50-GHz-Spacing Athermal Mach–Zehnder Interferometer-Synchronized Arrayed-Waveguide Grating With Improved Temperature Insensitivity

We describe a technique designed to compensate for the residual temperature sensitivity of an athermal silica-based arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) and its application to a 50-GHz-spacing multi/demultiplexer with a low loss and a wide passband. The device has a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-synchronized configuration, in which the AWG and the MZI are athermalized with resin-filled grooves. The point is that we employ a temperature-dependent phase-generating coupler (TD-PGC) in the MZI to compensate for the second-order temperature dependence of the AWG passband wavelength. The fabricated device exhibits practical characteristics including a low loss of less than 3.5 dB and a wide 0.5-dB bandwidth of 24.1 GHz as well as a reduced wavelength variation of less than 10 pm in a ${-}$ 5 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ to 65 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ temperature range.      

Effect of Growth Temperature on InP QD Lasers

We describe the effect of growth temperature on the optical absorption, gain, and threshold current density of 730-nm emitting, metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) grown, InP–AlGaInP quantum-dot lasers. Decreasing the growth temperature from 750 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ to 690 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ leads to an increase in ground state absorption, while sufficient optical gain and low 300 K threshold current density is obtained in the growth temperature window between 710 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ and 730 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ . Wider (16 nm compared to 8 nm) interlayer barriers lead to lower threshold current density with 300 K values as low as 165 $hbox{Acm}^{-2}$ for 2-mm-long lasers with uncoated facets.      

$hbox{TiN/ZrO}_{2}$/Ti/Al Metal–Insulator–Metal Capacitors With Subnanometer CET Using ALD-Deposited $hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ for DRAM Applications

We provide the first report of the structural and electrical properties of $hbox{TiN/ZrO}_{2}$/Ti/Al metal–insulator–metal capacitor structures, where the $hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ thin film (7–8 nm) is deposited by ALD using the new zirconium precursor ZrD-04, also known as Bis(methylcyclopentadienyl) methoxymethyl. Measured capacitance–voltage ($C$– $V$) and current–voltage ( $I$–$V$) characteristics are reported for premetallization rapid thermal annealing (RTP) in $hbox{N}_{2}$ for 60 s at 400 $^{circ}hbox{C}$, 500 $^{circ}hbox{C}$, or 600 $^{ circ}hbox{C}$. For the RTP at 400 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ , we find very low leakage current densities on the order of nanoamperes per square centimeter at a gate voltage of 1 V and low capacitance equivalent thickness values of $sim$ 0.9 nm at a gate voltage of 0 V. The dielectric constant of $ hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ is 31 $pm$ 2 after RTP treatment at 400 $^{circ}hbox{C}$.      

Electrical Properties of $hbox{Bi}_{5}hbox{Nb}_{3} hbox{O}_{15}$ Thin Film Grown on $hbox{TiN}/hbox{SiO}_{2}/ hbox{Si}$ at Room Temperature for Metal–Insulator–Metal Capacitors

Buckling was observed in $hbox{Bi}_{5}hbox{Nb}_{3}hbox{O}_{15}$ (BiNbO) films grown on $hbox{TiN}/hbox{SiO}_{2}/hbox{Si}$ at 300 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ but not in films grown at room temperature and annealed at 350 $^{circ}hbox{C}$. The 45-nm-thick films showed a high capacitance density and a low dissipation factor of 8.81 $hbox{fF}/muhbox{m}^{2}$ and 0.97% at 100 kHz, respectively, with a low leakage current density of 3.46 $hbox{nA}/hbox{cm}^{2}$ at 2 V. The quadratic and linear voltage coefficients of capacitance of this film were 846 $hbox{ppm}/hbox{V}^{2}$ and 137 ppm/V, respectively, with a low temperature coefficient of capacitance of 226 $hbox{ppm}/^{circ}hbox{C}$ at 100 kHz. This suggests that a BiNbO film grown on a $hbox{TiN}/ hbox{SiO}_{2}/hbox{Si}$ substrate is a good candidate material for high-performance metal–insulator–metal capacitors.      

