphenol-A, and cycloaliphatic types of epoxy; saturated and unsaturated polyesterimide; silicone, phenolic, and acrylic resins. The reinforcement consisted of glass mat, glass roving, glass cloth, mica paper, polyester mat, polyester roving, polyester cloth, aromatic polyamide paper, or combinations thereof. The materials were irradiated in an 8 MW pool reactor up to integrated doses of 10 8 Gy. On most samples, flexural properties were examined as recommended by IEC Standard 544. For tapes and varnishes, the breakdown voltage was measured. The adhesion of copper bars glued together with an epoxy resin was examined by means of a lap-shear test. A cupping test by means of the Erichsen apparatus was used to measure the flexibility of varnishes. The results are presented in tables and graphs for each of the materials tested. Those from mechanical tests show that the radiation resistance of composite resin-rich insulations depends not only on the base resin combination and the reinforcement material but, to a large degree, also on the adhesion between the two. It appears that better adhesion, and consequently higher radiation resistance, is obtained by special surface treatments of glass fibres. For laminates, higher radiation resistance is obtained with glass mat and resin combinations than with glass cloth as reinforcing materials. The breakdown voltage tests show that the application of mechanical stress to most irradiated samples causes the insulation layer to crack, resulting in lower dielectric strength. For a number of materials, the critical properties of flexural strength and breakdown voltage are above 50% of the initial value at doses between 10 7 and 10 8 Gy, i.e. a radiation index of 7 to 8 at 10 5 Gy/h. (orig.)

A Study on Gas Insulation Characteristics for Design Optimization of High Voltage Power Apparatus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, I S; Kim, M K; Seo, K S; Moon, I W; Choi, C K [Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (Korea, Republic of)

1996-12-01

This study aim of obtaining the basic data for gas insulation in the high voltage apparatus and for investigating the breakdown characteristics in uniform field and non-uniform which the geometric construction in the practical power apparatus. In this study, the research results on the insulation technology published earlier are reviewed and the basic data for an optimum design of a high voltage apparatus are obtained thorough the experiment and computer simulation by using a uniform field. The main result are summarized as follows: (A) Investigation on the insulation technology in a large-capacity power apparatus. (B) Investigation on the breakdown characteristics in particle contaminated condition. (C) Investigation on the design in computer simulation. (D) Investigation on the simulation technology of breakdown characteristics. (E) Investigation on breakdown characteristics in the nonuniform field and experiment. (author). refs., figs., tabs.

Global climate change: Mitigation opportunities high efficiency large chiller technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stanga, M.V.

1997-12-31

This paper, comprised of presentation viewgraphs, examines the impact of high efficiency large chiller technology on world electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Background data are summarized, and sample calculations are presented. Calculations show that presently available high energy efficiency chiller technology has the ability to substantially reduce energy consumption from large chillers. If this technology is widely implemented on a global basis, it could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 million tons by 2010.

High Efficiency Large-Angle Pancharatnam Phase Deflector Based on Dual Twist Design

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-16

construction and characterization of a ±40° beam steering device with 90% diffraction efficiency based on our dual-twist design at 633nm wavelength...N. & Escuti, M. J. Achromatic Wollaston prism beam splitter using polarization gratings. Opt. Lett. 41, 4461–4463 (2016). 13. Slussarenko, S., et...High-efficiency large-angle Pancharatnam phase deflector based on dual-twist design Kun Gao1, Colin McGinty1, Harold Payson2, Shaun Berry2, Joseph

Large-grain polycrystalline silicon film by sequential lateral solidification on a plastic substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yong-Hae; Chung, Choong-Heui; Yun, Sun Jin; Moon, Jaehyun; Park, Dong-Jin; Kim, Dae-Won; Lim, Jung Wook; Song, Yoon-Ho; Lee, Jin Ho

2005-01-01

A large-grain polycrystalline silicon film was obtained on a plastic substrate by sequential lateral solidification. With various combinations of sputtering powers and Ar working gas pressures, the conditions for producing dense amorphous silicon (a-Si) and SiO 2 films were optimized. The successful crystallization of the a-Si film is attributed to the production of a dense a-Si film that has low argon content and can endure high-intensity laser irradiation

Effects of silicon carbide MOSFETs on the efficiency and power quality of a microgrid-connected inverter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Xiaofeng; Chen, Feida; Du, Min; Guo, Hong; Ren, Suping

2017-01-01

Highlights: •The characteristics comparison between SiC-inverter and Si-inverter is implemented, considering thermal effects. •The voltage distortion of inverters is modeling from the perspective of the behaviors of the device. •The efficiency of the microgrid-connected inverter has been greatly increased by replacing Si with SiC. •The SiC microgrid-connected inverter has smaller voltage distortion and less harmonic current than those of Si-inverter. •The proposed analytical model has been validated by the experimental test. -- Abstract: With the expanding power demands and increasing use of renewable energy resources, microgrids have been widely supported. Wide bandgap semiconductor devices with higher blocking voltage capabilities and higher switching speeds, such as silicon carbide (SiC) devices, will become a critical component in building microgrids. This paper describes a comprehensive investigation of the effects of SiC Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) on the efficiency and power quality of the inverters used in low voltage microgrids compared with conventional inverters based on silicon (Si) Insulated-gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs). First, the characteristics of both SiC and Si are measured by a double pulse test (DPT), considering thermal effects. Then, conduction and switching losses under different temperatures are calculated based on DPT results. Second, phase voltage distortions are modeled and calculated according to the tested switching and conduction characteristics of SiC, resulting in harmonic components in the phase current. Finally, an experiment is implemented. The experimental results show that the SiC-inverter greatly increases the energy efficiency and improves the power quality in the microgrid; these results are consistent with the analytical results.

Wide bandwidth transimpedance amplifier for extremely high sensitivity continuous measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Giorgio; Sampietro, Marco

2007-09-01

This article presents a wide bandwidth transimpedance amplifier based on the series of an integrator and a differentiator stage, having an additional feedback loop to discharge the standing current from the device under test (DUT) to ensure an unlimited measuring time opportunity when compared to switched discharge configurations while maintaining a large signal amplification over the full bandwidth. The amplifier shows a flat response from 0.6 Hz to 1.4 MHz, the capability to operate with leakage currents from the DUT as high as tens of nanoamperes, and rail-to-rail dynamic range for sinusoidal current signals independent of the DUT leakage current. Also available is a monitor output of the stationary current to track experimental slow drifts. The circuit is ideal for noise spectral and impedance measurements of nanodevices and biomolecules when in the presence of a physiological medium and in all cases where high sensitivity current measurements are requested such as in scanning probe microscopy systems.

High-efficiency deflection of high energy protons due to channeling along the 〈110〉 axis of a bent silicon crystal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Scandale

2016-09-01

Full Text Available A deflection efficiency of about 61% was observed for 400 GeV/c protons due to channeling, most strongly along the 〈110〉 axis of a bent silicon crystal. It is comparable with the deflection efficiency in planar channeling and considerably larger than in the case of the 〈111〉 axis. The measured probability of inelastic nuclear interactions of protons in channeling along the 〈110〉 axis is only about 10% of its amorphous level whereas in channeling along the (110 planes it is about 25%. High efficiency deflection and small beam losses make this axial orientation of a silicon crystal a useful tool for the beam steering of high energy charged particles.

Silicon heterojunction transistor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsushita, T.; Oh-uchi, N.; Hayashi, H.; Yamoto, H.

1979-01-01

SIPOS (Semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon) which is used as a surface passivation layer for highly reliable silicon devices constitutes a good heterojunction for silicon. P- or B-doped SIPOS has been used as the emitter material of a heterojunction transistor with the base and collector of silicon. An npn SIPOS-Si heterojunction transistor showing 50 times the current gain of an npn silicon homojunction transistor has been realized by high-temperature treatments in nitrogen and low-temperature annealing in hydrogen or forming gas

High-dimensional quantum key distribution based on multicore fiber using silicon photonic integrated circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ding, Yunhong; Bacco, Davide; Dalgaard, Kjeld

2017-01-01

is intrinsically limited to 1 bit/photon. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, a high-dimensional quantum key distribution protocol based on space division multiplexing in multicore fiber using silicon photonic integrated lightwave circuits. We successfully realized three mutually......-dimensional quantum states, and enables breaking the information efficiency limit of traditional quantum key distribution protocols. In addition, the silicon photonic circuits used in our work integrate variable optical attenuators, highly efficient multicore fiber couplers, and Mach-Zehnder interferometers, enabling...

52 KILN EFFICIENCY AND INSULATION. Anthony Obiy Etuokwu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HP-G61

52. KILN EFFICIENCY AND INSULATION. Anthony Obiy Etuokwu. Department of Fine and Industrial Arts,. Niger Delta University,. Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State. etuokwutony@yahoo.com. Introduction. The kiln is an insulating fire chamber that has the ability to retain the heat that is generated into it, and utilizes such heat ...

Engineered porous silicon counter electrodes for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Erwin, William R; Oakes, Landon; Chatterjee, Shahana; Zarick, Holly F; Pint, Cary L; Bardhan, Rizia

2014-06-25

In this work, we demonstrate for the first time, the use of porous silicon (P-Si) as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with efficiencies (5.38%) comparable to that achieved with platinum counter electrodes (5.80%). To activate the P-Si for triiodide reduction, few layer carbon passivation is utilized to enable electrochemical stability of the silicon surface. Our results suggest porous silicon as a promising sustainable and manufacturable alternative to rare metals for electrochemical solar cells, following appropriate surface modification.

Application of CBD-Zinc Sulfide Film as an Antireflection Coating on Very Large Area Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

U. Gangopadhyay

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The low-cost chemical bath deposition (CBD technique is used to prepare CBD-ZnS films as antireflective (AR coating for multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The uniformity of CBD-ZnS film on large area of textured multicrystalline silicon surface is the major challenge of CBD technique. In the present work, attempts have been made for the first time to improve the rate of deposition and uniformity of deposited film by controlling film stoichiometry and refractive index and also to minimize reflection loss by proper optimization of molar percentage of different chemical constituents and deposition conditions. Reasonable values of film deposition rate (12.13 Å′/min., good film uniformity (standard deviation <1, and refractive index (2.35 along with a low percentage of average reflection (6-7% on a textured mc-Si surface are achieved with proper optimization of ZnS bath. 12.24% efficiency on large area (125 mm × 125 mm multicrystalline silicon solar cells with CBD-ZnS antireflection coating has been successfully fabricated. The viability of low-cost CBD-ZnS antireflection coating on large area multicrystalline silicon solar cell in the industrial production level is emphasized.

