A strain sensor inspired by a Widlar self-biased current source topology called $β$-multiplier is developed to obtain a strain-dependent reference current with high supply rejection. The sensor relies on the piezoresistive effect in the silicon MOS transistors that form the current reference circuit. The device behavior is analytically computed and verified with experimental measurements under four-point bending test. A basic implementation with an integrated resistor reaches a strain sensitivity of 2.54 nA/$με$ (gauge factor of 324) for a temperature sensitivity of 52.06 nA/°C. A more advanced full-transistor circuit based on current subtraction principle is furthered implemented in order to reach strain sensitivity up to 12.02 nA/$με$ (gauge factor of 1773) and temperature sensitivity of -28.72 nA/°C. This implementation includes a CMOS active load to tune the strain and temperature sensitivities with a total power consumption between 20 and 150 $μ$W.
Silicon photonics is a powerful platform for implementing large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs), because of its compatibility with mature complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Exploiting silicon-based PICs for quantum photonic information processing (or the so-called silicon quantum photonics) provides a promising pathway for large-scale quantum applications. For the development of scalable silicon quantum PICs, a major challenge is integrating on-silicon quantum light sources that deterministically emit single photons. In this regard, the use of epitaxial InAs/G…
Selective spectral detection of ultraviolet (UV) radiation is highly important across numerous fields from health and safety to industrial and environmental monitoring applications. Herein, we report a non-toxic, visible-blind, inorganic quantum dot (QD)-based sensing scheme that expands the spectral coverage of Silicon CMOS sensors into the UV, enabling efficient UV detection without affecting the sensor performance in the visible and UV-band discrimination. The reported scheme employs zinc magnesium oxide (ZnMgO) QDs with compositionally tunable absorption across UV and high photoluminescenc…
Silicon is a common material for photonics due to its favorable optical properties in the telecom and mid-wave IR bands, as well as compatibility with a wide range of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) foundry processes. Crystalline inversion symmetry precludes silicon from natively exhibiting second-order nonlinear optical processes. In this work, we build on recent work in silicon photonics that break this material symmetry using large bias fields, thereby enabling $χ^{(2)}$ interactions. Using this approach, we demonstrate both second-harmonic generation (with a normalized effic…
Silicon quantum photonics provides a promising pathway to realize large-scale quantum photonic integrated circuits (QPICs) by exploiting the power of complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Toward scalable operation of such silicon-based QPICs, a straightforward approach is to integrate deterministic single-photon sources (SPSs). To this end, hybrid integration of deterministic solid-state SPSs, such as those based on InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs), is highly promising. However, the spectral and spatial randomness inherent in the QDs pose a serious challenge for scalable imple…
Solid-state quantum computers require classical electronics to control and readout individual qubits and to enable fast classical data processing [1-3]. Integrating both subsystems at deep cryogenic temperatures [4], where solid-state quantum processors operate best, may solve some major scaling challenges, such as system size and input/output (I/O) data management [5]. Spin qubits in silicon quantum dots (QDs) could be monolithically integrated with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics using very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and thus leveraging over wide manufacturing …
This work presents how first-principles simulations validated through experimental measurements lead to a new accurate prediction of the expected Raman shift as a function of strain in silicon. Structural relaxation of a strained primitive cell is first performed to tackle the relative displacement of the silicon atoms for each strain level. Density Functional Perturbation Theory (DFPT) is then used to compute the energy of the optical phonon modes in highly-strained silicon and retrieve the strain-shift trend. The simulations are validated by experimental characterization, using scanning elec…
The optical properties of silicon can be greatly tuned by applying strain and opening new perspectives, particularly in applications where infrared is key. In this work, we use a recent model for the indirect light absorption of silicon and include the effects of tensile and compressive uniaxial strains. The model is based on material properties such as the bandgap, the conduction and valence band density-of-states effective masses, and the phonon frequencies, which are obtained from first principles including strain up to +2% along the [110] and [111] directions. We show that the limit of abs…