Temperature Compensated Refractometric Biosensor Exploiting Ring Resonators

A temperature compensated refractometric biosensor in polymeric waveguides was demonstrated by integrating a vertically coupled ring resonator with a laterally coupled ring resonator playing the role of monitoring the temperature. The proposed main sensing part was evaluated by observing the concentration of an aqueous glucose solution, and it was found to work decently around room temperature, yielding the sensitivity of ${sim}$120 pm/(g/dL), and the temperature monitoring part offered a temperature sensitivity of $-$172 pm/ $^{circ}$C. With the help of the temperature compensation, the measurement error of the main sensor resulting from the temperature variation was substantially reduced from 1.33 (g/dL)/$^{circ}hbox{C}$ down to 0.03 (g/dL)/$^{circ}hbox{C}$ .      

Compact In-Fiber Interferometer Formed by Long-Period Gratings in Photonic Crystal Fiber

We reported the design and implementation of an in-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a pair of long-period gratings (LPGs) written on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The LPG was fabricated by using a pulsed CO$_{2}$ laser to carve grooves periodically along the PCF. The MZI relies on the interference between the fundamental core mode and a cladding mode of the PCF. The MZI was further demonstrated as a temperature sensor and a strain sensor. The temperature and strain sensitivities were measured to be 42.4 pm/$^{circ}hbox{C}cdot hbox{m}$ and $-$ 2.6 pm/$mu varepsilon $, respectively. We also fabricated an MZI on a single-mode fiber, which has a temperature sensitivity of 1215.56 pm/( $^{circ}hbox{C}cdot hbox{m}$) and a strain sensitivity of $+$ 0.445 pm/$mu varepsilon $.      

180$^{circ}$ and 90$^{circ}$ Phase Shifting Networks With an Octave Bandwidth and Small Phase Errors

A new phase shifting network for both 180 $^{circ}$ and 90 $^{circ}$ phase shift with small phase errors over an octave bandwidth is presented. The theoretical bandwidth is 67% for the 180$^{circ}$ phase bit and 86% for the 90$^{circ}$ phase bit when phase errors are $pm 2^{circ}$. The proposed topology consists of a bandpass filter (BPF) branch, consisting of a LC resonator and two shunt quarter-wavelength transmission lines (TLs), and a reference TL. A theoretical analysis is provided and scalable parameters are listed for both phase bits. To test the theory, phase shifting networks from 1 GHz to 3 GHz were designed. The measured phase errors of the 180$^{circ}$ and the 90$^{circ}$ phase bit are $pm 3.5^{circ}$ and $pm 2.5^{circ}$ over a bandwidth of 73% and 102% while the return losses are better than 18 dB and 12 dB, respectively.      

Low-Threshold Strained Quantum-Well GaSb-Based Lasers Emitting in the 2.5- to 2.7-$mu$ m Wavelength Range

GaInAsSb–GaSb strained quantum-well (QW) ridge waveguide diode lasers emitting in the wavelength range from 2.51 to 2.72 $ mu{hbox {m}}$ have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The devices show ultralow threshold current densities of 44 $hbox{A}/{hbox {cm}}^{2}$ (${L}rightarrow infty $) for a single QW device at 2.51 $ mu{hbox {m}}$, which is the lowest reported value in continuous-wave operation near room temperature (15 $^{circ}hbox{C}$) at this wavelength. The devices have an internal loss of 3 ${hbox {cm}}^{-1}$ and a characteristic temperature of 42 K. By using broader QWs, wavelengths up to 2.72 $mu{hbox {m}}$ could be achieved.      