Development of large area silicon semiconductor detectors for use in the current mode

CERN Document Server

Ouyang Xia Opin; Li Zhen Fu; Zhang Guo Guang; Zhang Qi; Zhang Xia; Song Xian Cai; Jia Huan Yi; Lei Jian Hua; Sun Yuan Cheng

2002-01-01

Large area silicon semiconductor detectors for use in the current mode, with their dimensions of phi 40, phi 50 and phi 60 mm, their depletion thickness of 200-300 mu m, have been developed. Their performance measurements have been made, which indicate that the developed detectors can satisfactorily meet the needs in expectation. Compared with the detectors commercially available on the market, authors' large PIN detectors can serve both as reliable and efficient high-resolution devices for nuclear counting experiments, as well as monitors of high-intensity radiation fields in the current mode under a bias of 100-1000 V, while the detectors commercially available are only for the counting use

Ultra-low coupling loss fully-etched apodized grating coupler with bonded metal mirror

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ding, Yunhong; Peucheret, Christophe; Ou, Haiyan

2014-01-01

A fully etched apodized grating coupler with bonded metal mirror is designed and demonstrated on the silicon-on-insulator platform, showing an ultra-low coupling loss of only 1.25 dB with 3 dB bandwidth of 69 nm.......A fully etched apodized grating coupler with bonded metal mirror is designed and demonstrated on the silicon-on-insulator platform, showing an ultra-low coupling loss of only 1.25 dB with 3 dB bandwidth of 69 nm....

Bipolar resistive switching in metal-insulator-semiconductor nanostructures based on silicon nitride and silicon oxide

Science.gov (United States)

Koryazhkina, M. N.; Tikhov, S. V.; Mikhaylov, A. N.; Belov, A. I.; Korolev, D. S.; Antonov, I. N.; Karzanov, V. V.; Gorshkov, O. N.; Tetelbaum, D. I.; Karakolis, P.; Dimitrakis, P.

2018-03-01

Bipolar resistive switching in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor-like structures with an inert Au top electrode and a Si3N4 insulator nanolayer (6 nm thick) has been observed. The effect of a highly doped n +-Si substrate and a SiO2 interlayer (2 nm) is revealed in the changes in the semiconductor space charge region and small-signal parameters of parallel and serial equivalent circuit models measured in the high- and low-resistive capacitor states, as well as under laser illumination. The increase in conductivity of the semiconductor capacitor plate significantly reduces the charging and discharging times of capacitor-like structures.

A High-Linearity Low-Noise Amplifier with Variable Bandwidth for Neural Recoding Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Takeshi; Sueishi, Katsuya; Iwata, Atsushi; Matsushita, Kojiro; Hirata, Masayuki; Suzuki, Takafumi

2011-04-01

This paper describes a low-noise amplifier with multiple adjustable parameters for neural recording applications. An adjustable pseudo-resistor implemented by cascade metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) is proposed to achieve low-signal distortion and wide variable bandwidth range. The amplifier has been implemented in 0.18 µm standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process and occupies 0.09 mm2 on chip. The amplifier achieved a selectable voltage gain of 28 and 40 dB, variable bandwidth from 0.04 to 2.6 Hz, total harmonic distortion (THD) of 0.2% with 200 mV output swing, input referred noise of 2.5 µVrms over 0.1-100 Hz and 18.7 µW power consumption at a supply voltage of 1.8 V.

Ka-band to L-band frequency down-conversion based on III-V-on-silicon photonic integrated circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Van Gasse, K.; Wang, Z.; Uvin, S.; De Deckere, B.; Mariën, J.; Thomassen, L.; Roelkens, G.

2017-12-01

In this work, we present the design, simulation and characterization of a frequency down-converter based on III-V-on-silicon photonic integrated circuit technology. We first demonstrate the concept using commercial discrete components, after which we demonstrate frequency conversion using an integrated mode-locked laser and integrated modulator. In our experiments, five channels in the Ka-band (27.5-30 GHz) with 500 MHz bandwidth are down-converted to the L-band (1.5 GHz). The breadboard demonstration shows a conversion efficiency of - 20 dB and a flat response over the 500 MHz bandwidth. The simulation of a fully integrated circuit indicates that a positive conversion gain can be obtained on a millimeter-sized photonic integrated circuit.

High efficiency high rate microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells deposited at plasma excitation frequencies larger than 100 MHz

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Strobel, C.; Leszczynska, B.; Merkel, U.; Kuske, J.; Fischer, D.D.; Albert, M.; Holovský, Jakub; Michard, S.

2015-01-01

Roč. 143, Dec (2015), 347-353 ISSN 0927-0248 R&D Projects: GA MŠk 7E12029 EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 283501 - Fast Track Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : VHF * PECVD * microcrystalline silicon * solar cell * high rate * high efficiency Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 4.732, year: 2015

Optical properties of organic-silicon photonic crystal nanoslot cavity light source

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Jay Yang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available We theoretically study a dielectric photonic crystal nanoslot cavity immersed in an organic fluid containing near-infrared dyes by means of a full rate equation model including the complete cavity QED effects. Based on the modeling results, we numerically design an organic-silicon cavity light source in which its mode volume, quality factor, and far-field emission pattern are optimized for energy-efficient, high-speed applications. Dye quantum efficiency improved by two orders of magnitude and 3dB modulation bandwidth of a few hundred GHz can be obtained.

Hybrid Integration of Solid-State Quantum Emitters on a Silicon Photonic Chip.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Je-Hyung; Aghaeimeibodi, Shahriar; Richardson, Christopher J K; Leavitt, Richard P; Englund, Dirk; Waks, Edo

2017-12-13

Scalable quantum photonic systems require efficient single photon sources coupled to integrated photonic devices. Solid-state quantum emitters can generate single photons with high efficiency, while silicon photonic circuits can manipulate them in an integrated device structure. Combining these two material platforms could, therefore, significantly increase the complexity of integrated quantum photonic devices. Here, we demonstrate hybrid integration of solid-state quantum emitters to a silicon photonic device. We develop a pick-and-place technique that can position epitaxially grown InAs/InP quantum dots emitting at telecom wavelengths on a silicon photonic chip deterministically with nanoscale precision. We employ an adiabatic tapering approach to transfer the emission from the quantum dots to the waveguide with high efficiency. We also incorporate an on-chip silicon-photonic beamsplitter to perform a Hanbury-Brown and Twiss measurement. Our approach could enable integration of precharacterized III-V quantum photonic devices into large-scale photonic structures to enable complex devices composed of many emitters and photons.

Organic filler from golden apple snails shells to improve the silicone rubber insulator properties

Science.gov (United States)

Tepsila, Sujirat; Suksri, Amnart

2018-02-01

This paper investigates the effect of an addition of filler compound using golden apple snail shell as an organic filler to the silicone rubber insulator. The filler obtained from golden apple snail shell is found mostly contained calcium carbonate. The organic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) with particle size of 45, 75, 100 and 300 micron were prepared. Sample of silicone rubber that were filled with fillers were tested under ASTM D638-02a type standard for mechanical test. Also, electrical test such as I-V characteristics (ASTM D257-07) and dry arc test according to ASTM D495-14 have been performed. The results revealed that using larger particle size of organic filler obtained from the golden apple snail shell resulted to higher value of dielectric constant as well as higher dielectric strength. Also, the filler helps slow down the tracking activity at an insulator surface due to its crystals of calcium carbonate. However, when using excessive amount of filler, the sample will have a drawbacks in mechanical properties. By using agriculture waste as a filler compound, one can reduced the usage of commercial CaCO3 as an inorganic materials and to lower the investment cost to a final silicone rubber product.

Advanced photonic filters based on cascaded Sagnac loop reflector resonators in silicon-on-insulator nanowires

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jiayang; Moein, Tania; Xu, Xingyuan; Moss, David J.

2018-04-01

We demonstrate advanced integrated photonic filters in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowires implemented by cascaded Sagnac loop reflector (CSLR) resonators. We investigate mode splitting in these standing-wave (SW) resonators and demonstrate its use for engineering the spectral profile of on-chip photonic filters. By changing the reflectivity of the Sagnac loop reflectors (SLRs) and the phase shifts along the connecting waveguides, we tailor mode splitting in the CSLR resonators to achieve a wide range of filter shapes for diverse applications including enhanced light trapping, flat-top filtering, Q factor enhancement, and signal reshaping. We present the theoretical designs and compare the CSLR resonators with three, four, and eight SLRs fabricated in SOI. We achieve versatile filter shapes in the measured transmission spectra via diverse mode splitting that agree well with theory. This work confirms the effectiveness of using CSLR resonators as integrated multi-functional SW filters for flexible spectral engineering.

Bandwidth Efficient Hybrid Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dnyaneshwar, Mantri; Prasad, Neeli R.; Prasad, Ramjee

2015-01-01

Data collection and transmission are the fundamental operations of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). A key challenge in effective data collection and transmission is to schedule and synchronize the activities of the nodes with the global clock. This paper proposes the Bandwidth Efficient Hybrid...... in the network and then perform the pair-wise synchronization. With the mobility of node, the structure frequently changes causing an increase in energy consumption. To mitigate the problem BESDA aggregate data with the notion of a global timescale throughout the network and schedule based time-division multiple...... accesses (TDMA) techniques as MAC layer protocol. It reduces the collision of packets. Simulation results show that BESDA is energy efficient, with increased throughput, and has less delay as compared with state-of-the-art....

Efficient 3D conducting networks built by graphene sheets and carbon nanoparticles for high-performance silicon anode.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xiaosi; Yin, Ya-Xia; Cao, An-Min; Wan, Li-Jun; Guo, Yu-Guo

2012-05-01

The utilization of silicon particles as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries is hindered by their low intrinsic electric conductivity and large volume changes during cycling. Here we report a novel Si nanoparticle-carbon nanoparticle/graphene composite, in which the addition of carbon nanoparticles can effectively alleviate the aggregation of Si nanoparticles by separating them from each other, and help graphene sheets build efficient 3D conducting networks for Si nanoparticles. Such Si-C/G composite shows much improved electrochemical properties in terms of specific capacity and cycling performance (ca. 1521 mA h g(-1) at 0.2 C after 200 cycles), as well as a favorable high-rate capability.

