Graphene, the single-atom-thick form of carbon, holds promise for many applications, notably in electronics where it can complement or be integrated with silicon-based devices. Intense efforts have been devoted to develop a key enabling device, a broadband, fast optical modulator with a small device footprint. Now Liu et al. demonstrate an exciting new possibility for graphene in the area of on-chip optical communication: a graphene-based optical modulator integrated with a silicon chip. This new device relies on the electrical tuning of the Fermi level of the graphene sheet, and achieves modulation of guided light at frequencies over 1 gigahertz, together with a broad operating spectrum. At just 25 square micrometres in area, it is one of the smallest of its type. Integrated optical modulators with high modulation speed, small footprint and large optical bandwidth are poised to be the enabling devices for on-chip optical interconnects1,2. Semiconductor modulators have therefore been heavily researched over the past few years. However, the device footprint of silicon-based modulators is of the order of millimetres, owing to its weak electro-optical properties3. Germanium and compound semiconductors, on the other hand, face the major challenge of integration with existing silicon electronics and photonics platforms4,5,6. Integrating silicon modulators with high-quality-factor optical resonators increases the modulation strength, but these devices suffer from intrinsic narrow bandwidth and require sophisticated optical design; they also have stringent fabrication requirements and limited temperature tolerances7. Finding a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible material with adequate modulation speed and strength has therefore become a task of not only scientific interest, but also industrial importance. Here we experimentally demonstrate a broadband, high-speed, waveguide-integrated electroabsorption modulator based on monolayer graphene. By electrically tuning the Fermi level of the graphene sheet, we demonstrate modulation of the guided light at frequencies over 1 GHz, together with a broad operation spectrum that ranges from 1.35 to 1.6 µm under ambient conditions. The high modulation efficiency of graphene results in an active device area of merely 25 µm2, which is among the smallest to date. This graphene-based optical modulation mechanism, with combined advantages of compact footprint, low operation voltage and ultrafast modulation speed across a broad range of wavelengths, can enable novel architectures for on-chip optical communications.

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A graphene-based broadband optical modulator

Learn the basic properties and designs of modern VLSI devices, as well as the factors affecting performance, with this thoroughly updated second edition. The first edition has been widely adopted as a standard textbook in microelectronics in many major US universities and worldwide. The internationally-renowned authors highlight the intricate interdependencies and subtle tradeoffs between various practically important device parameters, and also provide an in-depth discussion of device scaling and scaling limits of CMOS and bipolar devices. Equations and parameters provided are checked continuously against the reality of silicon data, making the book equally useful in practical transistor design and in the classroom. Every chapter has been updated to include the latest developments, such as MOSFET scale length theory, high-field transport model, and SiGe-base bipolar devices.

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Fundamentals of Modern VLSI Devices

Boron doses of 1×1012–5×1015/cm2 were implanted at 60 keV into 1‐μm‐thick polysilicon films. After annealing at 1100 °C for 30 min, Hall and resistivity measurements were made over a temperature range −50–250 °C. It was found that as a function of doping concentration, the Hall mobility showed a minimum at about 2×1018/cm3 doping. The electrical activation energy was found to be about half the energy gap value of single‐crystalline silicon for lightly doped samples and decreased to less than 0.025 eV at a doping of 1×1019/cm3. The carrier concentration was very small at doping levels below 5×1017/cm3 and increased rapidly as the doping concentration was increased. At 1×1019/cm3 doping, the carrier concentration was about 90% of the doping concentration. A grain‐boundary model including the trapping states was proposed. Carrier concentration and mobility as a function of doping concentration and the mobility and resistivity as a function of temperature were calculated from the model. The theoretical and ex...

The electrical properties of polycrystalline silicon films

The compelling demand for higher performance and lower power consumption in electronic systems is the main driving force of the electronics industry's quest for devices and/or architectures based on new materials. Here, we provide a review of electronic devices based on two-dimensional materials, outlining their potential as a technological option beyond scaled complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor switches. We focus on the performance limits and advantages of these materials and associated technologies, when exploited for both digital and analog applications, focusing on the main figures of merit needed to meet industry requirements. We also discuss the use of two-dimensional materials as an enabling factor for flexible electronics and provide our perspectives on future developments.

Electronics based on two-dimensional materials

Nanomaterials, such as metal or semiconductor nanoparticles and nanorods, exhibit similar dimensions to those of biomolecules, such as proteins (enzymes, antigens, antibodies) or DNA. The integration of nanoparticles, which exhibit unique electronic, photonic, and catalytic properties, with biomaterials, which display unique recognition, catalytic, and inhibition properties, yields novel hybrid nanobiomaterials of synergetic properties and functions. This review describes recent advances in the synthesis of biomolecule-nanoparticle/nanorod hybrid systems and the application of such assemblies in the generation of 2D and 3D ordered structures in solutions and on surfaces. Particular emphasis is directed to the use of biomolecule-nanoparticle (metallic or semiconductive) assemblies for bioanalytical applications and for the fabrication of bioelectronic devices.

