Transient simulation of heterojunction photodiodes-part II:analysis of resonant cavity enhanced photodetectors

The high-speed response properties of resonant cavity enhanced (RCE) photodetectors have been investigated. The limitations on the high-speed performance of photodiodes and the advantages of RCE-detection are discussed. Transient response of heterojunction photodiodes under pulsed optical illumination has been simulated using the method described in Part I. Results on conventional AlGaAs/GaAs and RCE GaAs/InGaAs heterojunction p-i-n photodiodes are presented. For small area detectors, almost 50% bandwidth improvement along with a two-fold increase in efficiency is predicted for RCE devices over optimized conventional photodiodes. A nearly three-fold enhancement in the bandwidth-efficiency product was shown     

Porous AlN ceramic substrates by reaction sintering

A novel approach was undertaken in producing porous AlN microelectronics tapes with high thermal conductivity and low dielectric constant. This method essentially utilised polymer micro-spherical powders that were used as a sacrificial mould to introduce controlled porosity into the green tapes during pyrolysis. The Al₂O₃-rich porous green tapes were then reaction sintered at 1680 °C for 12 h to achieve porous AlN tapes. This work builds upon the previously developed novel reaction sintering process that densified and converted Al₂O₃-rich tapes (Al₂O₃–20 wt.% AlN–5 wt.% Y₂O₃) to AlN tapes at a relatively low sintering temperature of 1680 °C. The sintering behaviour of the porous tapes was investigated, and the effects of the microspheres particle size and volume addition were studied. The microspheres successfully contributed to the significant reduction of tape density by porosity, and this contributed to lowering its dielectric constant. Dielectric constant of the AlN tapes were reduced to about 6.8–7.7 whilst thermal conductivity values were reasonable at about 46–60 W/m K. Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) values showed a linear trend according to phase composition, with the porous AlN tapes exhibiting CTE values of (4.4–4.8)×10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹, showing good CTE compatibility with silicon, at 4.0×10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹. The added porosity did not significantly affect the CTE values.     

A Hemispherical Image Sensor Array Fabricated with Organic Photomemory Transistors

Hemispherical image sensors simplify lens designs, reduce optical aberrations, and improve image resolution for compact wide-field-of-view cameras. To achieve hemispherical image sensors, organic materials are promising candidates due to the following advantages: tunability of optoelectronic/spectral response and low-temperature low-cost processes. Here, a photolithographic process is developed to prepare a hemispherical image sensor array using organic thin film photomemory transistors with a density of 308 pixels per square centimeter. This design includes only one photomemory transistor as a single active pixel, in contrast to the conventional pixel architecture, consisting of select/readout/reset transistors and a photodiode. The organic photomemory transistor, comprising light-sensitive organic semiconductor and charge-trapping dielectric, is able to achieve a linear photoresponse (light intensity range, from 1 to 50 W m⁻²), along with a responsivity as high as 1.6 A W⁻¹ (wavelength = 465 nm) for a dark current of 0.24 A m⁻² (drain voltage = −1.5 V). These observed values represent the best responsivity for similar dark currents among all the reported hemispherical image sensor arrays to date. A transfer method was further developed that does not damage organic materials for hemispherical organic photomemory transistor arrays. These developed techniques are scalable and are amenable for other high-resolution 3D organic semiconductor devices.     

Ho:CaF(2) solid-state saturable-absorber Q switch for the 2-µm Tm,Cr:Y(3)Al(5)O(12) laser

The holmium-doped calcium fluoride (Ho:CaF(2)) crystal was shown to be an effective solid-state saturable-absorber Q-switch for a flash-lamp-pumped Tm,Cr:Y(3)Al(5)O(12) laser at 2.017 μm. With a 1-cm-thick Ho(0.5%),Er(5%):CaP(2) saturable absorber and a 6.3% output coupler, a single Q-switched laser pulse of 51 mJ in energy and 60 ns in duration was obtained at a flash-lamp input energy of 85 J. With a 14.6% output coupler, a typical Q-switched laser pulse of 84 mJ and 82 ns was observed.     

A gantry-based tri-modality system for bioluminescence tomography

A gantry-based tri-modality system that combines bioluminescence (BLT), diffuse optical (DOT), and x-ray computed tomography (XCT) into the same setting is presented here. The purpose of this system is to perform bioluminescence tomography using a multi-modality imaging approach. As parts of this hybrid system, XCT and DOT provide anatomical information and background optical property maps. This structural and functional a priori information is used to guide and restrain bioluminescence reconstruction algorithm and ultimately improve the BLT results. The performance of the combined system is evaluated using multi-modality phantoms. In particular, a cylindrical heterogeneous multi-modality phantom that contains regions with higher optical absorption and x-ray attenuation is constructed. We showed that a 1.5 mm diameter bioluminescence inclusion can be localized accurately with the functional a priori information while its source strength can be recovered more accurately using both structural and the functional a priori information.     

Optical sensing of biomolecules using microring resonators

A biosensor application of vertically coupled glass microring resonators with Q/spl sim/12 000 is introduced. Using balanced photodetection, very high signal to noise ratios, and thus high sensitivity to refractive index changes (limit of detection of 1.8/spl times/10/sup -5/ refractive index units), are achieved. Ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate successful modification of biosensor surfaces. Experimental data obtained separately for a bulk change of refractive index of the medium and for avidin-biotin binding on the ring surface are reported. Excellent repeatability and close-to-complete surface regeneration after binding are experimentally demonstrated.     

Fuel bioadditive production by chitosan/sulfosuccinic acid catalytic membrane

Global warming is one of the biggest environmental problems of late. The use of renewable raw material resources as biomass and its conversion into alternative energy resources have attracted considerable attention during the recent years. Ethyl levulinate (EL) is a kind of fuel bioadditive for use in diesel and biodiesel engines, which is produced by the esterification of ethanol and levulinic acid. In the present study, sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) catalysts supported on chitosan catalytic membrane is used for the synthesis of EL. The effects of temperature, catalyst amount, and molar feed ratio were studied.     

Synthesis of Water-Soluble Calixarenes Catalyzed One-Pot Mannich-Type Reaction in Aqueous Media

This article demonstrates the synthesis of new water soluble calix[4]arenes (8) based catalyst and application in one-pot, three component Mannich reactions to catalyze reaction between aromatic ketones/aldehyde and amines to acquire β-Amino carbonyl compounds in appreciable yields at room temperature in aqueous media.