This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9555, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

III-Nitride material system (AlGaInN) possesses unique optical, electrical and structural properties such as a wide tunable direct bandgap, inherent fast carrier dynamics; good carrier transport properties, high breakdown fields; and high robustness and chemical stability. Recent technological advances in the wide bandgap AlGaN portion of this material system have led to a renewed interest in ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. These detectors find use in numerous applications in the defense, commercial and scientific arenas such as covert space-to-space communications, early missile threat detection, chemical and biological threat detection and spectroscopy, flame detection and monitoring, UV environmental monitoring, and UV astronomy.^1,2,3 Back illuminated detectors operating in the solar blind region are of special interest. Back illumination allows the detector to be hybridized to a silicon read-out integrated circuit, epi-side down, and still collect light through the back of the transparent sapphire substrate. This allows the realization of solar blind focal plane arrays (FPAs) for imaging applications. Solar-blind FPAs are especially important because of the near total absence of any background radiation in this region.

In this talk, we will present our recent back-illuminated solar-blind photodetector, mini-array, and FPA results. By systematically optimizing the design of the structure we have realized external quantum efficiencies (EQE) of in excess of 89% for pixel-sized detectors. Based on the absence of any anti-reflection coating, this corresponds to nearly 100% internal quantum efficiency. At the same time, the dark current remains below ~2 × 10^-9 A/cm² even at 10 volts of reverse bias. The detector has a very sharp falloff starting at 275 with the UV-solar rejection of better than three orders of magnitude, and a visible rejection ratio is more than 6 orders of magnitude. This high performance photodetector design was then used as the basis of the realization of solar-blind FPA. We demonstrated a 320×256 FPA with a peak detection wavelength of 278nm. The operability of the FPA was better than 92%, and excellent corrected imaging was obtained.

III-V semiconductors offer a highly effective platform for the development of sophisticated heterostructure-based MWIR and LWIR detectors, as exemplified by the high-performance double heterstructure (DH) nBn, XBn, and type- II superlattice infrared detectors. A key enabling design element is the unipolar barrier, which is used to implement the complementary barrier infra-red detector (CBIRD) design for increasing the collection efficiency of photogenerated carriers, and reducing dark current generation without impeding photocurrent flow. Heterostructure superlattice detectors that make effective use of unipolar barriers have demonstrated strong reduction of generationrecombination (G-R) dark current due to Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) processes. In the last several years we solely focused on the development of antimonide based IR detectors. Recently, we demonstrated RoA values over 14,000 Ohm cm² for a 9.9 μm cutoff device by incorporating electron-blocking and hole-blocking unipolar barriers. This device has shown 300K BLIP operation with f/2 optics at 87 K with blackbody * of 1.1x10¹¹ cm Hz^1/2/W.

Colloidal quantum dots present an opportunity as infrared and liquid processed materials. Initial results in 2011 showed mid-infrared detection with HgTe colloidal quantum dots in the mi-IR range, 3-5 microns. This has been now extended to the long-wave IR, 8-12 microns. The infrared response from the HgTe colloidal quantum dots arises from the absorption of light across the gap created by the confinement. The large dots absorbing the LWIR are about 20 nm in size and the size dispersion will need improvements. While Interband absorption requires the material to be zero or small-gap semiconductors, intraband transitions have no such limitations. However, this requires doped colloidal quantum dots. Two colloidal quantum dot materials, the small gap (0.6 eV) b-HgS and the zero-gap HgSe turn out to be stably doped with electrons. This has led to the observation of Mid-IR intraband photoconduction in both systems and alternative materials for IR detection. There are several basic challenges, besides fabrication and reliability. The proximity of the surface from the excitation leads to very short excited lifetimes due to nonradiative processes. Controlling the surface will be the avenue to lengthen the lifetime, while plasmonic coupling may lead to shorter radiative lifetime. Since the surface is easily chemically modified, it also leads to strong changes in the Fermi level and this will need to be controlled. In this talk, I will describe my understanding of the potential and limitations of this material approach to infrared detection, while discussing aspects of transport, photoluminescence, doping and photovoltaic responses.