Near-Stoichiometric Ti : LiNbO$_{3}$ Strip Waveguides Fabricated by Standard Ti Diffusion and Post-VTE

We report near-stoichiometric (NS) Ti : LiNbO$_{3}$ waveguides fabricated by indiffusion of 4-, 5-, 6-, 7- $mu{hbox {m}}$-wide 120-nm-thick Ti-strips at 1060 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ for 10 h into a congruent $hbox{LiNbO}_{3}$ (i.e., standard Ti diffusion procedure) and post-vapour-transport-equilibration (VTE) treatment at 1100 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ for 5 h. These waveguides are NS and single-mode at 1.5 $mu{hbox {m}}$, and have a loss of 1.0/0.8 dB/cm for the TM/TE mode. In the width/depth direction of the waveguide, the mode field follows a Gauss/Hermite–Gauss profile, and the Ti profile follows a sum of two error functions/a Gauss function. The post-VTE resulted in increase of diffusion width/depth by 2.0/1.0 $mu{hbox {m}}$. A two-dimensional refractive index profile in the guiding layer is suggested.      

$S$ - and $C$ -Band Ultra-Compact Phase Shifters Based on All-Pass Networks

Ultra-compact phase shifters are presented. The proposed phase-shifting circuits utilize the lumped element all-pass networks. The transition frequency of the all-pass network, which determines the size of the circuit, is set to be much higher than the operating frequency. This results in a significantly small chip size of the phase shifter. To verify this methodology, 5-bit phase shifters have been fabricated in the $S$ - and $C$ -band. The $S$ -band phase shifter, with a chip size of 1.87 mm $,times,$0.87 mm (1.63 mm $^{2}$), has achieved an insertion loss of ${hbox{6.1 dB}} pm {hbox{0.6 dB}}$ and rms phase-shift error of less than 2.8$^{circ}$ in 10% bandwidth. The $C$ -band phase shifter, with a chip size of 1.72 mm $,times,$0.81 mm (1.37 mm $^{2}$), has demonstrated an insertion loss of 5.7 dB $pm$ 0.8 dB and rms phase-shift error of less than 2.3 $^{circ}$ in 10% bandwidth.      

Electrical Properties of Amorphous $hbox{Bi}_{5} hbox{Nb}_{3}hbox{O}_{15}$ Thin Film for RF MIM Capacitors

Amorphous $hbox{Bi}_{5}hbox{Nb}_{3}hbox{O}_{15}(hbox{B}_{5} hbox{N}_{3})$ film grown at 300 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ showed a high-$k$ value of 71 at 100 kHz, and similar $k$ value was observed at 0.5–5.0 GHz. The 80-nm-thick film exhibited a high capacitance density of 7.8 fF/$muhbox{m}^{2}$ and a low dissipation factor of 0.95% at 100 kHz with a low leakage-current density of 1.23 nA/ $hbox{cm}^{2}$ at 1 V. The quadratic and linear voltage coefficient of capacitances of the $hbox{B}_{5}hbox{N}_{3}$ film were 438 ppm/$hbox{V}^{2}$ and 456 ppm/V, respectively, with a low temperature coefficient of capacitance of 309 ppm/$^{circ}hbox{C}$ at 100 kHz. These results confirmed the potential of the amorphous $hbox{B}_{5}hbox{N}_{3}$ film as a good candidate material for a high-performance metal–insulator–metal capacitors.      

Compact $S$ -/$Ka$-Band CMOS Quadrature Hybrids With High Phase Balance Based on Multilayer Transformer Over-Coupling Technique

This paper presents compact CMOS quadrature hybrids by using the transformer over-coupling technique to eliminate significant phase error in the presence of low-$Q$ CMOS components. The technique includes the inductive and capacitive couplings, where the former is realized by employing a tightly inductive-coupled transformer and the latter by an additional capacitor across the transformer winding. Their phase balance effects are investigated and the design methodology is presented. The measurement results show that the designed 24-GHz CMOS quadrature hybrid has excellent phase balance within ${pm}{hbox{0.6}}^{circ}$ and amplitude balance less than ${pm} {hbox{0.3}}$ dB over a 16% fractional bandwidth with extremely compact size of 0.05 mm$^{2}$. For the 2.4-GHz hybrid monolithic microwave integrated circuit, it has measured phase balance of ${pm}{hbox{0.8}}^{circ}$ and amplitude balance of ${pm} {hbox{0.3}}$ dB over a 10% fractional bandwidth with a chip area of 0.1 mm$^{2}$ .      