Manufacture of axially insulated large-area diodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Weiyi; Zhou Kungang; Wang Youtian; Zhang Dong; Shan Yusheng; Wang Naiyan

1999-01-01

The author describes the design and construction of the axially insulated large-area diodes used in the 'Heaven-1'. The four axially insulated large-area diodes are connected to the 10 ohm pulse transmission lines via the vacuum feed through tubes. The experimental results with the diodes are given. The diodes can steadily work at the voltage of 650 kV, and the diode current density is about 80 A per cm 2 with a pulse width of 220 ns. The electron beams with a total energy of 25 kJ are obtained

Efficiency Enhancement of Silicon Solar Cells by Porous Silicon Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugenijus SHATKOVSKIS

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Silicon solar cells produced by a usual technology in p-type, crystalline silicon wafer were investigated. The manufactured solar cells were of total thickness 450 mm, the junction depth was of 0.5 mm – 0.7 mm. Porous silicon technologies were adapted to enhance cell efficiency. The production of porous silicon layer was carried out in HF: ethanol = 1 : 2 volume ratio electrolytes, illuminating by 50 W halogen lamps at the time of processing. The etching current was computer-controlled in the limits of (6 ÷ 14 mA/cm2, etching time was set in the interval of (10 ÷ 20 s. The characteristics and performance of the solar cells samples was carried out illuminating by Xenon 5000 K lamp light. Current-voltage characteristic studies have shown that porous silicon structures produced affect the extent of dark and lighting parameters of the samples. Exactly it affects current-voltage characteristic and serial resistance of the cells. It has shown, the formation of porous silicon structure causes an increase in the electric power created of solar cell. Conversion efficiency increases also respectively to the initial efficiency of cell. Increase of solar cell maximum power in 15 or even more percent is found. The highest increase in power have been observed in the spectral range of Dl @ (450 ÷ 850 nm, where ~ 60 % of the A1.5 spectra solar energy is located. It has been demonstrated that porous silicon technology is effective tool to improve the silicon solar cells performance.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.3.2428

Twin photon pairs in a high-Q silicon microresonator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogers, Steven; Lu, Xiyuan [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 (United States); Jiang, Wei C. [Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 (United States); Lin, Qiang, E-mail: qiang.lin@rochester.edu [Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 (United States); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 (United States)

2015-07-27

We report the generation of high-purity twin photon pairs through cavity-enhanced non-degenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) in a high-Q silicon microdisk resonator. Twin photon pairs are created within the same cavity mode and are consequently expected to be identical in all degrees of freedom. The device is able to produce twin photons at telecommunication wavelengths with a pair generation rate as large as (3.96 ± 0.03) × 10{sup 5} pairs/s, within a narrow bandwidth of 0.72 GHz. A coincidence-to-accidental ratio of 660 ± 62 was measured, the highest value reported to date for twin photon pairs, at a pair generation rate of (2.47 ± 0.04) × 10{sup 4} pairs/s. Through careful engineering of the dispersion matching window, we have reduced the ratio of photons resulting from degenerate FWM to non-degenerate FWM to less than 0.15.

High-speed 405-nm superluminescent diode (SLD) with 807-MHz modulation bandwidth

KAUST Repository

Shen, Chao

2016-08-25

III-nitride LEDs are fundamental components for visible-light communication (VLC). However, the modulation bandwidth is inherently limited by the relatively long carrier lifetime. In this letter, we present the 405 nm emitting superluminescent diode (SLD) with tilted facet design on semipolar GaN substrate, showing a broad emission of ∼9 nm at 20 mW optical power. Owing to the fast recombination (τ<0.35 ns) through the amplified spontaneous emission, the SLD exhibits a significantly large 3-dB bandwidth of 807 MHz. A data rate of 1.3 Gbps with a bit-error rate of 2.9 × 10 was obtained using on-off keying modulation scheme, suggesting the SLD being a high-speed transmitter for VLC applications.

High-speed 405-nm superluminescent diode (SLD) with 807-MHz modulation bandwidth

KAUST Repository

Shen, Chao; Lee, Changmin; Ng, Tien Khee; Nakamura, Shuji; Speck, James S.; DenBaars, Steven P.; Alyamani, Ahmed Y.; El-Desouki, Munir M.; Ooi, Boon S.

2016-01-01

III-nitride LEDs are fundamental components for visible-light communication (VLC). However, the modulation bandwidth is inherently limited by the relatively long carrier lifetime. In this letter, we present the 405 nm emitting superluminescent diode (SLD) with tilted facet design on semipolar GaN substrate, showing a broad emission of ∼9 nm at 20 mW optical power. Owing to the fast recombination (τ<0.35 ns) through the amplified spontaneous emission, the SLD exhibits a significantly large 3-dB bandwidth of 807 MHz. A data rate of 1.3 Gbps with a bit-error rate of 2.9 × 10 was obtained using on-off keying modulation scheme, suggesting the SLD being a high-speed transmitter for VLC applications.

High-contrast grating hollow-core waveguide splitter applied to optical phased array

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Che; Xue, Ping; Zhang, Hanxing; Chen, Te; Peng, Chao; Hu, Weiwei

2014-11-01

A novel hollow-core (HW) Y-branch waveguide splitter based on high-contrast grating (HCG) is presented. We calculated and designed the HCG-HW splitter using Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA). Finite-different timedomain (FDTD) simulation shows that the splitter has a broad bandwidth and the branching loss is as low as 0.23 dB. Fabrication is accomplished with standard Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) process. The experimental measurement results indicate its good performance on beam splitting near the central wavelength λ = 1550 nm with a total insertion loss of 7.0 dB.

Annealing effects on magnetic properties of silicone-coated iron-based soft magnetic composites

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Shen; Sun, Aizhi; Zhai, Fuqiang; Wang, Jin; Zhang, Qian; Xu, Wenhuan; Logan, Philip; Volinsky, Alex A.

2012-03-01

This paper focuses on novel iron-based soft magnetic composites synthesis utilizing high thermal stability silicone resin to coat iron powder. The effect of an annealing treatment on the magnetic properties of synthesized magnets was investigated. The coated silicone insulating layer was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Silicone uniformly coated the powder surface, resulting in a reduction of the imaginary part of the permeability, thereby increasing the electrical resistivity and the operating frequency of the synthesized magnets. The annealing treatment increased the initial permeability, the maximum permeability, and the magnetic induction, and decreased the coercivity. Annealing at 580 °C increased the maximum permeability by 72.5%. The result of annealing at 580 °C shows that the ferromagnetic resonance frequency increased from 2 kHz for conventional epoxy resin coated samples to 80 kHz for the silicone resin insulated composites.

Cryogenic microwave imaging of metal–insulator transition in doped silicon

KAUST Repository

Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Lai, Keji; Kelly, Michael A.; Shen, Zhi-Xun

2011-01-01

We report the instrumentation and experimental results of a cryogenic scanning microwave impedance microscope. The microwave probe and the scanning stage are located inside the variable temperature insert of a helium cryostat. Microwave signals in the distance modulation mode are used for monitoring the tip-sample distance and adjusting the phase of the two output channels. The ability to spatially resolve the metal-insulator transition in a doped silicon sample is demonstrated. The data agree with a semiquantitative finite element simulation. Effects of the thermal energy and electric fields on local charge carriers can be seen in the images taken at different temperatures and dc biases. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Evaluation of diagnostic technique for degradation of low-voltage electric cables with silicone rubber insulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikami, Masao

2005-01-01

As a part of countermeasures against ageing problems of nuclear power plants, it is requested to establish non-destructive diagnostic technique for their degradation of low voltage electric cables and assessment standard of their life. Having aimed at investigating the degradation of low-voltage electric cable with silicone rubber insulator, change of its surface hardness at elevated temperature were measured by indenter modules. Moreover, we also measured the elongation at break, which is regarded as general degradation index of electric cables, and the surface hardness with a micro hardness meter. Consequently, it is seen that the indenter modulus measurement is (1) capable to obtain general feature of the thermal degradation of silicone rubber insulator, (2) applicable to diagnose the degree of degradation of the electric cable by converting the result to elongation at break, (3) well correlated with the hardness measurement of the electric cable with the micro hardness meter. (author)

Raman scheme for adjustable-bandwidth quantum memory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Goueet, J.-L.; Berman, P. R.

2009-01-01

We propose a scenario of quantum memory for light based on Raman scattering. The storage medium is a vapor and the different spectral components of the input pulse are stored in different atomic velocity classes. One uses appropriate pulses to reverse the resulting Doppler phase shift and to regenerate the input pulse, without distortion, in the backward direction. The different stages of the protocol are detailed and the recovery efficiency is calculated in the semiclassical picture. Since the memory bandwidth is determined by the Raman transition Doppler width, it can be adjusted by changing the angle between the input pulse wave vector and the control beams. The optical depth also depends on the beam angle. As a consequence the available optical depth can be optimized depending on the needed bandwidth. The predicted recovery efficiency is close to 100% for large optical depth.

Silicon on ferroelectic insulator field effect transistor (SOF-FET) a new device for the next generation ultra low power circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Es-Sakhi, Azzedin D.

Field effect transistors (FETs) are the foundation for all electronic circuits and processors. These devices have progressed massively to touch its final steps in sub-nanometer level. Left and right proposals are coming to rescue this progress. Emerging nano-electronic devices (resonant tunneling devices, single-atom transistors, spin devices, Heterojunction Transistors rapid flux quantum devices, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire devices) took a vast share of current scientific research. Non-Si electronic materials like III-V heterostructure, ferroelectric, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and other nanowire based designs are in developing stage to become the core technology of non-classical CMOS structures. FinFET present the current feasible commercial nanotechnology. The scalability and low power dissipation of this device allowed for an extension of silicon based devices. High short channel effect (SCE) immunity presents its major advantage. Multi-gate structure comes to light to improve the gate electrostatic over the channel. The new structure shows a higher performance that made it the first candidate to substitute the conventional MOSFET. The device also shows a future scalability to continue Moor's Law. Furthermore, the device is compatible with silicon fabrication process. Moreover, the ultra-low-power (ULP) design required a subthreshold slope lower than the thermionic-emission limit of 60mV/ decade (KT/q). This value was unbreakable by the new structure (SOI-FinFET). On the other hand most of the previews proposals show the ability to go beyond this limit. However, those pre-mentioned schemes have publicized a very complicated physics, design difficulties, and process non-compatibility. The objective of this research is to discuss various emerging nano-devices proposed for ultra-low-power designs and their possibilities to replace the silicon devices as the core technology in the future integrated circuit. This thesis proposes a novel design that exploits the

Heavy doping effects in high efficiency silicon solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Lindholm, F. A.; Neugroschel, A.

1986-01-01

The temperature dependence of the emitter saturation current for bipolar devices was studied by varying the surface recombination velocity at the emitter surface. From this dependence, the value was derived for bandgap narrowing that is in better agreement with other determinations that were obtained from the temperature dependence measure on devices with ohmic contacts. Results of the first direct measurement of the minority-carrier transit time in a transparent heavily doped emitter layer were reported. The value was obtained by a high-frequency conductance method recently developed and used for doped Si. Experimental evidence is presented for significantly greater charge storage in highly excited silicon near room temperature than conventional theory would predict. These data are compared with various data for delta E sub G in heavily doped silicon.

Latest developments on the highly granular Silicon-Tungsten Electromagnetic Calorimeter technological prototype for the International Large Detector

CERN Document Server

Irles, Adrián

2017-01-01

High precision physics at future colliders requires unprecedented highly granular calorimeters for the application of the Particle Flow (PF) algorithm. The physical proof of concept was given in the previous campaign of beam tests of physic prototypes within the CALICE collaboration. We present here the latest beam and laboratory test results and R&D developments for the Silicon-Tungsten Electromagnetic Calorimeter technological prototype with fully embedded very front-end (VFE) electronics for the International Large Detector at the International Linear Collider project.