RTI has developed a photodiode technology based on solution-processed PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQD). These devices are capable of providing low-cost, high performance detection across the Vis-SWIR spectral range. At the core of this technology is a heterojunction diode structure fabricated using techniques well suited to wafer-scale fabrication, such as spin coating and thermal evaporation. This enables RTI’s CQD diodes to be processed at room temperature directly on top of read-out integrated circuits (ROIC), without the need for the hybridization step required by traditional SWIR detectors. Additionally, the CQD diodes can be fabricated on ROICs designed for other detector material systems, effectively allowing rapid prototype demonstrations of CQD focal plane arrays at low cost and on a wide range of pixel pitches and array sizes. We will show the results of fabricating CQD arrays directly on top of commercially available ROICs. Specifically, the ROICs are a 640 x 512 pixel format with 15 µm pitch, originally developed for InGaAs detectors. We will show that minor modifications to the surface of these ROICs make them suitable for use with our CQD detectors. Once completed, these FPAs are then assembled into a demonstration camera and their imaging performance is evaluated. In addition, we will discuss recent advances in device architecture and processing resulting in devices with room temperature dark currents of 2-5 nA/cm^2 and sensitivity from 350 nm to 1.7 μm. This combination of high performance, dramatic cost reduction, and multi-band sensitivity is ideally suited to expand the use of SWIR imaging in current applications, as well as to address applications which require a multispectral sensitivity not met by existing technologies.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are emerging solution processed materials combining low cost, easy deposition on large and flexible substrates, and bandgap tunability. The latter feature, which allows spectral tuning of the absorption profile of the semiconductor, makes these materials particularly attractive for light detection applications. Lead sulfide (PbS) CQDs, in particular, have shown astonishing performance as a light sensitive material operating at visible and infrared (IR) wavelengths. Early studies of PbS CQDs used as a photosensitive resistor (photoconductor) showed an impressive responsivity - exceeding 1000 A/W - and a detectivity (D*) higher then 10^13 Jones. This impressive D* was preserved in the successive development of the first PbS CQD photodiode, showing the possibility to realize fast - f_3db > 1Mhz - and sensitive IR detectors. Currently, the field is moving toward the development of hybrid devices and phototransitors. PbS CQDs have been combined in field effect transistors (FETs) with graphene and MoS2 channels, showing ultra-high gain (exceeding 10^8 electrons/photons) and high D*. Recently a photo-junction FET (photo-JFET) has been reported that breaks the inherent dark current/gain/bandwidth compromise affecting photoconductive light detectors. With this presentation we offer a broad overview on CQD photodetection highlighting the past achievements, the benefits, the challenges and the prospects for the future research on this field.

Laser detection and ranging (LADAR)-based systems operating in the Near Infrared (NIR) and Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) have become popular optical sensors for remote sensing, medical, and environmental applications. Sophisticated laser-based radar and weapon systems used for long-range military and astronomical applications need to detect, recognize, and track a variety of targets under a wide spectrum of atmospheric conditions. Infrared APDs play an important role in LADAR systems by integrating the detection and gain stages in a single device. Robust silicon-APDs are limited to visible and very near infrared region (< 1 um), while InGaAs works well up to wavelengths of about 1.5um. Si APDs have low multiplication or excess noise but are limited to below 1um due very poor quantum efficiency above 0.8um. InGaAs and Ge APDs operate up to wavelengths of 1.5um but have poor multiplication or excess noise due to a low impact ionization coefficient ratio between electrons and holes. For the past several decades HgCdTe has been traditionally used in longer wavelength (> 3um) infrared photon detection applications. Recently, various research groups (including Ghosh et. al.) have reported SWIR and MWIR HgCdTe APDs on CdZnTe and Si substrates. However, HgCdTe APDs suffer from low breakdown fields due to material defects, and excess noise increases significantly at high electric fields. During the past decade, InAs/GaSb Strain Layer Superlattice (SLS) material system has emerged as a potential material for the entire infrared spectrum because of relatively easier growth, comparable absorption coefficients, lower tunneling currents and longer Auger lifetimes resulting in enhanced detectivities (D*). Band engineering in type II SLS allows us to engineer avalanche properties of electrons and holes. This is a great advantage over bulk InGaAs and HgCdTe APDs where engineering avalanche properties is not possible. The talk will discuss the evolution of superlattice based avalanche photodiodes and some of the recent results on the work being done at Raytheon on SWIR avalanche photodiodes.

