Dennis E. Walker

High-Contrast Electrooptic Modulation of a Photonic Crystal Nanocavity by Electrical Gating of Graphene

We demonstrate high-contrast electro-optic modulation of a photonic crystal nanocavity integrated with an electrically gated monolayer graphene. A silicon air-slot nanocavity provides strong overlap between the resonant optical field and graphene. Tuning the Fermi energy of the graphene layer to 0.85 eV enables strong control of its optical conductivity at telecom wavelengths, which allows modulation of cavity reflection in excess of 10 dB for a swing voltage of only 1.5 V. The cavity resonance at 1570 nm is found to undergo a shift in wavelength of nearly 2 nm, together with a 3-fold increase in quality factor. These observations enable a cavity-enhanced determination of graphenes complex optical sheet conductivity at different doping levels. Our simple device demonstrates the feasibility of high-contrast, low-power, and frequency-selective electro-optic modulators in graphene-integrated silicon photonic integrated circuits.

High-Speed Electro-Optic Modulator Integrated with Graphene-Boron Nitride Heterostructure and Photonic Crystal Nanocavity

Nanoscale and power-efficient electro-optic (EO) modulators are essential components for optical interconnects that are beginning to replace electrical wiring for intra- and interchip communications.1-4 Silicon-based EO modulators show sufficient figures of merits regarding device footprint, speed, power consumption, and modulation depth.5-11 However, the weak electro-optic effect of silicon still sets a technical bottleneck for these devices, motivating the development of modulators based on new materials. Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon allotrope, has emerged as an alternative active material for optoelectronic applications owing to its exceptional optical and electronic properties.12-14 Here, we demonstrate a high-speed graphene electro-optic modulator based on a graphene-boron nitride (BN) heterostructure integrated with a silicon photonic crystal nanocavity. Strongly enhanced light-matter interaction of graphene in a submicron cavity enables efficient electrical tuning of the cavity reflection. We observe a modulation depth of 3.2 dB and a cutoff frequency of 1.2 GHz.

Full-Wafer Characterization of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Free-Standing CVD Diamond Substrates

We report on electrical characterization and uniformity measurements of the first conventionally processed AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on free-standing chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond substrate wafers. DC and RF device performance is reported on HEMTs fabricated on ~ 130-¿m-thick and 30-mm round CVD diamond substrates without mechanical carrying wafers. A measured fT ·LG product of 12.5 GHz ·¿m is the best reported data for all GaN-on-diamond technology. X-band power performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on diamond is reported to be 2.08 W/mm and 44.1% power added efficiency. This letter demonstrates the potential for GaN HEMTs to be fabricated on CVD diamond substrates utilizing contact lithography process techniques. Further optimization of the epitaxy and diamond substrate attachment process could provide for improvements in thermal spreading while preserving the electrical properties.

Super‐resolution microscopy by movable thin‐films with embedded microspheres: Resolution analysis

Microsphere-assisted imaging emerged as a surprisingly simple way of achieving optical super-resolution imaging. In this work, we use movable PDMS thin films with embedded high-index barium titanate glass microspheres a sample scanning capability was developed, thus removing the main limitation of this technology based on its small field-of-view.

Movable thin films with embedded high-index microspheres for super-resolution microscopy

Microsphere-assisted imaging emerged as a surprisingly simple way of achieving optical super-resolution imaging. In this work, we use movable PDMS thin films with embedded high-index barium titanate glass microspheres a sample scanning capability was developed, thus removing the main limitation of this technology based on its small field-of-view.

Overcoming the diffraction limit of imaging nanoplasmonic arrays by microspheres and microfibers.