Fabrication of open-top microchannel plate using deep X-ray exposure mask made with silicon on insulator substrate

CERN Document Server

Fujimura, T; Etoh, S I; Hattori, R; Kuroki, Y; Chang, S S

2003-01-01

We propose a high-aspect-ratio open-top microchannel plate structure. This type of microchannel plate has many advantages in electrophoresis. The plate was fabricated by deep X-ray lithography using synchrotron radiation (SR) light and the chemical wet etching process. A deep X-ray exposure mask was fabricated with a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate. The patterned Si microstructure was micromachined into a thin Si membrane and a thick Au X-ray absorber was embedded in it by electroplating. A plastic material, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) was used for the plate substrate. For reduction of the exposure time and high-aspect-ratio fast wet development, the fabrication condition was optimized with respect to not the exposure dose but to the PMMA mean molecular weight (M.W.) changing after deep X-ray exposure as measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Decrement of the PMMA M.W. and increment of the wet developer temperature accelerated the etching rate. Under optimized fabrication conditions, a microc...

Oxygen-induced inhibition of silicon-on-insulator dewetting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Curiotto, S.; Leroy, F.; Cheynis, F.; Müller, P. [Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, CINaM UMR 7325, 13288 Marseille (France)

2014-02-10

We report that solid state dewetting of Si thin film on SiO{sub 2} can be reversibly inhibited by exposing the Si surface to a partial pressure of dioxygen (∼10{sup −7}Torr) at high temperature (∼1100K). Coupling in situ Low-Energy Electron Microscopy and ex situ atomic force microscopy we propose that the pinning of the contact line induced by the presence of small amounts of silicon oxide is the main physical process that inhibits the dewetting.

High-performance silicon nanowire bipolar phototransistors

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Siew Li; Zhao, Xingyan; Chen, Kaixiang; Crozier, Kenneth B.; Dan, Yaping

2016-07-01

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have emerged as sensitive absorbing materials for photodetection at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to the near infrared. Most of the reports on SiNW photodetectors are based on photoconductor, photodiode, or field-effect transistor device structures. These SiNW devices each have their own advantages and trade-offs in optical gain, response time, operating voltage, and dark current noise. Here, we report on the experimental realization of single SiNW bipolar phototransistors on silicon-on-insulator substrates. Our SiNW devices are based on bipolar transistor structures with an optically injected base region and are fabricated using CMOS-compatible processes. The experimentally measured optoelectronic characteristics of the SiNW phototransistors are in good agreement with simulation results. The SiNW phototransistors exhibit significantly enhanced response to UV and visible light, compared with typical Si p-i-n photodiodes. The near infrared responsivities of the SiNW phototransistors are comparable to those of Si avalanche photodiodes but are achieved at much lower operating voltages. Compared with other reported SiNW photodetectors as well as conventional bulk Si photodiodes and phototransistors, the SiNW phototransistors in this work demonstrate the combined advantages of high gain, high photoresponse, low dark current, and low operating voltage.

The Development and Application of Simulative Insulation Resistance Tester

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Yan; Chai, Ziqi; Wang, Bo; Ma, Hao

2018-02-01

The insulation state determines the performance and insulation life of electrical equipment, so it has to be judged in a timely and accurate manner. Insulation resistance test, as the simplest and most basic test of high voltage electric tests, can measure the insulation resistance and absorption ratio which are effective criterion of part or whole damp or dirty, breakdown, severe overheating aging and other insulation defects. It means that the electrical test personnel need to be familiar with the principle of insulation resistance test, and able to operate the insulation resistance tester correctly. At present, like the insulation resistance test, most of electrical tests are trained by physical devices with the real high voltage. Although this allows the students to truly experience the test process and notes on security, it also has certain limitations in terms of safety and test efficiency, especially for a large number of new staves needing induction training every year. This paper presents a new kind of electrical test training system based on the simulative device of dielectric loss measurement and simulative electrical testing devices. It can not only overcome the defects of current training methods, but also provide other advantages in economical efficiency and scalability. That makes it possible for the system to be allied in widespread.

Features of carrier tunneling between the silicon valence band and metal in devices based on the Al/high-K oxide/SiO_2/Si structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vexler, M. I.; Grekhov, I. V.

2016-01-01

The features of electron tunneling from or into the silicon valence band in a metal–insulator–semiconductor system with the HfO_2(ZrO_2)/SiO_2 double-layer insulator are theoretically analyzed for different modes. It is demonstrated that the valence-band current plays a less important role in structures with HfO_2(ZrO_2)/SiO_2 than in structures containing only silicon dioxide. In the case of a very wide-gap high-K oxide ZrO_2, nonmonotonic behavior related to tunneling through the upper barrier is predicted for the valence-band–metal current component. The use of an insulator stack can offer certain advantages for some devices, including diodes, bipolar tunnel-emitter transistors, and resonant-tunneling diodes, along with the traditional use of high-K insulators in a field-effect transistor.

Emerging heterogeneous integrated photonic platforms on silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fathpour Sasan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Silicon photonics has been established as a mature and promising technology for optoelectronic integrated circuits, mostly based on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI waveguide platform. However, not all optical functionalities can be satisfactorily achieved merely based on silicon, in general, and on the SOI platform, in particular. Long-known shortcomings of silicon-based integrated photonics are optical absorption (in the telecommunication wavelengths and feasibility of electrically-injected lasers (at least at room temperature. More recently, high two-photon and free-carrier absorptions required at high optical intensities for third-order optical nonlinear effects, inherent lack of second-order optical nonlinearity, low extinction ratio of modulators based on the free-carrier plasma effect, and the loss of the buried oxide layer of the SOI waveguides at mid-infrared wavelengths have been recognized as other shortcomings. Accordingly, several novel waveguide platforms have been developing to address these shortcomings of the SOI platform. Most of these emerging platforms are based on heterogeneous integration of other material systems on silicon substrates, and in some cases silicon is integrated on other substrates. Germanium and its binary alloys with silicon, III–V compound semiconductors, silicon nitride, tantalum pentoxide and other high-index dielectric or glass materials, as well as lithium niobate are some of the materials heterogeneously integrated on silicon substrates. The materials are typically integrated by a variety of epitaxial growth, bonding, ion implantation and slicing, etch back, spin-on-glass or other techniques. These wide range of efforts are reviewed here holistically to stress that there is no pure silicon or even group IV photonics per se. Rather, the future of the field of integrated photonics appears to be one of heterogenization, where a variety of different materials and waveguide platforms will be used for

In situ nanoscale refinement by highly controllable etching of the (111) silicon crystal plane and its influence on the enhanced electrical property of a silicon nanowire

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong Yibin; Dai Pengfei; Gao Anran; Li Tie; Zhou Ping; Wang Yuelin

2011-01-01

Nanoscale refinement on a (100) oriented silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer was introduced by using tetra-methyl-ammonium hydroxide (TMAH, 25 wt%) anisotropic silicon etchant, with temperature kept at 50 °C to achieve precise etching of the (111) crystal plane. Specifically for a silicon nanowire (SiNW) with oxide sidewall protection, the in situ TMAH process enabled effective size reduction in both lateral (2.3 nm/min) and vertical (1.7 nm/min) dimensions. A sub-50 nm SiNW with a length of microns with uniform triangular cross-section was achieved accordingly, yielding enhanced field effect transistor (FET) characteristics in comparison with its 100 nm-wide pre-refining counterpart, which demonstrated the feasibility of this highly controllable refinement process. Detailed examination revealed that the high surface quality of the (111) plane, as well as the bulk depletion property should be the causes of this electrical enhancement, which implies the great potential of the as-made cost-effective SiNW FET device in many fields. (semiconductor materials)

Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Detector with High Efficiency, Broad Bandwidth, and Highly Symmetric Coupling to Transition Edge Sensor Bolometers

Science.gov (United States)

Wollack, E.; Cao, N.; Chuss, D.; Denis, K.; Hsieh, W.-T.; Moseley, S. Harvey; Schneider, G.; Stevenson, T.; Travers, D.; U-yen, K.

2008-01-01

Four probe antennas transfer signals from waveguide to microstrip lines. The probes not only provide broadband impedance matching, but also thermally isolate waveguide and detector. In addition, we developed a new photonic waveguide choke joint design, with four-fold symmetry, to suppress power leakage at the interface. We have developed facilities to test superconducting circuit elements using a cryogenic microwave probe station, and more complete systems in waveguide. We used the ring resonator shown below to measure a dielectric loss tangent 99% coupling efficiency over 30% fractional bandwidth.

Energy-efficient orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based passive optical network based on adaptive sleep-mode control and dynamic bandwidth allocation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chongfu; Xiao, Nengwu; Chen, Chen; Yuan, Weicheng; Qiu, Kun

2016-02-01

We propose an energy-efficient orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based passive optical network (OFDM-PON) using adaptive sleep-mode control and dynamic bandwidth allocation. In this scheme, a bidirectional-centralized algorithm named the receiver and transmitter accurate sleep control and dynamic bandwidth allocation (RTASC-DBA), which has an overall bandwidth scheduling policy, is employed to enhance the energy efficiency of the OFDM-PON. The RTASC-DBA algorithm is used in an optical line terminal (OLT) to control the sleep mode of an optical network unit (ONU) sleep and guarantee the quality of service of different services of the OFDM-PON. The obtained results show that, by using the proposed scheme, the average power consumption of the ONU is reduced by ˜40% when the normalized ONU load is less than 80%, compared with the average power consumption without using the proposed scheme.

Insulating Structural Ceramics Program, Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrews, Mark J.; Tandon, Raj; Ott, Eric; Hind, Abi Akar; Long, Mike; Jensen, Robert; Wheat, Leonard; Cusac, Dave; Lin, H. T.; Wereszczak, Andrew A.; Ferber, Mattison K.; Lee, Sun Kun; Yoon, Hyung K.; Moreti, James; Park, Paul; Rockwood, Jill; Boyer, Carrie; Ragle, Christie; Balmer-Millar, Marilou; Aardahl, Chris; Habeger, Craig; Rappe, Ken; Tran, Diana; Koshkarian, Kent; Readey, Michael

2005-11-22

New materials and corresponding manufacturing processes are likely candidates for diesel engine components as society and customers demand lower emission engines without sacrificing power and fuel efficiency. Strategies for improving thermal efficiency directly compete with methodologies for reducing emissions, and so the technical challenge becomes an optimization of controlling parameters to achieve both goals. Approaches being considered to increase overall thermal efficiency are to insulate certain diesel engine components in the combustion chamber, thereby increasing the brake mean effective pressure ratings (BMEP). Achieving higher BMEP rating by insulating the combustion chamber, in turn, requires advances in material technologies for engine components such as pistons, port liners, valves, and cylinder heads. A series of characterization tests were performed to establish the material properties of ceramic powder. Mechanical chacterizations were also obtained from the selected materials as a function of temperature utilizing ASTM standards: fast fracture strength, fatique resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal shock, and fracture toughness. All ceramic materials examined showed excellent wear properties and resistance to the corrosive diesel engine environments. The study concluded that the ceramics examined did not meet all of the cylinder head insert structural design requirements. Therefore we do not recommend at this time their use for this application. The potential for increased stresses and temperatures in the hot section of the diesel engine combined with the highly corrosive combustion products and residues has driven the need for expanded materials capability for hot section engine components. Corrosion and strength requirements necessitate the examination of more advanced high temperture alloys. Alloy developments and the understanding of processing, structure, and properties of supperalloy materials have been driven, in large part, by the gas

High modulation bandwidth of a light-emitting diode with surface plasmon coupling (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chun-Han; Tu, Charng-Gan; Yao, Yu-Feng; Chen, Sheng-Hung; Su, Chia-Ying; Chen, Hao-Tsung; Kiang, Yean-Woei; Yang, Chih-Chung

2017-02-01

Besides lighting, LEDs can be used for indoor data transmission. Therefore, a large modulation bandwidth becomes an important target in the development of visible LED. In this regard, enhancing the radiative recombination rate of carriers in the quantum wells of an LED is a useful method since the modulation bandwidth of an LED is related to the carrier decay rate besides the device RC time constant To increase the carrier decay rate in an LED without sacrificing its output power, the technique of surface plasmon (SP) coupling in an LED is useful. In this paper, the increases of modulation bandwidth by reducing mesa size, decreasing active layer thickness, and inducing SP coupling in blue- and green-emitting LEDs are illustrated. The results are demonstrated by comparing three different LED surface structures, including bare p-type surface, GaZnO current spreading layer, and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) for inducing SP coupling. In a single-quantum-well, blue-emitting LED with a circular mesa of 10 microns in radius, SP coupling results in a modulation bandwidth of 528.8 MHz, which is believed to be the record-high level. A smaller RC time constant can lead to a higher modulation bandwidth. However, when the RC time constant is smaller than 0.2 ns, its effect on modulation bandwidth saturates. The dependencies of modulation bandwidth on injected current density and carrier decay time confirm that the modulation bandwidth is essentially inversely proportional to a time constant, which is inversely proportional to the square-root of carrier decay rate and injected current density.

