D.-X. Xu

A Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Wire Based Evanescent Field Sensor

We demonstrate a new, highly sensitive evanescent field sensor using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic wire waveguides. Theoretical analysis shows that thin SOI waveguides can provide higher sensitivity over devices based in all other common planar waveguide material systems for the probing of both thin adsorbed biomolecular layers and bulk homogeneous solutions. A Si photonic wire waveguide was incorporated into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer based sensor, configured to monitor the index change of a homogeneous solution. High effective index change of 0.31 per refractive index unit (RIU) change of the solution was measured, confirming theoretical predictions

Folded cavity SOI microring sensors for high sensitivity and real time measurement of biomolecular binding

We demonstrate folded waveguide ring resonators for biomolecular sensing. We show that extending the ring cavity length increases the resonator quality factor, and thereby enhances the sensor resolution and minimum level of detection, while at the same time relaxing the tolerance on the coupling conditions to provide stable and large resonance contrast. The folded spiral path geometry allows a 1.2 mm long ring waveguide to be enclosed in a 150 microm diameter sensor area. The spiral cavity resonator is used to monitor the streptavidin protein binding with a detection limit of approximately 3 pg/mm(2), or a total mass of approximately 5 fg. The real time measurements are used to analyze the kinetics of biotin-streptavidin binding.

Silicon photonic wire biosensor array for multiplexed real-time and label-free molecular detection

We demonstrate a silicon photonic wire waveguide biosensor array chip for the simultaneous monitoring of different molecular binding reactions. The chip is compatible with automated commercial spotting tools and contains a monolithically integrated microfluidic channel for sample delivery. Each array sensor element is a 1.8-mm-long spiral waveguide folded within a 130 microm diameter spot and is incorporated in a balanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a near temperature independent response. The sensors are arranged in a 400 microm spacing grid pattern and are addressed through cascaded 1x2 optical power splitters using light from a single input fiber. We demonstrate the real-time monitoring of antibody-antigen reactions using complementary and mismatched immunoglobulin G receptor-analyte pairs and bovine serum albumin. The measured level of detection for each sensor element corresponds to a surface coverage of less than 0.3 pg/mm(2).

A high-resolution silicon-on-insulator arrayed waveguide grating microspectrometer with sub-micrometer aperture waveguides.

We demonstrate a 50-channel high-resolution arrayed waveguide grating microspectrometer with a 0.2 nm channel spacing on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The chip size is 8 mm x 8 mm. High channel density and spectral resolution are achieved using high aspect ratio 0.6 mum x 1.5 mum waveguide apertures to inject the light into the input combiner and to intercept different spectral channels at the output combiner focal region. The measured crosstalk is <-10 dB, the 3 dB channel bandwidth is 0.15 nm, and the insertion loss is -17 dB near the central wavelength of lambda = 1.545 mum.

Continuously apodized fiber-to-chip surface grating coupler with refractive index engineered subwavelength structure

We demonstrate a fully etched, continuously apodized fiber-to-chip surface grating coupler for the first time (to our knowledge). The device is fabricated in a single-etch step and operates with TM-polarized light, achieving a coupling efficiency of 3.7 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of 60 nm. A subwavelength microstructure is employed to generate an effective medium engineered to vary the strength of the grating and thereby maximize coupling efficiency, while mitigating backreflections at the same time. Minimum feature size is 100 nm for compatibility with deep-UV 193 nm lithography.

Spiral-path high-sensitivity silicon photonic wire molecular sensor with temperature-independent response

We demonstrate a new silicon photonic wire waveguide evanescent field (PWEF) sensor that exploits the strong evanescent field of the transverse magnetic mode of this high-index-contrast, submicrometer-dimension waveguide. High sensitivity is achieved by using a 2 mm long double-spiral waveguide structure that fits within a compact circular area of 150 microm diameter, facilitating compatibility with commercial spotting apparatus and the fabrication of densely spaced sensor arrays. By incorporating the PWEF sensor element into a balanced waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer circuit, a minimum detectable mass of approximately 10 fg of streptavidin protein is demonstrated with near temperature-independent response.

Label-free biosensor array based on silicon-on-insulator ring resonators addressed using a WDM approach

We report a silicon-on-insulator ring resonator biosensor array with one output port, using wavelength division multiplexing as the addressing scheme. With the use of on-chip referencing for environmental drift cancellation, simultaneous monitoring of multiplexed molecular bindings is demonstrated, with a resolution of 0.3 pg/mm(2) (40 ag of total mass) for protein concentrations over 4 orders of magnitude down to 20 pM. Reactions are measured over time periods as long as 3 h with high stability.

Silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in periodically interleaved PN junctions

We present the design and numerical simulation results for a silicon waveguide modulator based on carrier depletion in a linear array of periodically interleaved PN junctions that are oriented perpendicular to the light propagation direction. In this geometry the overlap of the optical waveguide mode with the depletion region is much larger than in designs using a single PN junction aligned parallel to the waveguide propagation direction. Simulations predict that an optimized modulator will have a high modulation efficiency of 0.56 V x cm for a 3 V bias, with a 3 dB frequency bandwidth of over 40 GHz. This device has a length of 1.86 mm with a maximum intrinsic loss of 4.3 dB at 0 V bias, due to free carrier absorption.

Low power four wave mixing in an integrated, micro-ring resonator with Q = 1.2 million

We demonstrate efficient, low power, continuous-wave four-wave mixing in the C-band, using a high index doped silica glass micro ring resonator having a Q-factor of 1.2 million. A record high conversion efficiency for this kind of device is achieved over a bandwidth of 20 nm. We show theoretically that the characteristic low dispersion enables phase-matching over a tuning range > 160 nm.We demonstrate efficient, low power, continuous-wave fourwave mixing in the C-band, using a high index doped silica glass micro ring resonator having a Q-factor of 1.2 million. A record high conversion efficiency for this kind of device is achieved over a bandwidth of 20nm. We show theoretically that the characteristic low dispersion enables phasematching over a bandwidth > 160nm.

Material aspects of nickel silicide for ULSI applications

Nickel silicide is being considered as a candidate for applications in deep sub-micron integrated circuits. In this paper, some pertinent electrical and material properties are studied systematically. The effects of substrate doping on the silicide sheet resistance are examined for both single crystal and poly-silicon substrates. The thermal stability of the silicide films and the effects of dopants are discussed. Particular attention is paid to these properties as the silicide feature size is reduced towards the 0.1 μm range. The influence of feature size on the morphology and topography of the silicide is also presented.