Moderate-temperature thermal sources (100° to 400°C) that radiate waste heat are often the by-product of mechanical work, chemical or nuclear reactions, or information processing. We demonstrate conversion of thermal radiation into electrical power using a bipolar grating-coupled complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) tunnel diode. A two-step photon-assisted tunneling charge pumping mechanism results in separation of charge carriers in pn-junction wells leading to a large open-circuit voltage developed across a load. Electrical power generation from a broadband blackbody thermal source has been experimentally demonstrated with converted power densities of 27 to 61 microwatts per square centimeter for thermal sources between 250° and 400°C. Scalable, efficient conversion of radiated waste heat into electrical power can be used to reduce energy consumption or to power electronics and sensors.
Direct bond interconnect (DBI) processes enable chip to chip, low resistivity electrical connections for 2.5-D scaling of electrical circuits and heterogenous integration. This work describes SiO2/Cu DBI technology with Cu interconnect performance investigated over a range of inter-die Cu gap heights and post-bond annealing temperatures. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) generates wafers with a controlled Cu recess relative to the SiO2 surface, yielding die pairs with inter-die Cu gap heights ranging between 9 and 47 nm. Bonded die with different gap heights show similar per-connection resistance after annealing at 400 degrees Celsius but annealing at lower temperatures between 250 and 350 degrees Celsius results in failing or high-resistance interconnects with intermediate gaps showing lowest resistance. Cross-section scanning electron microscope (SEM) image analysis shows that the microstructure is largely independent of post-bond annealing temperature, suggesting that the temperature behavior is due to nanoscale scale interfacial effects not observable by SEM. The bond strength is affirmed by successful step-wise mechanical and chemical removal of the handle silicon layer to reveal metal from both die. This work demonstrates a 2.5-D integration method using a 3 micron Cu DBI process on a 7.5 micron pitch with electrical contacts ranging between 3.8 and 4.8 Ohms per contact plug.
Electrical power generation from a moderate-temperature thermal source by means of direct conversion of infrared radiation is important and highly desirable for energy harvesting from waste heat and micropower applications. Here, we demonstrate direct rectified power generation from an unbiased large-area nanoantenna-coupled tunnel diode rectifier called a rectenna. Using a vacuum radiometric measurement technique with irradiation from a temperature-stabilized thermal source, a generated power density of 8 nW/cm2 is observed at a source temperature of 450 °C for the unbiased rectenna across an optimized load resistance. The optimized load resistance for the peak power generation for each temperature coincides with the tunnel diode resistance at zero bias and corresponds to the impedance matching condition for a rectifying antenna. Current-voltage measurements of a thermally illuminated large-area rectenna show current zero crossing shifts into the second quadrant indicating rectification. Photon-assisted tunneling in the unbiased rectenna is modeled as the mechanism for the large short-circuit photocurrents observed where the photon energy serves as an effective bias across the tunnel junction. The measured current and voltage across the load resistor as a function of the thermal source temperature represents direct current electrical power generation.
We present our experimental results of ultra efficient (up to 2.16 nm/mW) thermally tunable modulators with n-Type heaters and the Si substrate removed. To our knowledge, this is the most efficient thermally tunable modulator demonstrated at 1550nm to date. We include results of externally heated modulators with commensurate performance enhancements through substrate removal.
The performance of electronic systems for radio-frequency (RF) spectrum analysis is critical for agile radar and communications systems, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) operations in challenging electromagnetic (EM) environments, and EM-environment situational awareness. While considerable progress has been made in size, weight, and power (SWaP) and performance metrics in conventional RF technology platforms, fundamental limits make continued improvements increasingly difficult. Alternatively, we propose employing cascaded transduction processes in a chip-scale nano-optomechanical system (NOMS) to achieve a spectral sensor with exceptional signal-linearity, high dynamic range, narrow spectral resolution and ultra-fast sweep times. By leveraging the optimal capabilities of photons and phonons, the system we pursue in this work has performance metrics scalable well beyond the fundamental limitations inherent to all electronic systems. In our device architecture, information processing is performed on wide-bandwidth RF-modulated optical signals by photon-mediated phononic transduction of the modulation to the acoustical-domain for narrow-band filtering, and then back to the optical-domain by phonon-mediated phase modulation (the reverse process). Here, we rely on photonics to efficiently distribute signals for parallel processing, and on phononics for effective and flexible RF-frequency manipulation. This technology is used to create RF-filters that are insensitive to the optical wavelength, with wide center frequency bandwidth selectivity (1-100GHz), ultra-narrow filter bandwidth (1-100MHz), and high dynamic range (70dB), which we will present. Additionally, using this filter as a building block, we will discuss current results and progress toward demonstrating a multichannel-filter with a bandwidth of < 10MHz per channel, while minimizing cumulative optical/acoustic/optical transduced insertion-loss to ideally < 10dB. These proposed metric represent significant improvements over RF-platforms.