Tactical Decision Aids High Bandwidth Links Using Autonomous Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2004-01-01

1 Tactical Decision Aids (High Bandwidth Links Using Autonomous Vehicles ) A. J. Healey, D. P. Horner, Center for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle...SUBTITLE Tactical Decision Aids (High Bandwidth Links Using Autonomous Vehicles ) 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

Efficient Bandwidth Allocation for Integrated Services in Broadband Wireless ATM Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Hong; Dittmann, Lars; Gliese, Ulrik Bo

1999-01-01

An efficient bandwidth allocation scheme is proposed for supporting intergrated services in wireless ATM networks. These include CBR, VBR amd ABR types of traffic. The proposed scheme is based om A-PRMA for carrying ATM traffic in a dynamic TDMA type access system. It allows mobile users to adjust...

Applied techniques for high bandwidth data transfers across wide area networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.; Gunter, D.; Tierney, B.; Allcock, B.; Bester, J.; Bresnahan, J.; Tuecke, S.

2001-01-01

Large distributed systems such as Computational/Data Grids require large amounts of data to be co-located with the computing facilities for processing. From their work developing a scalable distributed network cache, the authors have gained experience with techniques necessary to achieve high data throughput over high bandwidth Wide Area Networks (WAN). The authors discuss several hardware and software design techniques, and then describe their application to an implementation of an enhanced FTP protocol called GridFTP. The authors describe results from the Supercomputing 2000 conference

Sodium-immersed self-cooled electromagnetic pump design and development of a large-scale coil for high temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oto, Akihiro; Naohara, Nobuyuki; Ishida, Masayoshi; Katsuki, Kenji; Kumazawa, Ryouji

1995-01-01

A sodium-immersed, self-cooled electromagnetic (EM) pump was recently studied as a prospective innovative technology to simplify a fast breeder reactor plant system. The EM pump for a primary pump, a pump type, was designed, and the structural concept and the system performance were clarified. For the flow control method, a constant voltage/frequency method was preferable from the point of view of pump performance and efficiency. The insulation life was tested on a large-scale coil at high temperature as part of the development of a large-capacity EM pump. Mechanical and electrical damage were not observed, and the insulation performance was quite good. The insulation system could also be applied to large-scale coils

Advanced photonic filters based on cascaded Sagnac loop reflector resonators in silicon-on-insulator nanowires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiayang Wu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate advanced integrated photonic filters in silicon-on-insulator (SOI nanowires implemented by cascaded Sagnac loop reflector (CSLR resonators. We investigate mode splitting in these standing-wave (SW resonators and demonstrate its use for engineering the spectral profile of on-chip photonic filters. By changing the reflectivity of the Sagnac loop reflectors (SLRs and the phase shifts along the connecting waveguides, we tailor mode splitting in the CSLR resonators to achieve a wide range of filter shapes for diverse applications including enhanced light trapping, flat-top filtering, Q factor enhancement, and signal reshaping. We present the theoretical designs and compare the CSLR resonators with three, four, and eight SLRs fabricated in SOI. We achieve versatile filter shapes in the measured transmission spectra via diverse mode splitting that agree well with theory. This work confirms the effectiveness of using CSLR resonators as integrated multi-functional SW filters for flexible spectral engineering.

Dispersion engineering of thick high-Q silicon nitride ring-resonators via atomic layer deposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Riemensberger, Johann; Hartinger, Klaus; Herr, Tobias; Brasch, Victor; Holzwarth, Ronald; Kippenberg, Tobias J

2012-12-03

We demonstrate dispersion engineering of integrated silicon nitride based ring resonators through conformal coating with hafnium dioxide deposited on top of the structures via atomic layer deposition. Both, magnitude and bandwidth of anomalous dispersion can be significantly increased. The results are confirmed by high resolution frequency-comb-assisted-diode-laser spectroscopy and are in very good agreement with the simulated modification of the mode spectrum.

Thermal insulation product for insulation, especially in nuclear power engineering, and method of its production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veselovsky, P.; Zink, S.; Balacek, P.; Mares, I.

1989-01-01

The insulation consists of a sewn fabric cover made of inorganic fibers, in which the fiber filling is reinforced mechanically by dense point interweaving. The inorganic fibers, 1 to 5 μm in diameter, consist of min. 97 wt.% mixture of aluminium and silicon oxides in the vitreous state. The fibers making up the cover consist of min. 95% silicon, aluminium, calcium, magnesium and boron oxides in the vitreous state; the rest can consist of alloy steel fibres. The bulk density of the insulation is 70 to 150 kg/m 3 . The product is highly resistant to temperature and to the action of chemicals, water, and acid and alkaline deactivation solutions. Its manufacture is fast and undemanding. It is designed for thermal insulation of pipes, tanks and valves in nuclear power plants. (M.D.). 2 figs

High performance hybrid silicon micropillar solar cell based on light trapping characteristics of Cu nanoparticles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yulong Zhang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available High performance silicon combined structure (micropillar with Cu nanoparticles solar cell has been synthesized from N-type silicon substrates based on the micropillar array. The combined structure solar cell exhibited higher short circuit current rather than the silicon miropillar solar cell, which the parameters of micropillar array are the same. Due to the Cu nanoparticles were decorated on the surface of silicon micropillar array, the photovoltaic properties of cells have been improved. In addition, the optimal efficiency of 11.5% was measured for the combined structure solar cell, which is better than the silicon micropillar cell.

High performance hybrid silicon micropillar solar cell based on light trapping characteristics of Cu nanoparticles

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yulong; Fan, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Weijia; Ma, Qiang; Jiang, Zhaoyi; Ma, Denghao

2018-05-01

High performance silicon combined structure (micropillar with Cu nanoparticles) solar cell has been synthesized from N-type silicon substrates based on the micropillar array. The combined structure solar cell exhibited higher short circuit current rather than the silicon miropillar solar cell, which the parameters of micropillar array are the same. Due to the Cu nanoparticles were decorated on the surface of silicon micropillar array, the photovoltaic properties of cells have been improved. In addition, the optimal efficiency of 11.5% was measured for the combined structure solar cell, which is better than the silicon micropillar cell.

Highly Efficient Coherent Optical Memory Based on Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Ya-Fen; Tsai, Pin-Ju; Chen, Hung-Shiue; Lin, Sheng-Xiang; Hung, Chih-Chiao; Lee, Chih-Hsi; Chen, Yi-Hsin; Chen, Yong-Fan; Yu, Ite A.; Chen, Ying-Cheng

2018-05-01

Quantum memory is an important component in the long-distance quantum communication based on the quantum repeater protocol. To outperform the direct transmission of photons with quantum repeaters, it is crucial to develop quantum memories with high fidelity, high efficiency and a long storage time. Here, we achieve a storage efficiency of 92.0 (1.5)% for a coherent optical memory based on the electromagnetically induced transparency scheme in optically dense cold atomic media. We also obtain a useful time-bandwidth product of 1200, considering only storage where the retrieval efficiency remains above 50%. Both are the best record to date in all kinds of schemes for the realization of optical memory. Our work significantly advances the pursuit of a high-performance optical memory and should have important applications in quantum information science.

24% efficient PERL structure silicon solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, J.; Wang, A.; Green, M.A.

1990-01-01

This paper reports that the performance of silicon solar cells have been significantly improved using an improved PERL (passivated emitter, rear locally-diffused) cell structure. This structure overcomes deficiencies in an earlier PERC (passivated emitter and rear cell) cell structure by locally diffusing boron into contact areas at the rear of the cells. Terrestrial energy conversion efficiencies up to 24% are reported for silicon cells for the first time. Air Mass O efficiencies approach 21%. The first batches of concentrator cells using the new structure have demonstrated significant improvement with 29% efficient concentrator silicon cells expected in the near future

Highly efficient and broadband wide-angle holography using patch-dipole nanoantenna reflectarrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Yifat, Yuval; Eitan, Michal; Iluz, Zeev; Hanein, Yael; Boag, Amir; Scheuer, Jacob

2014-05-14

We demonstrate wide-angle, broadband, and efficient reflection holography by utilizing coupled dipole-patch nanoantenna cells to impose an arbitrary phase profile on the reflected light. High-fidelity images were projected at angles of 45 and 20° with respect to the impinging light with efficiencies ranging between 40-50% over an optical bandwidth exceeding 180 nm. Excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions was found at a wide spectral range. The demonstration of such reflectarrays opens new avenues toward expanding the limits of large-angle holography.

Upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon solar cells with efficiency above 20%

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zheng, P.; Rougieux, F. E.; Samundsett, C.; Yang, Xinbo; Wan, Yimao; Macdonald, D. [Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Terrritory 2601 (Australia); Degoulange, J.; Einhaus, R. [Apollon Solar, 66 Cours Charlemagne, Lyon 69002 (France); Rivat, P. [FerroPem, 517 Avenue de la Boisse, Chambery Cedex 73025 (France)

2016-03-21

We present solar cells fabricated with n-type Czochralski–silicon wafers grown with strongly compensated 100% upgraded metallurgical-grade feedstock, with efficiencies above 20%. The cells have a passivated boron-diffused front surface, and a rear locally phosphorus-diffused structure fabricated using an etch-back process. The local heavy phosphorus diffusion on the rear helps to maintain a high bulk lifetime in the substrates via phosphorus gettering, whilst also reducing recombination under the rear-side metal contacts. The independently measured results yield a peak efficiency of 20.9% for the best upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon cell and 21.9% for a control device made with electronic-grade float-zone silicon. The presence of boron-oxygen related defects in the cells is also investigated, and we confirm that these defects can be partially deactivated permanently by annealing under illumination.