InAs possesses nearly ideal material properties for the fabrication of near- and mid-infrared avalanche photodiodes (APDs), which result in strong electron-initiated impact ionization and negligible hole-initiated impact ionization [1]. Consequently, InAs multiplication regions exhibit several appealing characteristics, including extremely low excess noise factors and bandwidth independent of gain [2], [3]. These properties make InAs APDs attractive for a number of near- and mid-infrared sensing applications including remote gas sensing, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and both active and passive imaging. Here, we discuss our recent advances in the growth and fabrication of high gain, low noise InAs APDs. Devices yielded room temperature multiplication gains >300, with much reduced (~10x) lower dark current densities. We will also discuss a likely key contributor to our current performance limitations: silicon diffusion into the intrinsic (multiplication) region from the underlying n-type layer during growth. Future work will focus on increasing the intrinsic region thickness, targeting gains >1000. This work was supported by the Army Research Office (W911NF-10-1-0391). [1] A. R. J. Marshall, C. H. Tan, M. J. Steer, and J. P. R. David, “Electron dominated impact ionization and avalanche gain characteristics in InAs photodiodes,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 93, p. 111107, 2008. [2] A. R. J. Marshall, A. Krysa, S. Zhang, A. S. Idris, S. Xie, J. P. R. David, and C. H. Tan, “High gain InAs avalanche photodiodes,” in 6th EMRS DTC Technical Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2009. [3] S. J. Maddox, W. Sun, Z. Lu, H. P. Nair, J. C. Campbell, and S. R. Bank, “Enhanced low-noise gain from InAs avalanche photodiodes with reduced dark current and background doping,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 101, no. 15, pp. 151124–151124–3, Oct. 2012.

Our recently published results show a much reduced dark current and enhanced speed from our second-generation electron-Injection detectors, due to the introduction of an isolation method. However, these results have been limited to single-element detectors. A natural next step is to incorporate these new devices into a focal plane array (FPA), since we have already achieved very attractive results from an FPA based on the first-generation devices. Despite the high-performance characteristics of second generation devices, isolation introduces new processing steps and a robust procedure is required for realization of focal plane arrays (FPA) with good uniformity and yield. Here we report our systematic evaluation of the processing steps, and in particular the effect of the processing temperature, on the device dark current and uniformity. Our goal is to produce ultra-low dark current FPA based on isolated electron-injection detectors, and to approach single-photon sensitivity.

The III-Nitride material system is rapidly maturing; having proved itself as a material for LEDs and laser, and now finding use in the area of UV photodetectors. However, many UV applications are still dominated by the use of photomultiplier tubes (PMT). PMTs are capable of obtaining very high sensitivity using internal electron multiplication gain (typically ~10⁶). It is highly desirable to develop a compact semiconductor-based photodetector capable of realizing this level of sensitivity. In principle, this can be obtained in III-Nitrides by taking advantage of avalanche multiplication under high electric fields – typically 2.7 MV/cm, which with proper design can correspond to an external reverse bias of less than 100 volts.

In this talk, we review the current state-of-the-art in III-Nitride solar- and visible-blind APDs, and present our latest results on GaN APDs grown on both conventional sapphire and low dislocation density free-standing c- and m-plane GaN substrates. Leakage current, gain, and single photon detection efficiency (SPDE) of these APDs were compared. The spectral response and Geiger-mode photon counting performance of UV APDs are studied under low photon fluxes, with single photon detection capabilities as much as 30% being demonstrated in smaller devices. Geiger-mode operation conditions are optimized for enhanced SPDE.