The interplay of strong infrared photon-phonon coupling with electromagnetic confinement in nanoscale devices is demonstrated to have a large impact on ultrafast photon-assisted tunneling in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures. Infrared active optical phonon modes in polar oxides lead to strong dispersion and enhanced electric fields at material interfaces. We find that the infrared dispersion of SiO2 near a longitudinal optical phonon mode can effectively impedance match a photonic surface mode into a nanoscale tunnel gap that results in large transverse-field confinement. An integrated 2D nanoantenna structure on a distributed large-area MOS tunnel-diode rectifier is designed and built to resonantly excite infrared surface modes and is shown to efficiently channel infrared radiation into nanometer-scale gaps in these MOS devices. This enhanced-gap transverse-electric field is converted to a rectified tunneling displacement current resulting in a dc photocurrent. We examine the angular and polarization-dependent spectral photocurrent response of these 2D nanoantenna-coupled tunnel diodes in the photon-enhanced tunneling spectral region. Our 2D nanoantenna-coupled infrared tunnel-diode rectifier promises to impact large-area thermal energy harvesting and infrared direct detectors.
Operation of concentrated solar power receivers at higher temperatures (>700°C) would enable supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles for improved power cycle efficiencies (>50%) and cost-effective solar thermal power. Unfortunately, radiative losses at higher temperatures in conventional receivers can negatively impact the system efficiency gains. One approach to improve receiver thermal efficiency is to utilize selective coatings that enhance absorption across the visible solar spectrum while minimizing emission in the infrared to reduce radiative losses. Existing coatings, however, tend to degrade rapidly at elevated temperatures. In this report, we report on the initial designs and fabrication of spectrally selective metamaterial-based absorbers for high-temperature, high-thermal flux environments important for solarized sCO2 power cycles. Metamaterials are structured media whose optical properties are determined by sub-wavelength structural features instead of bulk material properties, providing unique solutions by decoupling the optical absorption spectrum from thermal stability requirements. The key enabling innovative concept proposed is the use of structured surfaces with spectral responses that can be tailored to optimize the absorption and retention of solar energy for a given temperature range. In this initial study through the Academic Alliance partnership with University of Texas at Austin, we use Tungsten for its stability in expected harsh environments, compatibility with microfabrication techniques, and required optical performance. Our goal is to tailor the optical properties for high (near unity) absorptivity across the majority of the solar spectrum and over a broad range of incidence angles, and at the same time achieve negligible absorptivity in the near infrared to optimize the energy absorbed and retained. To this goal, we apply the recently developed concept of plasmonic Brewster angle to suitably designed nanostructured Tungsten surfaces. We predict that this will improve the receiver thermal efficiencies by at least 10% over current solar receivers.
A method for patterning on vertical silicon surfaces in high aspect ratio silicon topography is presented. A Faraday cage is used to direct energetic reactive ions obliquely through a patterned suspended membrane positioned over the topography. The technique is capable of forming high-fidelity pattern (100 nm) features, adding an additional fabrication capability to standard top-down fabrication approaches.
Transient responses of high-Q nano-optomechanical modes are characterized with Interleaved-ASOPS, where pump-induced transients are interrogated with multiple probe pulses. Temporal resolution increases linearly with probe-pulse-number beyond conventional ASOPS, achieving sub-ps resolution over μs durations.
This work was an early career LDRD investigating the idea of using a focused ion beam (FIB) to implant Ga into silicon to create embedded nanowires and/or fully suspended nanowires. The embedded Ga nanowires demonstrated electrical resistivity of 5 m-cm, conductivity down to 4 K, and acts as an Ohmic silicon contact. The suspended nanowires achieved dimensions down to 20 nm x 30 nm x 10 m with large sensitivity to pressure. These structures then performed well as Pirani gauges. Sputtered niobium was also developed in this research for use as a superconductive coating on the nanowire. Oxidation characteristics of Nb were detailed and a technique to place the Nb under tensile stress resulted in the Nb resisting bulk atmospheric oxidation for up to years.