Brain inspired high performance electronics on flexible silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2014-06-01

Brain\\'s stunning speed, energy efficiency and massive parallelism makes it the role model for upcoming high performance computation systems. Although human brain components are a million times slower than state of the art silicon industry components [1], they can perform 1016 operations per second while consuming less power than an electrical light bulb. In order to perform the same amount of computation with today\\'s most advanced computers, the output of an entire power station would be needed. In that sense, to obtain brain like computation, ultra-fast devices with ultra-low power consumption will have to be integrated in extremely reduced areas, achievable only if brain folded structure is mimicked. Therefore, to allow brain-inspired computation, flexible and transparent platform will be needed to achieve foldable structures and their integration on asymmetric surfaces. In this work, we show a new method to fabricate 3D and planar FET architectures in flexible and semitransparent silicon fabric without comprising performance and maintaining cost/yield advantage offered by silicon-based electronics.

Influence of thermal effects induced by nonlinear absorption on four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pu, Minhao; Chen, Yaohui; Yvind, Kresten

2014-01-01

Influence of thermal effects induced by nonlinear absorption on four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides is investigated. A conversion bandwidth reduction up to 63% is observed in simulation due to the thermal effects.......Influence of thermal effects induced by nonlinear absorption on four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides is investigated. A conversion bandwidth reduction up to 63% is observed in simulation due to the thermal effects....

Hybrid integration of carbon nanotubes in silicon photonic structures

Science.gov (United States)

Durán-Valdeiglesias, E.; Zhang, W.; Alonso-Ramos, C.; Le Roux, X.; Serna, S.; Hoang, H. C.; Marris-Morini, D.; Cassan, E.; Intonti, F.; Sarti, F.; Caselli, N.; La China, F.; Gurioli, M.; Balestrieri, M.; Vivien, L.; Filoramo, A.

2017-02-01

Silicon photonics, due to its compatibility with the CMOS platform and unprecedented integration capability, has become the preferred solution for the implementation of next generation optical interconnects to accomplish high efficiency, low energy consumption, low cost and device miniaturization in one single chip. However, it is restricted by silicon itself. Silicon does not have efficient light emission or detection in the telecommunication wavelength range (1.3 μm-1.5 μm) or any electro-optic effect (i.e. Pockels effect). Hence, silicon photonic needs to be complemented with other materials for the realization of optically-active devices, including III-V for lasing and Ge for detection. The very different requirement of these materials results in complex fabrication processes that offset the cost-effectiveness of the Si photonics approach. For this purpose, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have recently been proposed as an attractive one-dimensional light emitting material. Interestingly, semiconducting single walled CNTs (SWNTs) exhibit room-temperature photo- and electro-luminescence in the near-IR that could be exploited for the implementation of integrated nano-sources. They can also be considered for the realization of photo-detectors and optical modulators, since they rely on intrinsically fast non-linear effects, such as Stark and Kerr effect. All these properties make SWNTs ideal candidates in order to fabricate a large variety of optoelectronic devices, including near-IR sources, modulators and photodetectors on Si photonic platforms. In addition, solution processed SWNTs can be integrated on Si using spin-coating or drop-casting techniques, obviating the need of complex epitaxial growth or chip bonding approaches. Here, we report on our recent progress in the coupling of SWNTs light emission into optical resonators implemented on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. .

Research and development of photovoltaic power system. Research on surface passivation for high-efficiency silicon solar cells; Taiyoko hatsuden system no kenkyu kaihatsu. Hyomen passivation no kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saito, T [Tokyo Univ. of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo (Japan). Faculty of Technology

1994-12-01

This paper reports the result obtained during fiscal 1994 on research on surface passivation of high-efficiency silicon solar cells. In research on carrier recombination on SiO2/doped silicon interface, measurements were carried out on minority carrier life with respect to p-type silicon substrates with which phosphorus with high and low concentrations are diffused uniformly on the surface and non-uniformly on the back and then oxidized. The measurements were performed for the purpose of evaluating the carrier recombination at p-n junctions. Effective life time of oxidized test samples increased longer than that of prior to the oxidization as a result of effect of surface passivation contributing remarkably. In research on reduction in carrier recombination on SiO2/Si interface by using H radical annealing, experiments were conducted by using a method that uses more active H-atoms. As a result, it was revealed that the reduction effect is recognized at as low temperature as 200{degree}C, and photo-bias effect is also noticeable. Other research activities included analytic research on minority carrier recombination on micro crystalline silicon/crystalline silicon interface, and experimental research on evaluation of minority carrier life of poly-crystalline silicon wafers. 6 figs.

77 GHz MEMS antennas on high-resistivity silicon for linear and circular polarization

KAUST Repository

Sallam, M. O.

2011-07-01

Two new MEMS antennas operating at 77 GHz are presented in this paper. The first antenna is linearly polarized. It possesses a vertical silicon wall that carries a dipole on top of it. The wall is located on top of silicon substrate covered with a ground plane. The other side of the substrate carries a microstrip feeding network in the form of U-turn that causes 180 phase shift. This phase-shifter feeds the arms of the dipole antenna via two vertical Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs) that go through the entire wafer. The second antenna is circularly polarized and formed using two linearly polarized antennas spatially rotated with respect to each other by 90 and excited with 90 phase shift. Both antennas are fabricated using novel process flow on a single high-resistivity silicon wafer via bulk micromachining. Only three processing steps are required to fabricate these antennas. The proposed antennas have appealing characteristics, such as high polarization purity, high gain, and high radiation efficiency. © 2011 IEEE.

Rectangular optical filter based on high-order silicon microring resonators

Science.gov (United States)

Bao, Jia-qi; Yu, Kan; Wang, Li-jun; Yin, Juan-juan

2017-07-01

The rectangular optical filter is one of the most important optical switching components in the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) fiber-optic communication system and the intelligent optical network. The integrated highorder silicon microring resonator (MRR) is one of the best candidates to achieve rectangular filtering spectrum response. In general, the spectrum response rectangular degree of the single MRR is very low, so it cannot be used in the DWDM system. Using the high-order MRRs, the bandwidth of flat-top pass band, the out-of-band rejection degree and the roll-off coefficient of the edge will be improved obviously. In this paper, a rectangular optical filter based on highorder MRRs with uniform couplers is presented and demonstrated. Using 15 coupled race-track MRRs with 10 μm in radius, the 3 dB flat-top pass band of 2 nm, the out-of-band rejection ratio of 30 dB and the rising and falling edges of 48 dB/nm can be realized successfully.

Rectangular optical filter based on high-order silicon microring resonators

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

BAO Jia-qi; YU Kan; WANG Li-jun; YIN Juan-juan

2017-01-01

The rectangular optical filter is one of the most important optical switching components in the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) fiber-optic communication system and the intelligent optical network.The integrated highorder silicon microring resonator (MRR) is one of the best candidates to achieve rectangular filtering spectrum response.In general,the spectrum response rectangular degree of the single MRR is very low,so it cannot be used in the DWDM system.Using the high-order MRRs,the bandwidth of flat-top pass band,the out-of-band rejection degree and the roll-off coefficient of the edge will be improved obviously.In this paper,a rectangular optical filter based on highorder MRRs with uniform couplers is presented and demonstrated.Using 15 coupled race-track MRRs with 10 μm in radius,the 3 dB flat-top pass band of 2 nm,the out-of-band rejection ratio of 30 dB and the rising and falling edges of 48 dB/nm can be realized successfully.

Compact temperature-insensitive modulator based on a silicon microring assistant Mach—Zehnder interferometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Xue-Jian; Feng Xue; Zhang Deng-Ke; Huang Yi-Dong

2012-01-01

On the silicon-on-insulator platform, an ultra compact temperature-insensitive modulator based on a cascaded microring assistant Mach—Zehnder interferometer is proposed and demonstrated with numerical simulation. According to the calculated results, the tolerated variation of ambient temperature can be as high as 134 °C while the footprint of such a silicon modulator is only 340 μm 2 . (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

High-Temperature Electronics: Status and Future Prospects in the 21st Century

OpenAIRE

F. Touati; F. Mnif; A. Lawati

2006-01-01

This paper reviews the state of current electronics and states the drive toward high-temperature electronics. The problems specific to high-temperature effects on conventional electronics and prospects of alternative technologies like silicon-on-insulator, silicon carbide, and diamond are discussed. Improving petroleum recovery from oil wells with hightemperature coverage of downhole electronics, making combustion processes more efficient utilizing embedded electronics, programs for More Elec...

High-Performance Slab-on-Grade Foundation Insulation Retrofits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldberg, Louise F. [NorthernSTAR, St. Paul, MN (United States); Mosiman, Garrett E. [NorthernSTAR, St. Paul, MN (United States)

2015-09-01

A more accurate assessment of slab-on-grade foundation insulation energy savings than traditionally possible is now feasible. This has been enabled by advances in whole building energy simulation with 3-dimensional foundation modelling integration at each time step together with an experimental measurement of the site energy savings of SOG foundation insulation. Ten SOG insulation strategies were evaluated on a test building to identify an optimum retrofit insulation strategy in a zone 6 climate (Minneapolis, MN). The optimum insulation strategy in terms of energy savings and cost effectiveness consisted of two components: (a) R-20 XPS insulation above grade, and, (b) R-20 insulation at grade (comprising an outer layer of R-10 insulation and an interior layer of R-12 poured polyurethane insulation) tapering to R-10 XPS insulation at half the below-grade wall height (the lower half of the stem wall was uninsulated).

Theoretical model for the detection of charged proteins with a silicon-on-insulator sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birner, S; Uhl, C; Bayer, M; Vogl, P

2008-01-01

For a bio-sensor device based on a silicon-on-insulator structure, we calculate the sensitivity to specific charge distributions in the electrolyte solution that arise from protein binding to the semiconductor surface. This surface is bio-functionalized with a lipid layer so that proteins can specifically bind to the headgroups of the lipids on the surface. We consider charged proteins such as the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and artificial proteins that consist of a variable number of aspartic acids. Specifically, we calculate self-consistently the spatial charge and electrostatic potential distributions for different ion concentrations in the electrolyte. We fully take into account the quantum mechanical charge density in the semiconductor. We determine the potential change at the binding sites as a function of protein charge and ionic strength. Comparison with experiment is generally very good. Furthermore, we demonstrate the superiority of the full Poisson-Boltzmann equation by comparing its results to the simplified Debye-Hueckel approximation

The construction of a process line for high efficiency silicon solar cells under clean-room conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aberle, A.; Faller, C.; Grille, T.; Glunz, S.; Kamerewerd, F.J.; Kopp, J.; Knobloch, J.; Klussmann, S.; Lauby, E.; Noel, A.; Paul, O.; Schaeffer, E.; Schubert, U.; Seitz, S.; Sterk, S.; Voss, B.; Warta, W.; Wettling, W.