Integrated Nanoparticle–Biomolecule Hybrid Systems: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications

Divers modes de realisation de la presente invention portent sur des dispositifs emettant un rayonnement a electromagnetique ameliore par plasmon de surface et sur des procedes de fabrication de ces dispositifs. Dans un mode de realisation de la presente invention, un dispositif emettant un rayonnement electromagnetique (100) comprend un cœur multicouche (106), une couche de dispositif metallique (108) et un substrat (104). Le cœur multicouche (106) a une couche interne (110) et une couche externe (112), la couche externe etant configuree pour entourer au moins une partie de la couche interne. La couche de dispositif metallique (108) est configuree pour entourer au moins une partie de la couche externe. Le substrat (104) a une couche de conduction inferieure (118) en communication electrique avec la couche interne (110) et une couche conductrice superieure (122) en communication electrique avec la couche de dispositif metallique (108), de telle sorte que la partie exposee emet un rayonnement electromagnetique ameliore par plasmon de surface lorsqu'une tension appropriee est appliquee entre la couche de conduction inferieure et la couche de conduction superieure.

Dispositifs émettant un rayonnement électromagnétique amélioré par plasmon et leurs procédés de fabrication

Ein elektronisches Bauelement (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 100, 100', 100'', 1000), das folgende Merkmale umfasst: einen primaren Nanodraht (18) eines ersten Leitfahigkeitstyps; einen sekundaren Nanodraht (24) eines zweiten Leitfahigkeitstyps, der sich von dem primaren Nanodraht (18) nach ausen erstreckt; eine dotierte Region (26) des zweiten Leitfahigkeitstyps, der sich von dem sekundaren Nanodraht (24) in zumindest einen Abschnitt des primaren Nanodrahts (18) erstreckt.

Elektronisches Bauelement und Verfahren zum Herstellen desselben

A nanoscale apparatus (100) includes a nanoshell (110) extending from a substrate (102) and an epitaxial connection (120) between the substrate and an end (112) of the nanoshell adjacent to the substrate. A nanoscale sensor (200) includes surfaces (204, 206) extending relatively perpendicular to each other, a nanoshell (210) extending from one of the surfaces, and a detector (220) that monitors motion of the nanoshell relative to another of the surfaces spaced from the nanoshell by a gap (208). A method (300) of making a nanoscale apparatus includes growing (310) a nanowire on a surface; forming (320) a core-shell composite nanostructure; exposing (330) an end of the nanowire opposite to the surface with a FIB; and removing (340) the nanowire core from the exposed end, such that a nanoshell having a hollow region is attached to the surface. A material of the nanoshell (110, 210) excludes sp2-bonded carbon materials.

Nanoscale apparatus and sensor with nanoshell and method of making same

Methods of creating isolated electrodes and integrating a nanowire therebetween each employ lateral epitaxial overgrowth of a semiconductor material on a semiconductor layer to form isolated electrodes having the same crystal orientation. The methods include selective epitaxial growth of a semiconductor feature through a window in an insulating film on the semiconductor layer. A vertical stem is in contact with the semiconductor layer through the window and a ledge is a lateral epitaxial overgrowth of the vertical stem on the insulating film. The methods further include creating a pair of isolated electrodes from the semiconductor feature and the semiconductor layer. A nanowire-based device includes the pair of isolated electrodes and a nanowire bridging between respective surfaces of the isolated electrodes of the pair.

Method of creating isolated electrodes in a nanowire-based device

Verschiedene Ausfuhrungsbeispiele der vorliegenden Erfindung sind auf oberflachenplasmonverstarkte, elektromagnetische Strahlung emittierende Vorrichtungen und auf Verfahren zum Fertigen dieser Vorrichtungen gerichtet Bei einem Ausfuhrungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung weist eine elektromagnetische Strahlung emittierende Vorrichtung (100) einen Mehrschichtkern (106), eine Metallvorrichtungsschicht (108) und ein Substrat (104) auf Der Mehrschichtkern (106) weist eine innere Schicht (110) und eine ausere Schicht (112) auf, wobei die ausere Schicht konfiguriert ist, um zumindest einen Abschnitt der inneren Schicht zu umgeben Die Metallvorrichtungsschicht (108) ist konfiguriert, um zumindest einen Abschnitt der auseren Schicht zu umgeben Das Substrat (104) weist eine untere leitende Schicht (118) in elektrischer Kommunikation mit der inneren Schicht (110) und eine obere leitende Schicht (122) in elektrischer Kommunikation mit der Metallvorrichtungsschicht (108) auf, derart, dass der freiliegende Abschnitt eine oberflachenplasmonverstarkte, elektromagnetische Strahlung emittiert, wenn eine geeignete Spannung zwischen die untere leitende Schicht und die obere leitende Schicht angelegt ist

Theodore I. Kamins

Papers

Dispositifs émettant un rayonnement électromagnétique amélioré par plasmon et leurs procédés de fabrication

Elektronisches Bauelement und Verfahren zum Herstellen desselben

Nanoscale apparatus and sensor with nanoshell and method of making same

Method of creating isolated electrodes in a nanowire-based device

Plasmonverstärkte, elektromagnetische Strahlung emittierende Vorrichtungen und Verfahren zum Fertigen derselben