Super-resolution microscopy by microspheres emerged as a simple and broadband imaging technique; however, the mechanisms of imaging are debated in the literature. Furthermore, the resolution values were estimated based on semi-quantitative criteria. The primary goals of this work are threefold: i) to quantify the spatial resolution provided by this method, ii) to compare the resolution of nanoplasmonic structures formed by different metals, and iii) to understand the imaging provided by microfibers. To this end, arrays of Au and Al nanoplasmonic dimers with very similar geometry were imaged using confocal laser scanning microscopy at λ = 405 nm through high-index (n~1.9-2.2) liquid-immersed BaTiO3 microspheres and through etched silica microfibers. We developed a treatment of super-resolved images in label-free microscopy based on using point-spread functions with subdiffraction-limited widths. It is applicable to objects with arbitrary shapes and can be viewed as an integral form of the super-resolution quantification widely accepted in fluorescent microscopy. In the case of imaging through microspheres, the resolution ~λ/6-λ/7 is demonstrated for Au and Al nanoplasmonic arrays. In the case of imaging through microfibers, the resolution ~λ/6 with magnification M~2.1 is demonstrated in the direction perpendicular to the fiber with hundreds of times larger field-of-view in comparison to microspheres.

Enhanced photodetection in graphene-integrated photonic crystal cavity

We demonstrate the controlled enhancement of photoresponsivity in a graphene photodetector by coupling to slow light modes in a long photonic crystal linear defect cavity. Near the Brillouin zone (BZ) boundary, spectral coupling of multiple cavity modes results in broad-band photocurrent enhancement from 1530 nm to 1540 nm. Away from the BZ boundary, individual cavity resonances enhance the photocurrent eight-fold in narrow resonant peaks. Optimization of the photocurrent via critical coupling of the incident field with the graphene-cavity system is discussed. The enhanced photocurrent demonstrates the feasibility of a wavelength-scale graphene photodetector for efficient photodetection with high spectral selectivity and broadband response.

High-Speed Planar GaAs Nanowire Arrays with fmax > 75 GHz by Wafer-Scale Bottom-up Growth.

Wafer-scale defect-free planar III-V nanowire (NW) arrays with ∼100% yield and precisely defined positions are realized via a patterned vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth method. Long and uniform planar GaAs NWs were assembled in perfectly parallel arrays to form double-channel T-gated NW array-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with DC and RF performance surpassing those for all field-effect transistors (FETs) with VLS NWs, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), or graphene channels in-plane with the substrate. For a planar GaAs NW array-based HEMT with 150 nm gate length and 2 V drain bias, the on/off ratio (ION/IOFF), cutoff frequency (fT), and maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) are 10(4), 33, and 75 GHz, respectively. By characterizing more than 100 devices on a 1.5 × 1.5 cm(2) chip, we prove chip-level electrical uniformity of the planar NW array-based HEMTs and verify the feasibility of using this bottom-up planar NW technology for post-Si large-scale nanoelectronics.

Dependence on proton energy of degradation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

The effects of proton irradiation energy on dc, small signal, and large signal rf characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were investigated. AlGaN/GaN HEMTs were irradiated with protons at fixed fluence of 5 × 1015/cm2 and energies of 5, 10, and 15 MeV. Both dc and rf characteristics revealed more degradation at lower irradiation energy, with reductions of maximum transconductance of 11%, 22%, and 38%, and decreases in drain saturation current of 10%, 24%, and 46% for HEMTs exposed to 15, 10, and 5 MeV protons, respectively. The increase in device degradation with decreasing proton energy is due to the increase in linear energy transfer and corresponding increase in nonionizing energy loss with decreasing proton energy in the active region of the HEMTs. After irradiation, both subthreshold drain leakage current and reverse gate current decreased more than 1 order of magnitude for all samples. The carrier removal rate was in the range 121–336 cm−1 over the range of proton energies employed in this study.

Thermal Properties of AlGaN/GaN HFETs on Bulk GaN Substrates

Micro-Raman thermography, microphotoluminescence spectroscopy, and thermal simulation were used to study the thermal properties of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors grown on semi-insulating bulk GaN substrates. A bulk GaN thermal conductivity of 260 was determined from temperature measurements on operating devices in combination with finite-difference thermal simulations. This is significantly higher than typical thin GaN epilayer thermal conductivities, due to a lower dislocation density in bulk GaN. Despite the thermal conductivity of bulk GaN being lower than that of SiC, transistors on bulk GaN exhibited a similar thermal resistance as GaN-on-SiC devices, attributed to the absence of a thermal boundary resistance between the device epilayers and substrate for GaN-on-GaN devices.