1992-08-01

The aim of this research project was to plan, construct and test a clean-room technology laboratory for the manufacturing of silicon solar cells with 20% efficiency (1.5AM). In addition to the establishment of the laboratory, there existed the case of establishing the material and technological fundamentals of high-efficiency solar cells, testing and optimizing all stages of production as well as constructing test stands for accompanying characterisation work. The following final report describes the construction of the laboratory and characterisation systems, the material elements of high-efficiency solar cells as well as the most important results of solar cell production and optimisation. (orig./BWI) [de

Modification of silicon nitride and silicon carbide surfaces for food and biosensor applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rosso, M.

2009-01-01

Silicon-rich silicon nitride (SixN4, x > 3) is a robust insulating material widely used for the coating of microdevices: its high chemical and mechanical inertness make it a material of choice for the reinforcement of fragile microstructures (e.g. suspended microcantilevers, micro-fabricated

Efficient Bandwidth Management for Ethernet Passive Optical Networks

KAUST Repository

Elrasad, Amr

2016-01-01

The increasing bandwidth demands in access networks motivates network operators, networking devices manufacturers, and standardization institutions to search for new approaches for access networks. These approaches should support higher bandwidth

Sub-wavelength grating mode transformers in silicon slab waveguides.

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, Przemek J; Cheben, Pavel; Schmid, Jens H; Delâge, André; Xu, Dan-Xia; Janz, Siegfried; Hall, Trevor J

2009-10-12

We report on several new types of sub-wavelength grating (SWG) gradient index structures for efficient mode coupling in high index contrast slab waveguides. Using a SWG, an adiabatic transition is achieved at the interface between silicon-on-insulator waveguides of different geometries. The SWG transition region minimizes both fundamental mode mismatch loss and coupling to higher order modes. By creating the gradient effective index region in the direction of propagation, we demonstrate that efficient vertical mode transformation can be achieved between slab waveguides of different core thickness. The structures which we propose can be fabricated by a single etch step. Using 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations we study the loss, polarization dependence and the higher order mode excitation for two types (triangular and triangular-transverse) of SWG transition regions between silicon-on-insulator slab waveguides of different core thicknesses. We demonstrate two solutions to reduce the polarization dependent loss of these structures. Finally, we propose an implementation of SWG structures to reduce loss and higher order mode excitation between a slab waveguide and a phase array of an array waveguide grating (AWG). Compared to a conventional AWG, the loss is reduced from -1.4 dB to < -0.2 dB at the slab-array interface.

Large magnetoresistance effect in nitrogen-doped silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Wang

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In this work, we reported a large magnetoresistance effect in silicon by ion implantation of nitrogen atoms. At room temperature, the magnetoresistance of silicon reaches 125 % under magnetic field 1.7 T and voltage bias -80 V. By applying an alternating magnetic field with a frequency (f of 0.008 Hz, we find that the magnetoresistance of silicon is divided into f and 2f two signal components, which represent the linear and quadratic magnetoresistance effects, respectively. The analysis based on tuning the magnetic field and the voltage bias reveals that electric-field-induced space-charge effect plays an important role to enhance both the linear and quadratic magnetoresistance effects. Observation as well as a comprehensive explanation of large MR in silicon, especially based on semiconductor CMOS implantation technology, will be an important progress towards magnetoelectronic applications.

Silicon nanowire hot carrier electroluminescence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Plessis, M. du, E-mail: monuko@up.ac.za; Joubert, T.-H.

2016-08-31

Avalanche electroluminescence from silicon pn junctions has been known for many years. However, the internal quantum efficiencies of these devices are quite low due to the indirect band gap nature of the semiconductor material. In this study we have used reach-through biasing and SOI (silicon-on-insulator) thin film structures to improve the internal power efficiency and the external light extraction efficiency. Both continuous silicon thin film pn junctions and parallel nanowire pn junctions were manufactured using a custom SOI technology. The pn junctions are operated in the reach-through mode of operation, thus increasing the average electric field within the fully depleted region. Experimental results of the emission spectrum indicate that the most dominant photon generating mechanism is due to intraband hot carrier relaxation processes. It was found that the SOI nanowire light source external power efficiency is at least an order of magnitude better than the comparable bulk CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) light source. - Highlights: • We investigate effect of electric field on silicon avalanche electroluminescence. • With reach-through pn junctions the current and carrier densities are kept constant. • Higher electric fields increase short wavelength radiation. • Higher electric fields decrease long wavelength radiation. • The effect of the electric field indicates intraband transitions as main mechanism.

On the improvement of mechanical properties of monolithic silica aerogels (for transparent insulating material); Silica aerogel (tomei dannetsu zairyo) kyodo no kaizen ni tsuite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tajiri, K; Igarashi, K; Tanemura, S [National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya, Nagoya (Japan)

1997-11-25

Study was made on improvement of the strength of silica aerogel as transparent insulating material. Silica aerogel is a low-density porous material with high heat insulation and transparency. To develop a insulating material with high transparency, monolithic silica aerogel was studied. For direct use of it for windows, its strength improvement was attempted. The aerogel was prepared by supercritical drying (alcohol or CO2) of silica wet gel obtained by hydrolysis and condensation of silicon alkoxide solution. To prepare the aerogel bonded on plate glass for strength improvement, the aerogel was bonded to alkoxide by exposing active silanol radical through F-etching of plate glass surface. However, to obtain the practical large-area bonded aerogel, shrinkage control of the aerogel in supercritical drying was necessary. Addition of Laponite into a silica network for strength improvement by polymer increased the bending strength by 50%. Although some reduction of its transparency was observed because of clouding, its heat insulation was stable. Further strength improvement is necessary for its practical use. 5 figs., 1 tab.

High damage tolerance of electrochemically lithiated silicon

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xueju; Fan, Feifei; Wang, Jiangwei; Wang, Haoran; Tao, Siyu; Yang, Avery; Liu, Yang; Beng Chew, Huck; Mao, Scott X.; Zhu, Ting; Xia, Shuman

2015-01-01

Mechanical degradation and resultant capacity fade in high-capacity electrode materials critically hinder their use in high-performance rechargeable batteries. Despite tremendous efforts devoted to the study of the electro–chemo–mechanical behaviours of high-capacity electrode materials, their fracture properties and mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here we report a nanomechanical study on the damage tolerance of electrochemically lithiated silicon. Our in situ transmission electron microscopy experiments reveal a striking contrast of brittle fracture in pristine silicon versus ductile tensile deformation in fully lithiated silicon. Quantitative fracture toughness measurements by nanoindentation show a rapid brittle-to-ductile transition of fracture as the lithium-to-silicon molar ratio is increased to above 1.5. Molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of the brittle-to-ductile transition governed by atomic bonding and lithiation-induced toughening. Our results reveal the high damage tolerance in amorphous lithium-rich silicon alloys and have important implications for the development of durable rechargeable batteries. PMID:26400671

Unified analytical threshold voltage model for non-uniformly doped dual metal gate fully depleted silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Rathnamala; Katti, Guruprasad; Havaldar, Dnyanesh S.; DasGupta, Nandita; DasGupta, Amitava

2009-03-01

The paper describes the unified analytical threshold voltage model for non-uniformly doped, dual metal gate (DMG) fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) MOSFETs based on the solution of 2D Poisson's equation. 2D Poisson's equation is solved analytically for appropriate boundary conditions using separation of variables technique. The solution is then extended to obtain the threshold voltage of the FDSOI MOSFET. The model is able to handle any kind of non-uniform doping, viz. vertical, lateral as well as laterally asymetric channel (LAC) profile in the SOI film in addition to the DMG structure. The analytical results are validated with the numerical simulations using the device simulator MEDICI.

High-Efficiency Dielectric Metasurfaces for Polarization-Dependent Terahertz Wavefront Manipulation

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Huifang

2017-11-30

Recently, metasurfaces made up of dielectric structures have drawn enormous attentions in the optical and infrared regimes due to their high efficiency and designing freedom in manipulating light propagation. Such advantages can also be introduced to terahertz frequencies where efficient functional devices are still lacking. Here, polarization-dependent all-silicon terahertz dielectric metasurfaces are proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The metasurfaces are composed of anisotropic rectangular-shaped silicon pillars on silicon substrate. Each metasurface holds dual different functions depending on the incident polarizations. Furthermore, to suppress the reflection loss and multireflection effect in practical applications, a high-performance polarization-independent antireflection silicon pillar array is also proposed, which can be patterned at the other side of the silicon substrate. Such all-silicon dielectric metasurfaces are easy to fabricate and can be very promising in developing next-generation efficient, compact, and low-cost terahertz functional devices.

Nanostructured silicon for photonics from materials to devices

CERN Document Server

Gaburro, Z; Daldosso, N

2006-01-01

The use of light to channel signals around electronic chips could solve several current problems in microelectronic evolution including: power dissipation, interconnect bottlenecks, input/output from/to optical communication channels, poor signal bandwidth, etc. It is unfortunate that silicon is not a good photonic material: it has a poor light-emission efficiency and exhibits a negligible electro-optical effect. Silicon photonics is a field having the objective of improving the physical properties of silicon; thus turning it into a photonic material and permitting the full convergence of elec

Silicon-on-insulator field effect transistor with improved body ties for rad-hard applications

Science.gov (United States)

Schwank, James R.; Shaneyfelt, Marty R.; Draper, Bruce L.; Dodd, Paul E.

2001-01-01

A silicon-on-insulator (SOI) field-effect transistor (FET) and a method for making the same are disclosed. The SOI FET is characterized by a source which extends only partially (e.g. about half-way) through the active layer wherein the transistor is formed. Additionally, a minimal-area body tie contact is provided with a short-circuit electrical connection to the source for reducing floating body effects. The body tie contact improves the electrical characteristics of the transistor and also provides an improved single-event-upset (SEU) radiation hardness of the device for terrestrial and space applications. The SOI FET also provides an improvement in total-dose radiation hardness as compared to conventional SOI transistors fabricated without a specially prepared hardened buried oxide layer. Complementary n-channel and p-channel SOI FETs can be fabricated according to the present invention to form integrated circuits (ICs) for commercial and military applications.

Hybrid Integrated Platforms for Silicon Photonics

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Di; Roelkens, Gunther; Baets, Roel; Bowers, John E.

2010-01-01

A review of recent progress in hybrid integrated platforms for silicon photonics is presented. Integration of III-V semiconductors onto silicon-on-insulator substrates based on two different bonding techniques is compared, one comprising only inorganic materials, the other technique using an organic bonding agent. Issues such as bonding process and mechanism, bonding strength, uniformity, wafer surface requirement, and stress distribution are studied in detail. The application in silicon photonics to realize high-performance active and passive photonic devices on low-cost silicon wafers is discussed. Hybrid integration is believed to be a promising technology in a variety of applications of silicon photonics.

Low cost silicon-on-ceramic photovoltaic solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Koepke, B. G.; Heaps, J. D.; Grung, B. L.; Zook, J. D.; Sibold, J. D.; Leipold, M. H.