High-Density and Low-Leakage-Current MIM Capacitor Using Stacked $hbox{TiO}_{2}/hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ Insulators

We have fabricated high-$kappa hbox{Ni}/hbox{TiO}_{2}/hbox{ZrO}_{2}/ hbox{TiN}$ metal–insulator–metal (MIM) capacitors. A low leakage current of $hbox{8} times hbox{10}^{-8} hbox{A/cm}^{2}$ at 125 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ was obtained with a high 38- $hbox{fF}/muhbox{m}^{2}$ capacitance density and better than the $hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ MIM capacitors. The excellent device performance is due to the lower electric field in 9.5-nm-thick $hbox{TiO}_{2}/ hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ devices to decrease the leakage current and to a higher $kappa$ value of 58 for $ hbox{TiO}_{2}$ as compared with that of $hbox{ZrO}_{2}$ to preserve the high capacitance density.      

Experimental-Numerical Comparison for a High-Density Data Center: Hot Spot Heat Fluxes in Excess of 500 W/ft $^{2}$

This paper uses previously published experimental data to present a comparison between test results and numerical simulations. The example considered is a large 7400 ft$^{2}$ data canter that houses over 130 heat-producing racks (1.2 MW) and 12 air conditioning units. Localized hot spot heat fluxes were measured to be as high as 512 W/ft$^{2}$ (5.5 kW/m$^{2}$ ) for a 400 ft$^{2}$ (37 m$^{2}$ ) region. A numerical model based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was constructed using inputs from the measurements. The rack inlet air temperature was considered to be the basis for experimental versus numerical comparison. The overall mean rack inlet temperature predicted numerically at a height of 1.75 m is within 4 $^{circ}$ C of the test data with a rack-by-rack standard deviation of 3.3 $^{circ}$C.      

Performance Improvement of N-Type $hbox{TiO}_{x}$ Active-Channel TFTs Grown by Low-Temperature Plasma-Enhanced ALD

We report on performance improvement of $n$-type oxide–semiconductor thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on $hbox{TiO}_{x}$ active channels grown at 250 $^{circ}hbox{C}$ by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition. TFTs with as-grown $hbox{TiO}_{x}$ films exhibited the saturation mobility $(mu_{rm sat})$ as high as 3.2 $hbox{cm}^{2}/hbox{V}cdothbox{s}$ but suffered from the low on–off ratio $(I_{rm ON}/I_{rm OFF})$ of $hbox{2.0} times hbox{10}^{2}$. $hbox{N}_{2}hbox{O}$ plasma treatment was then attempted to improve $I_{rm ON}/I_{rm OFF}$. Upon treatment, the $hbox{TiO}_{x}$ TFTs exhibited $I_{rm ON}/I_{rm OFF}$ of $hbox{4.7} times hbox{10}^{5}$ and $mu_{rm sat}$ of 1.64 $hbox{cm}^{2}/hbox{V}cdothbox{s}$, showing a much improved performance balance and, thus, demonstrating their potentials for a wide variety of applications such as backplane technology in active-matrix displays and radio-frequency identification tags.      

A 300 nW, 15 ppm/$^{circ}$C, 20 ppm/V CMOS Voltage Reference Circuit Consisting of Subthreshold MOSFETs

A low-power CMOS voltage reference was developed using a 0.35 $mu$m standard CMOS process technology. The device consists of MOSFET circuits operated in the subthreshold region and uses no resistors. It generates two voltages having opposite temperature coefficients and adds them to produce an output voltage with a near-zero temperature coefficient. The resulting voltage is equal to the extrapolated threshold voltage of a MOSFET at absolute zero temperature, which was about 745$~$mV for the MOSFETs we used. The temperature coefficient of the voltage was 7 ppm/ $^{circ}$C at best and 15 ppm/$^{circ}$C on average, in a range from ${-}$ 20 to 80$^{circ}$ C. The line sensitivity was 20 ppm/V in a supply voltage range of 1.4–3 V, and the power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) was ${-}$45 dB at 100 Hz. The power dissipation was 0.3 $mu$W at 80$^{circ}$C. The chip area was 0.05 mm$^2$ . Our device would be suitable for use in subthreshold-operated, power-aware LSIs.      