Today Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) are commonly used in different photon-starved applications, including testing and diagnostics of VLSI circuits. Detecting very faint signals in the near-infrared wavelength range requires not only good detection efficiency, but also very low Dark Count Rate (DCR) and jitter. For example, low noise is crucial to enable ultra-low voltage optical testing of integrated circuits. The effect of detector temperature and background thermal radiation on the noise of superconducting single-photon detectors made of NbN meanders is studied in this paper. It is shown that two different regimes can be identified in the DCR vs. bias current characteristics. At high bias, the dark count rate is dominated by the intrinsic noise of the detector, while at low bias current it is dominated by the detection of stray photons that get onto the SNSPD. Changing the detector temperature changes its switching current and only affects the high bias branch of the characteristics: a reduction of the DCR can be achieved by lowering the SNSPD base temperature. On the other hand, changing the temperature of the single-photon light source (e.g. the VLSI circuit under test) only affects the low bias regime: a lower target temperature leads to a smaller DCR.

SiOnyx has demonstrated imaging at light levels below 1 mLux (moonless starlight) at video frame rates with a 720P CMOS image sensor in a compact, low latency camera. Low light imaging is enabled by the combination of enhanced quantum efficiency in the near infrared together with state of the art low noise image sensor design. The quantum efficiency enhancements are achieved by applying Black Silicon, SiOnyx’s proprietary ultrafast laser semiconductor processing technology. In the near infrared, silicon’s native indirect bandgap results in low absorption coefficients and long absorption lengths. The Black Silicon nanostructured layer fundamentally disrupts this paradigm by enhancing the absorption of light within a thin pixel layer making 5 microns of silicon equivalent to over 300 microns of standard silicon. This results in a demonstrate 10 fold improvements in near infrared sensitivity over incumbent imaging technology while maintaining complete compatibility with standard CMOS image sensor process flows. Applications include surveillance, nightvision, and 1064nm laser see spot. Imaging performance metrics will be discussed. Demonstrated performance characteristics: Pixel size : 5.6 and 10 um Array size: 720P/1.3Mpix Frame rate: 60 Hz Read noise: 2 ele/pixel Spectral sensitivity: 400 to 1200 nm (with 10x QE at 1064nm) Daytime imaging: color (Bayer pattern) Nighttime imaging: moonless starlight conditions 1064nm laser imaging: daytime imaging out to 2Km

In this work, high performance GeSn photoconductor and light emitting diodes (LED) have been demonstrated. For the photoconductor, the high responsivity was achieved due to high photoconductive gain, which is attributed to the novel optical and electrical design. The longwave cutoff at 2.4 μm was also observed at room temperature. For LED, temperature-dependent study was conducted. The electroluminescence (EL) spectra at different temperatures were obtained and EL peak shift was observed. Moreover, the emission power at different temperatures was measured. High power emission at 2.1 μm was achieved.

Topological insulators (TI) are a new class of materials that have an energy gap in bulk but possess gapless states bound to the sample surface or edge that have been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed [1]. The topological state in Bi2Te3 is characterized by a linear dispersion and a Dirac cone at the Γpoint. The optical absorption on the surface of a TI is given by the standard graphene-like απ/2 when a linear dispersion is assumed. Realistically, at k-points away from Γ, higher order cubic terms in k that represent the underlying hexagonal symmetry [2] of the crystal dominate and give rise to warping of bands. The optical absorption of a ferromagnetic coated gapped 3D TI film with warping terms considered is longer απ/2 but significantly modified. We demonstrate, by using wave functions from a continuum-Hamiltonian and Fermi-golden rule, the absorption spectrum on the surface of a TI as a function of the chemical potential, film-thickness and incident photon energy. A linear response theory based calculation is also performed using the Kubo formula to determine the longitudinal optical conductivity whose real part gives absorption as a function of photon frequency. The absorption in materials with Dirac fermions which is significantly higher than in normal THz detectors [3] can be further modulated in a TI by explicitly including the warping term making them highly efficient and tunable photodetectors. [1] M.Hasan and C.Kane, Rev.Mod.Phys. 82, 3045(2010) [2] L.Fu, Phys.Rev.Lett.103, 266801(2009) [3] X.Zhang et al., Phys. Rev B, 82, 245107(2010)

