Chih-Kuo Tseng

A self-assembled microbonded germanium/silicon heterojunction photodiode for 25 Gb/s high-speed optical interconnects

A novel technique using surface tension to locally bond germanium (Ge) on silicon (Si) is presented for fabricating high performance Ge/Si photodiodes. Surface tension is a cohesive force among liquid molecules that tends to bring contiguous objects in contact to maintain a minimum surface energy. We take advantage of this phenomenon to fabricate a heterojunction optoelectronic device where the lattice constants of joined semiconductors are different. A high-speed Ge/Si heterojunction waveguide photodiode is presented by microbonding a beam-shaped Ge, first grown by rapid-melt-growth (RMG) method, on top of a Si waveguide via surface tension. Excellent device performances such as an operating bandwidth of 17 GHz and a responsivity of 0.66 and 0.70 A/W at the reverse bias of −4 and −6 V, respectively, are demonstrated. This technique can be simply implemented via modern complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technologies for integrating Ge on Si devices.

Calibration of the Compton Spectrometer and Imager in preparation for the 2014 balloon campaign

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-5 MeV) telescope designed to perform wide-field imaging, high-resolution spectroscopy, and novel polarization measurements of astrophysical sources. COSI employs a compact Compton telescope design, utilizing 12 cross-strip germanium detectors to track the path of incident photons, where position and energy deposits from Compton interactions allow for a reconstruction of the source position in the sky, an inherent measure of the linear polarization, and significant background reduction. The instrument has recently been rebuilt with an updated and optimized design; the polarization sensitivity and effective area have increased due to a change in detector configuration, and the new lightweight gondola is suited to fly on ultra-long duration flights with the addition of a mechanical cryocooler system. COSI is planning to launch from the Long Duration Balloon site at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, in December 2014, where our primary science goal will be to measure gamma-ray burst (GRB) polarization. In preparation for the 2014 campaign, we have performed preliminary calibrations of the energy and 3-D position of interactions within the detector, and simulations of the angular resolution and detector efficiency of the integrated instrument. In this paper we will present the science goals for the 2014 COSI campaign and the techniques and results of the preliminary calibrations.

A High-Speed and Low-Breakdown-Voltage Silicon Avalanche Photodetector

A silicon avalanche photodetector with a low breakdown voltage of -6.78 V is demonstrated by narrowing down the intrinsic layer width of interdigitated p-i-n junctions to ~ 150 nm. It reaches the physical limit of avalanche breakdown in which the performance degradation caused by the Zener tunneling process is negligible. Dark current at -4 V is measured, and a responsivity (gain) exceeding 1.424 A/W (110) at -6.75 V is obtained with an 850-nm laser illumination. The intrinsic bandwidth is determined to be 10 GHz, suggesting our device is applicable for a 10-Gb/s high-speed optical receiver application and beyond.

Self-Aligned Microbonded Germanium Metal–Semiconductor–Metal Photodetectors Butt-Coupled to Si Waveguides

We present a butt-coupled Germanium (Ge) metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors on silicon (Si) waveguides. This device is implemented by a novel process using self-aligned microbonding technique and rapid-melt-growth method for monolithically integrating single-crystal Ge and Si devices on the same plane. Through inserting a thin amorphous Si (a-Si) layer between the Ge and metal contact, the Schottky barrier height is modulated, which effectively reduces the dark current and increases the operation speed. The fabricated device shows a low dark current of 0.24 μA, a 3 dB bandwidth of 15 GHz and a responsivity of 0.25 A/W, at a bias voltage of -2.6 V for wavelength 1310 nm.

Silicon-nanocrystal resonant-cavity light emitting devices for color tailoring

A silicon-nanocrsytal resonant-cavity light-emitting device is presented. Through microcavity effect, the external-quantum-efficiency increases by 3.5 times and the emission spectra narrows by 1/8. Green, yellow, orange and red colors are emitted by tuning cavity length.

Polarimetric Analysis of the Long Duration Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 160530A With the Balloon Borne Compton Spectrometer and Imager

A long duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 160530A, was detected by the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) during the 2016 COSI Super Pressure Balloon campaign. As a Compton telescope, COSI is inherently sensitive to the polarization of gamma-ray sources in the energy range 0.2-5.0 MeV. We measured the polarization of GRB 160530A using 1) a standard method (SM) based on fitting the distribution of azimuthal scattering angles with a modulation curve, and 2) an unbinned, maximum likelihood method (MLM). In both cases, the measured polarization level was below the

Self-aligned microbonded Ge/Si PIN waveguide photodetectors

99\%

Positional calibrations of the germanium double sided strip detectors for the Compton spectrometer and imager

confidence minimum detectable polarization levels of

Maximum Likelihood Compton Polarimetry with the Compton Spectrometer and Imager

72.3 \pm 0.8\%

GeSn waveguide photodetectors fabricated by rapid-melt-growth method

(SM) and