Linear Cascade GaN-Based Green Light-Emitting Diodes With Invariant High-Speed/Power Performance Under High-Temperature Operation

We demonstrate the performance of linear cascade green light-emitting diode (LED) arrays suited for use in plastic optical fiber (POF) communications in automobiles or harsh environments. With this three-LED array, driven by the constant voltage bias of an in-car battery output (12 V) we obtain high-speed ($sim$100-Mb/s eye-opening), high-coupling power (0.9 mW), and a very small variation of coupled power versus temperature [$-$ 0.12%$^{circ}hbox{C}^{-1}$ at room temperature (RT)] for the whole measured temperature range (i.e., RT to 120 $^{circ}$ C). Even under high bias current (100 mA) operation, our device can sustain a clear 150-Mb/s eye-opening from RT to 120 $^{circ}$C. The static and dynamic measurement results indicate that the speed and power performance of this device are less sensitive to variations in ambient temperature than are those of the red resonant-cavity LEDs utilized for POF communication.      

Passivation of a (100) Silicon Surface by Silicon Dioxide Grown in Nitric Acid

This letter investigates silicon dioxide layers grown at low temperature in concentrated nitric acid using a two-step process developed by Imai for thin-film transistors. With photoconductance measurements, we find that, prior to an anneal, nitric acid oxidation does not passivate the silicon surface, but, after a 30-min nitrogen anneal at 1100 $^{circ}hbox{C}$, a surface recombination velocity (SRV) of 107 cm/s (at $Delta n = hbox{10}^{15} hbox{cm}^{-3}$ ) is attained on 1-$Omegacdothbox{cm}$ n-type silicon. The SRV is further decreased to 42 cm/s after a 30-min forming gas anneal (FGA) at 400 $^{circ}hbox{C}$, which is equivalent to a thermal oxide under similar annealing conditions, although it is not stable and returns to its pre-FGA state over time. Capacitance–voltage and photoconductance measurements suggest that the oxides contain a high positive fixed charge—particularly after a 1100 $^{circ}hbox{C} hbox{N}_{2}$ anneal—which aids the passivation of n-type and intrinsic silicon but harms the passivation of low-resistivity p-type silicon.      

10-GHz and 20-GHz Channel Spacing High-Resolution AWGs on InP

This letter reports on 10-GHz and 20-GHz channel-spacing arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) based on InP technology. The dimensions of the AWGs are 6.8$,times,$8.2 mm$^{2}$ and 5.0$,times,$6.0 mm$^{2}$, respectively, and the devices show crosstalk levels of $-$12 dB for the 10-GHz and $-$17 dB for the 20-GHz AWG without any compensation for the phase errors in the arrayed waveguides. The root-mean-square phase errors for the center arrayed waveguides were characterized by using an optical vector network analyzer, and are 18 $^{circ}$ for the 10-GHz AWG and 28$^{circ}$ for the 10-GHz AWG.      

Polarization-Independent Liquid-Crystal Fresnel Lenses Based on Surface-Mode Switching of 90$^{circ}$ Twisted-Nematic Liquid Crystals

A simple polarization-independent liquid-crystal Fresnel lens is developed using the surface-mode switching of 90$^{circ}$ twisted-nematic liquid crystals (TN-LCs). In the surface-mode switching of LCs, the major reorientation of LCs occurs near the substrates. Optical calculations indicate that 90$^{circ}$ TN-LCs are polarization-independent under surface-mode switching, when the applied voltage exceeds four times the threshold voltage for director reorientation. The maximum tunable phase shift in this polarization-independent state of 90$^{circ}$ TN-LCs is $sim$ 11% of LC cell retardation. An LC Fresnel lens that is polarization-independent and has a fast response with a response time of $≪$10 ms is demonstrated using the surface-mode switching of 90$^{circ}$ TN-LC.