Understanding the radiative and non-radiative properties of semiconductor materials is a prerequisite for optimizing the performance of existing light emitters and detectors and for developing new device architectures based on novel materials. Due to the ever increasing complexity of novel semiconductor systems and their relative technological immaturity, it is essential to have design tools and simulation strategies that include the details of the microscopic physics and their dependence on the macroscopic (continuum) variables in the macroscopic device models. Towards this end, we have developed a robust full-band structure based approach that can be used to study the intrinsic material radiative and non-radiative properties and evaluate the same characteristics of low-dimensional device structures. A parallel effort is being carried out to model the effect of substrate driven stress/strain and material quality (dislocations and defects) on microscopic quantities such as non-radiative recombination rate. Using this modeling approach, we have extensively studied the radiative and non-radiative properties of both elemental (Si and Ge) and compound semiconductors (HgCdTe, InGaAs, InAsSb and InGaN). In this work we outline the details of the modelling approach, specifically the challenges and advantages related to the use of the full-band description of the material electronic structure. We will present a detailed comparison of the radiative and Auger recombination rates as a function of temperature and doping for HgCdTe and InAsSb that are two important materials for infrared detectors and emitters. Furthermore we will discuss the role of non-radiatiave Auger recombination processes in explaining the performance of light emitter diodes. Finally we will present the extension of the model to low dimensional structures employed in a number of light emitter and detector structures.

Three-dimensional finite-element-method simulations are used to investigate a system consisting of a subwavelength silicon microdisk cavity for the detection of different viruses of the same type. This is done by observing the effects that a spherical nanoparticle had on the frequency resonances of WGMs of the silicon microdisk. Results show that the observed spectral shift vary for the TM15 mode with an attached nanoparticle of radiuses between 100-300 nm. This frequency shift size-dependence makes it possible the for mature and immature HIV-1 viruses to be identified by the resonant frequency change in the transmission spectrum.

The time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurement provides rich information about carrier dynamics and recombination mechanisms. However, TRPL measurements are quite challenging in mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) regimes due to noise in photodetectors and data acquisition systems. Our analysis and experimental results show that the noise in a conventional TRPL system using a traditional averaging method is dominated by 1/f noise from 10 Hz to 3 kHz. The signal is also mixed with sub-Hertz noise associated with the boxcar baseline oscillation, commonly known as the “baseline drift” issue which results from numerous fluctuations in the system. A real-time baseline correction method is proposed and demonstrated to suppress these low frequency noise sources. The real-time baseline correction method is realized by modulating the signal. The modulation can be achieved by either electrical, mechanical, or optical approaches. Analysis indicates that the noise of this method is proportional to the noise spectral density at the modulation frequency, this argument is confirmed by the simulation results. The simulated noise achieved by the real-time baseline correction method is much lower than the traditional method. Experimental results show that the low frequency baseline oscillations associated with the traditional TRPL experiments are absent using the real-time baseline correction technique, and the noise of the measurement is significantly reduced. This work establishes a more efficient experimental method for TRPL measurements on weak MWIR and LWIR PL signals, such as the InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice samples which are used here to demonstrate the proposed method.

We report on the demonstration of a high definition high charge capacity 2.1 Mpixel mid-wave infrared (MWIR) Focal Plane Array (FPA). This high definition (HD) FPA utilizes a 2040 x 1156 format and a 5 μm pixel pitch. This small pixel size enables sampling at spatial frequencies greater than the classical Nyquist limit imposed by the optical systems Point Spread Function (PSF). We show that oversampling IRFPAs (Infrared FPA) enable improved fidelity in imaging including resolution improvements, advanced pixel correlation processing to reduce false alarm rates, improved detection ranges, and an improved ability to track closely spaced objects. The small pixel IRFPA achieves good performance in the MWIR band and is expected to detect dimmer signals at longer ranges than previously demonstrated.