1980-01-01

A technique has been developed for coating low-cost mullite-based refractory substrates with thin layers of solar cell quality silicon. The technique involves first carbonizing one surface of the ceramic and then contacting it with molten silicon. The silicon wets the carbonized surface and, under the proper thermal conditions, solidifies as a large-grained sheet. Solar cells produced from this composite silicon-on-ceramic material have exhibited total area conversion efficiencies of ten percent.

High-Current-Density Vertical-Tunneling Transistors from Graphene/Highly Doped Silicon Heterostructures.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuan; Sheng, Jiming; Wu, Hao; He, Qiyuan; Cheng, Hung-Chieh; Shakir, Muhammad Imran; Huang, Yu; Duan, Xiangfeng

2016-06-01

Scalable fabrication of vertical-tunneling transistors is presented based on heterostructures formed between graphene, highly doped silicon, and its native oxide. Benefiting from the large density of states of highly doped silicon, the tunneling transistors can deliver a current density over 20 A cm(-2) . This study demonstrates that the interfacial native oxide plays a crucial role in governing the carrier transport in graphene-silicon heterostructures. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Highly efficient conductance control in a topological insulator based magnetoelectric transistor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duan, Xiaopeng; Li, Xi-Lai; Li, Xiaodong; Semenov, Yuriy G. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States); Kim, Ki Wook, E-mail: kwk@ncsu.edu [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States); Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States)

2015-12-14

The spin-momentum interlocked properties of the topological insulator (TI) surface states are exploited in a transistor-like structure for efficient conductance control in the TI-magnet system. Combined with the electrically induced magnetization rotation as part of the gate function, the proposed structure takes advantage of the magnetically modulated TI electronic band dispersion in addition to the conventional electrostatic barrier. The transport analysis coupled with the magnetic simulation predicts super-steep current-voltage characteristics near the threshold along with the GHz operating frequencies. Potential implementation to a complementary logic is also examined. The predicted characteristics are most suitable for applications requiring low power or those with small signals.

Friction-induced nanofabrication on monocrystalline silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu Bingjun; Qian Linmao; Yu Jiaxin; Zhou Zhongrong; Dong Hanshan; Chen Yunfei

2009-01-01

Fabrication of nanostructures has become a major concern as the scaling of device dimensions continues. In this paper, a friction-induced nanofabrication method is proposed to fabricate protrusive nanostructures on silicon. Without applying any voltage, the nanofabrication is completed by sliding an AFM diamond tip on a sample surface under a given normal load. Nanostructured patterns, such as linear nanostructures, nanodots or nanowords, can be fabricated on the target surface. The height of these nanostructures increases rapidly at first and then levels off with the increasing normal load or number of scratching cycles. TEM analyses suggest that the friction-induced hillock is composed of silicon oxide, amorphous silicon and deformed silicon structures. Compared to the tribochemical reaction, the amorphization and crystal defects induced by the mechanical interaction may have played a dominating role in the formation of the hillocks. Similar to other proximal probe methods, the proposed method enables fabrication at specified locations and facilitates measuring the dimensions of nanostructures with high precision. It is highlighted that the fabrication can also be realized on electrical insulators or oxide surfaces, such as quartz and glass. Therefore, the friction-induced method points out a new route in fabricating nanostructures on demand.

Mahanaxar: quality of service guarantees in high-bandwidth, real-time streaming data storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bigelow, David [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Bent, John [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chen, Hsing-Bung [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Brandt, Scott [UCSC

2010-04-05

Large radio telescopes, cyber-security systems monitoring real-time network traffic, and others have specialized data storage needs: guaranteed capture of an ultra-high-bandwidth data stream, retention of the data long enough to determine what is 'interesting,' retention of interesting data indefinitely, and concurrent read/write access to determine what data is interesting, without interrupting the ongoing capture of incoming data. Mahanaxar addresses this problem. Mahanaxar guarantees streaming real-time data capture at (nearly) the full rate of the raw device, allows concurrent read and write access to the device on a best-effort basis without interrupting the data capture, and retains data as long as possible given the available storage. It has built in mechanisms for reliability and indexing, can scale to meet arbitrary bandwidth requirements, and handles both small and large data elements equally well. Results from our prototype implementation shows that Mahanaxar provides both better guarantees and better performance than traditional file systems.

Mode converter based on an inverse taper for multimode silicon nanophotonic integrated circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Daoxin; Mao, Mao

2015-11-02

An inverse taper on silicon is proposed and designed to realize an efficient mode converter available for the connection between multimode silicon nanophotonic integrated circuits and few-mode fibers. The present mode converter has a silicon-on-insulator inverse taper buried in a 3 × 3μm(2) SiN strip waveguide to deal with not only for the fundamental mode but also for the higher-order modes. The designed inverse taper enables the conversion between the six modes (i.e., TE(11), TE(21), TE(31), TE(41), TM(11), TM(12)) in a 1.4 × 0.22μm(2) multimode SOI waveguide and the six modes (like the LP(01), LP(11a), LP(11b) modes in a few-mode fiber) in a 3 × 3μm(2) SiN strip waveguide. The conversion efficiency for any desired mode is higher than 95.6% while any undesired mode excitation ratio is lower than 0.5%. This is helpful to make multimode silicon nanophotonic integrated circuits (e.g., the on-chip mode (de)multiplexers developed well) available to work together with few-mode fibers in the future.

Triple-junction thin-film silicon solar cell fabricated on periodically textured substrate with a stabilized efficiency of 13.6%

Science.gov (United States)

Sai, Hitoshi; Matsui, Takuya; Koida, Takashi; Matsubara, Koji; Kondo, Michio; Sugiyama, Shuichiro; Katayama, Hirotaka; Takeuchi, Yoshiaki; Yoshida, Isao

2015-05-01

We report a high-efficiency triple-junction thin-film silicon solar cell fabricated with the so-called substrate configuration. It was verified whether the design criteria for developing single-junction microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells are applicable to multijunction solar cells. Furthermore, a notably high short-circuit current density of 32.9 mA/cm2 was achieved in a single-junction μc-Si:H cell fabricated on a periodically textured substrate with a high-mobility front transparent contacting layer. These technologies were also combined into a-Si:H/μc-Si:H/μc-Si:H triple-junction cells, and a world record stabilized efficiency of 13.6% was achieved.

X-ray characterization of Ge dots epitaxially grown on nanostructured Si islands on silicon-on-insulator substrates.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaumseil, Peter; Kozlowski, Grzegorz; Yamamoto, Yuji; Schubert, Markus Andreas; Schroeder, Thomas

2013-08-01

On the way to integrate lattice mismatched semiconductors on Si(001), the Ge/Si heterosystem was used as a case study for the concept of compliant substrate effects that offer the vision to be able to integrate defect-free alternative semiconductor structures on Si. Ge nanoclusters were selectively grown by chemical vapour deposition on Si nano-islands on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. The strain states of Ge clusters and Si islands were measured by grazing-incidence diffraction using a laboratory-based X-ray diffraction technique. A tensile strain of up to 0.5% was detected in the Si islands after direct Ge deposition. Using a thin (∼10 nm) SiGe buffer layer between Si and Ge the tensile strain increases to 1.8%. Transmission electron microscopy studies confirm the absence of a regular grid of misfit dislocations in such structures. This clear experimental evidence for the compliance of Si nano-islands on SOI substrates opens a new integration concept that is not only limited to Ge but also extendable to semiconductors like III-V and II-VI materials.

Silicon-Carbide Power MOSFET Performance in High Efficiency Boost Power Processing Unit for Extreme Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Ikpe, Stanley A.; Lauenstein, Jean-Marie; Carr, Gregory A.; Hunter, Don; Ludwig, Lawrence L.; Wood, William; Del Castillo, Linda Y.; Fitzpatrick, Fred; Chen, Yuan

2016-01-01

Silicon-Carbide device technology has generated much interest in recent years. With superior thermal performance, power ratings and potential switching frequencies over its Silicon counterpart, Silicon-Carbide offers a greater possibility for high powered switching applications in extreme environment. In particular, Silicon-Carbide Metal-Oxide- Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors' (MOSFETs) maturing process technology has produced a plethora of commercially available power dense, low on-state resistance devices capable of switching at high frequencies. A novel hard-switched power processing unit (PPU) is implemented utilizing Silicon-Carbide power devices. Accelerated life data is captured and assessed in conjunction with a damage accumulation model of gate oxide and drain-source junction lifetime to evaluate potential system performance at high temperature environments.

Pushing Memory Bandwidth Limitations Through Efficient Implementations of Block-Krylov Space Solvers on GPUs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clark, M. A. [NVIDIA Corp., Santa Clara; Strelchenko, Alexei [Fermilab; Vaquero, Alejandro [Utah U.; Wagner, Mathias [NVIDIA Corp., Santa Clara; Weinberg, Evan [Boston U.

2017-10-26

Lattice quantum chromodynamics simulations in nuclear physics have benefited from a tremendous number of algorithmic advances such as multigrid and eigenvector deflation. These improve the time to solution but do not alleviate the intrinsic memory-bandwidth constraints of the matrix-vector operation dominating iterative solvers. Batching this operation for multiple vectors and exploiting cache and register blocking can yield a super-linear speed up. Block-Krylov solvers can naturally take advantage of such batched matrix-vector operations, further reducing the iterations to solution by sharing the Krylov space between solves. However, practical implementations typically suffer from the quadratic scaling in the number of vector-vector operations. Using the QUDA library, we present an implementation of a block-CG solver on NVIDIA GPUs which reduces the memory-bandwidth complexity of vector-vector operations from quadratic to linear. We present results for the HISQ discretization, showing a 5x speedup compared to highly-optimized independent Krylov solves on NVIDIA's SaturnV cluster.

Technological development for super-high efficiency solar cells. Technological development of solar-high efficiency singlecrystalline silicon solar cells (high quality singlecrystalline silicon substrates); Chokokoritsu taiyo denchi no gijutsu kaihatsu. Chokokoritsu tankessho silicon taiyo denchi no gijutsu kaihatsu (kohinshitsu tankessho silicon kiban no gijutsu kaihatsu)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tatsuta, M [New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Tokyo (Japan)

1994-12-01

This paper reports the study results on technological development for high quality efficiency singlecrystalline silicon substrates in fiscal 1994. (1) On electromagnetic casting/once FZ bath method, a Si single crystal of 600mm long was successfully obtained by improvement of power source frequency and furnace parts. High carbon content resulted in no single crystal including solids. In undoped electromagnetic casting ingots, resistivities over 1500ohm-cm were obtained because of effective preventive measures from contaminants. (2) On electromagnetic melting CZ method, since vibration and temperature control of melt surface by magnetic shield was insufficient for stable pulling of single crystals, its practical use was hopeless. (3) On electron beam melting CZ method, a Si single crystal of 25mm in diameter was obtained by preventive measures from evaporation of Si and influence of deposits, and improved uniform deposition distribution in a furnace. The oscillation circuit constant of power source, and water-cooling copper crucible structure were also analyzed for the optimum design of electromagnetic melting furnaces. 3 figs., 1 tab.

High performance high-κ/metal gate complementary metal oxide semiconductor circuit element on flexible silicon

KAUST Repository