The design methodology for the development of 3D integrated edgeless pixel detectors with in-pixel processing using Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools is presented. A large area 3 tier 3D detector with one sensor layer and two ASIC layers containing one analog and one digital tier, is built for x-ray photon time of arrival measurement and imaging. A full custom analog pixel is 65μm x 65μm. It is connected to a sensor pixel of the same size on one side, and on the other side it has approximately 40 connections to the digital pixel. A 32 x 32 edgeless array without any peripheral functional blocks constitutes a sub-chip. The sub-chip is an indivisible unit, which is further arranged in a 6 x 6 array to create the entire 1.248cm x 1.248cm ASIC. Each chip has 720 bump-bond I/O connections, on the back of the digital tier to the ceramic PCB. All the analog tier power and biasing is conveyed through the digital tier from the PCB. The assembly has no peripheral functional blocks, and hence the active area extends to the edge of the detector. This was achieved by using a few flavors of almost identical analog pixels (minimal variation in layout) to allow for peripheral biasing blocks to be placed within pixels. The 1024 pixels within a digital sub-chip array have a variety of full custom, semi-custom and automated timing driven functional blocks placed together. The methodology uses a modified mixed-mode on-top digital implementation flow to not only harness the tool efficiency for timing and floor-planning but also to maintain designer control over compact parasitically aware layout. The methodology uses the Cadence design platform, however it is not limited to this tool.

Most targets of ultra-high-speed video cameras operating at more than 1 Mfps, such as combustion, crack propagation, collision, plasma, spark discharge, an air bag at a car accident and a tire under a sudden brake, generate sudden heat. Researchers in these fields require tools to measure the high-speed motion and heat simultaneously. Ultra-high frame rate imaging is achieved by an in-situ storage image sensor. Each pixel of the sensor is equipped with multiple memory elements to record a series of image signals simultaneously at all pixels. Image signals stored in each pixel are read out after an image capturing operation. In 2002, we developed an in-situ storage image sensor operating at 1 Mfps ¹⁾. However, the fill factor of the sensor was only 15% due to a light shield covering the wide in-situ storage area. Therefore, in 2011, we developed a backside illuminated (BSI) in-situ storage image sensor to increase the sensitivity with 100% fill factor and a very high quantum efficiency ²⁾. The sensor also achieved a much higher frame rate,16.7 Mfps, thanks to the wiring on the front side with more freedom ³⁾. The BSI structure has another advantage that it has less difficulties in attaching an additional layer on the backside, such as scintillators. This paper proposes development of an ultra-high-speed IR image sensor in combination of advanced nano-technologies for IR imaging and the in-situ storage technology for ultra-highspeed imaging with discussion on issues in the integration.

Heteroengineered structures with unipolar barriers such as nBn, CBIRD, M-structure, N-structure, pBiBn and cascade structures have taken advantage of the unique bandstructure engineering properties of the 6.1A InAs/GaSb/AlSb family. In this talk, I will review some of the approaches that we have developed in our group nBn, pBiBn and interband cascade detectors. The performance characteristics of these detectors will be discussed in detail in the presentation.

The dramatically reduction of cost of photodetectors without comprising their performance will enable new applications in many fields. In this talk, I will brief our progress in the development of sensitive photodetectors/photon counters using low-cost solution processable organic and nano-electronic materials. Four types of device structures will be compared in terms of device gain, noise, sensitivity, response speed and linear dynamic range: 1) traditional diode structure, 2) a structure combine the photodiode and photoconductor through the interface trap triggered secondary charge injection, 3) an organic phototransistor that has combined photoconductive gain and photovoltaic gain, and 4) quantum dots modulated transistor channel conductance. Broad response spectrum from UV to NIR will be demonstrated, and active material limited performance will be discussed. Solution-Processed Nanoparticle Super-Float-Gated Organic Field-Effect Transistor as Un-cooled Ultraviolet and Infrared Photon Counter Yongbo Yuan, Qingfeng Dong, Bin Yang, Fawen Guo, Qi Zhang, Ming Han, and Jinsong Huang*, Scientific Reports, 3, 2707 (2013) A nanocomposite ultraviolet photodetector enabled by interfacial trap-controlled charge injection Fawen Guo, Bin Yang, Yongbo Yuan, Zhengguo Xiao, Qingfeng Dong, Yu Bi, and Jinsong Huang*, Nature Nanotechnology, 7, 798-802, (2012) Large Gain, Low Noise Nanocomposite Ultraviolet Photodetectors with a Linear Dynamic Range of 120 dB Yanjun Fang, Fawen Guo,Zhengguo Xiao, Jinsong Huang*, Advanced Optical Materials, 348-353 (2014) High Gain and Low-Driving-Voltage Photodetectors Based on Organolead Triiodide Perovskites Rui Dong, Yanjun Fang, Jungseok Chae, Jun Dai, Zhengguo Xiao, Qingfeng Dong,Yongbo Yuan, Andrea Centrone,Xiao Cheng Zeng , Jinsong Huang*. ,Advanced Materials, 2015

Here we present a technique to integrate bottom-up nanostructures for optoelectronic and chemoresistive sensing using an AC electrical field. The work focuses mainly on two types of nanostructured materials: gold nanoparticle and silicon nanowire. In terms of electrical microintegration of these structures, it is especially important to apply a reliable electrical contact with low contact-resistance, in order to be able to use them as optoelectronic or chemo resistive sensors. To achieve this, a micro integration process was developed to achieve this goal. The contacted nanostructures were characterized electrically to optimize the integration procedure and acquire best possible sensing capabilities. Silicon nanowires were demonstrated to work as wavelength sensitive optical sensors and gold nanoparticle as marker free chemo resistive sensor.

This talk will introduce a new method of spectral analysis based on compressive sensing, which is based on nanophotonic structures and thus has the potential to achieve high resolution in a compact device size. This method will solve the common problems that exist in traditional spectrometers--bulky and expensive. Also the complex interferences in nanostructures will offer diverse spectral features suitable for compressive sensing.

We explored the potential of a carbon nanotube (CNT) coating working in conjunction with a recently developed localized surface plasmon (LSP) device (based upon a nanostructured thin film consisting of of nano-wires of platinum) with ultra-high sensitivity to changes in the surrounding index. The uncoated LSP sensor’s transmission resonances exhibited a refractive index sensitivity of Δλ/Δn ~ -6200nm/RIU and ΔΙ/Δn ~5900dB/RIU, which is the highest reported spectral sensitivity of a fiber optic sensor to bulk index changes within the gas regime. The complete device provides the first demonstration of the chemically specific gas sensing capabilities of CNTs utilizing their optical characteristics. This is proven by investigating the spectral response of the sensor before and after the adhesion of CNTs to alkane gases along with carbon dioxide. The device shows a distinctive spectral response in the presence of gaseous CO₂ over and above what is expected from general changes in the bulk refractive index. This fiber device yielded a limit of detection of 150ppm for CO₂ at a pressure of one atmosphere. Additionally the adhered CNTs actually reduce sensitivity of the device to changes in bulk refractive index of the surrounding medium. The polarization properties of the LSP sensor resonances are also investigated and it is shown that there is a reduction in the overall azimuthal polarization after the CNTs are applied. These optical devices offer a way of exploiting optically the chemical selectivity of carbon nanotubes, thus providing the potential for real-world applications in gas sensing in many inflammable and explosive environments.

A novel sensing and tracing technology used for the sun-lighting system is reported in this paper. The system is composed of an azimuth angle sensor, an optical fiber, a sunlight coupling unit, and a sunlight tracing control unit. A hollow-core plastic fiber is designed and fabricated and used to receive and transmit the sunlight. A cone-shape optical coupler is designed and used to trap in more sunlight. Compare with the traditional sensing and tracing technology, both of the receive angle of the optical fiber and the coupling efficiency of the sunlight to the optical fiber are substantially increased, and therefore the requirement for the sensing and tracing control is reduced. Of course the cost of the optical fiber sun-lighting system is also reduced. This new sensing and tracing technology has been used in an optical fiber sunlighting system, the sunlight could be transmitted a length of 50m to 100m. The application of this optical fiber sunlighting in an underground garage would be introduced.

AlGaN, with its tunable wide-bandgap is a good choice for the realization of ultraviolet photodetectors. AlGaN films tend to be grown on foreign substrates such as sapphire, which is the most common choice for back-illuminated devices. However, even ultraviolet opaque substrates like silicon holds promise because, silicon can be removed by chemical treatment to allow back-illumination,1 and it is a very low-cost substrate which is available in large diameters up to 300 mm. However, Implementation of silicon as the solar-blind PD substrates requires overcoming the lattice-mismatch (17%) with the AlxGa1-xN that leads to high density of dislocation and crack-initiating stress.

In this talk, we report the growth of thick crack-free AlGaN films on (111) silicon substrates through the use of a substrate patterning and mask-less selective area regrowth. This technique is critical as it decouples the epilayers and the substrate and allows for crack-free growth; however, the masking also helps to reduce the dislocation density by inclining the growth direction and encouraging dislocations to annihilate. A back-illuminated p-i-n PD structure is subsequently grown on this high quality template layer. After processing and hybridizing the device we use a chemical process to selectively remove the silicon substrate. This removal has minimal effect on the device, but it removes the UV-opaque silicon and allows back-illumination of the photodetector. We report our latest results of back-illuminated solar-blind photodetectors growth on silicon.

Long-term stability and reliability of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) can be validated by various stress tests which allow studying the physical mechanisms responsible for degradation. As the electroluminescence (EL) intensity is related to the kinetic energy and density of the channel electrons accelerated in the electric field, both local current and electric field changes can result in an increase or decrease of the EL intensity. The electric field distribution in source drain direction peaks at the drain side edge of the gate foot and the field plates. It is strongly dependent on the gate design and the passivation /semiconductor interface trap density. Although the spatial resolution of the electroluminescence microscopy (ELM) set-up is limited to a few microns, the technique allows to monitor submicron changes in the device geometry and hence to identify elevated electric field peaks being responsible for the acceleration of the degradation process. ELM also benefits from the fact that submicron imperfections at the Schottky interface of the gate electrode result in strong local current variations. It has been used to selectively identify suitable positions for further failure analysis of focused ion beam prepared cross sections by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Process induced imperfections as voids at the Schottky interface after stress have been localized.

Metal-coated D-shape optical fiber is serving as a polarizer by using its attenuation difference for two orthogonal fundamental modes. This paper presents a novel corrosion sensor, based on an iron-coated optical fiber polarizer. The sensor is fabricated by sputtering a Fe-C film on a side-polished single mode fiber. The extinction ratio and the optical power loss are varying during the corrosion process when the iron-coated sensor is exposed to a corrosive environment. The proposed sensor provides a new approach for monitoring the early-age corrosion of steel structures by tracing the variation of polarization characteristics.

Semiconductor hybrid pixel detectors often consist of a pixellated sensor layer bump bonded to a matching pixelated readout integrated circuit (ROIC). The sensor can range from high resistivity Si to III-V materials, whereas a Si CMOS process is typically used to manufacture the ROIC. Independent, device physics and electronic design automation (EDA) tools are used to determine sensor characteristics and verify functional performance of ROICs respectively with significantly different solvers. Some physics solvers provide the capability of transferring data to the EDA tool. However, single pixel transient simulations are either not feasible due to convergence difficulties or are prohibitively long. A simplified sensor model, which includes a current pulse in parallel with detector equivalent capacitor, is often used; even then, spice type top-level (entire array) simulations range from days to weeks.

In order to analyze detector deficiencies for a particular scientific application, accurately defined transient behavioral models of all the functional blocks are required. Furthermore, various simulations, such as transient, noise, Monte Carlo, inter-pixel effects, etc. of the entire array need to be performed within a reasonable time frame without trading off accuracy. The sensor and the analog front-end can be modeling using a real number modeling language, as complex mathematical functions or detailed data can be saved to text files, for further top-level digital simulations. Parasitically aware digital timing is extracted in a standard delay format (sdf) from the pixel digital back-end layout as well as the periphery of the ROIC. For any given input, detector level worst-case and best-case simulations are performed using a Verilog simulation environment to determine the output. Each top-level transient simulation takes no more than 10-15 minutes. The impact of changing key parameters such as sensor Poissonian shot noise, analog front-end bandwidth, jitter due to clock distribution etc. can be accurately analyzed to determine ROIC architectural viability and bottlenecks. Hence the impact of the detector parameters on the scientific application can be studied.