The most promising quantum algorithms require quantum processors hosting millions of quantum bits when targeting practical applications. A major challenge towards large-scale quantum computation is the interconnect complexity. In current solid-state qubit implementations, a major bottleneck appears between the quantum chip in a dilution refrigerator and the room temperature electronics. Advanced lithography supports the fabrication of both CMOS control electronics and qubits in silicon. When the electronics are designed to operate at cryogenic temperatures, it can ultimately be integrated with…
We demonstrate a platform for phase and amplitude modulation in silicon nitride photonic integrated circuits via piezo-optomechanical coupling using tightly mechanically coupled aluminum nitride actuators. The platform, fabricated in a CMOS foundry, enables scalable active photonic integrated circuits for visible wavelengths, and the piezoelectric actuation functions without performance degradation down to cryogenic temperatures. As an example of the potential of the platform, we demonstrate a compact (~40 μm diameter) silicon nitride ring resonator modulator operating at 780 nm with intrinsic…
Here we present the first demonstration and in-depth study of unreleased acoustic resonators in 14nm FinFET technology in the IEEE X band, which offer a zero-barrier-to-entry solution for high Q, small footprint, resonant tanks integrated seamlessly in advanced CMOS nodes. These devices leverage phononic waveguides for acoustic confinement, and exploit MOS capacitors and transistors inherent to the technology to electromechanically drive and sense acoustic vibrations. Sixteen device variations are analyzed across thirty bias points to discern the impact of phononic confinement, gate length, an…
Reliable operation of photonic integrated circuits at cryogenic temperatures would enable new capabilities for emerging computing platforms, such as quantum technologies and low-power cryogenic computing. The silicon-on-insulator platform is a highly promising approach to developing large-scale photonic integrated circuits due to its exceptional manufacturability, CMOS compatibility and high component density. Fast, efficient and low-loss modulation at cryogenic temperatures in silicon, however, remains an outstanding challenge, particularly without the addition of exotic nonlinear optical mat…
Graphene has emerged as an ultrafast optoelectronic material for on-chip photodetector applications. The 2D nature of graphene enables its facile integration with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) microelectronics and silicon photonics, yet graphene absorbs only $\sim$2.3% of light. Plasmonic metals can enhance the responsivity of graphene photodetectors, but may result in CMOS-incompatible devices, depending on the choice of metal. Here, we propose a plasmon-enhanced photothermoelectric graphene detector using CMOS-compatible titanium nitride (TiN) on the silicon-on-insulator (SO…
The photoluminescence and spin properties of ensembles of color centers in silicon carbide are enhanced by fabricating optically isolated slab waveguide structures and carefully controlling annealing and cooling conditions. We find that the photoluminescence signal of an ensemble of implanted defects is enhanced in slab waveguides by an order of magnitude over identically implanted bulk defects. The slab waveguide-enhanced photoluminescence of several defect species is used to study recombination and diffusion in the presence of thermal annealing with both rapid quench cooling and a longer ret…
Automatic reconfiguration of optical filters is the key to novel flexible RF photonic receivers and Software Defined Radios (SDRs). Although silicon photonics (SiP) is a promising technology platform to realize such receivers, process variations and lack of in-situ tuning capability limits the adoption of SiP filters in widely-tunable RF photonic receivers. To address this issue, this work presents a first `in-situ' automatic reconfiguration algorithm and demonstrates a software configurable integrated optical filter that can be reconfigured on-the-fly based on user specifications. The present…
The measurement of the Si lattice parameter by x-ray interferometry assumes the use of strain-free crystals, which might not be true because of intrinsic stresses due to surface relaxation, reconstruction, and oxidation. We used x-ray phase-contrast topography to investigate the strain sensitivity to the finishing, annealing, and coating of the interferometer crystals.We assessed the topography capabilities by measuring the lattice strain due to films of copper deposited on the interferometer mirror-crystal. A byproduct has been the measurement of the surface stresses after complete relaxation…
Nano-electro-opto-mechanical systems enable the synergistic coexistence of electrical, mechanical, and optical signals on a chip to realize new functions. Most of the technology platforms proposed for the fabrication of these systems so far are not fully compatible with the mainstream CMOS technology, thus hindering mass-scale utilization. We have developed a CMOS technology platform for nano-electro-opto-mechanical systems that includes piezoelectric interdigitated transducers for electronic driving of mechanical signals and nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams for enhanced optomechanical intera…
A long-standing discrepancy exists between experiments and atomistic models concerning the critical strain needed for surface nucleation of dislocations in silicon-germanium systems. While dislocation nucleation is readily observed in hetero-epitaxial thin films with misfit strains less than 4%, existing atomistic models predict that a critical strain over 7.8% is needed to overcome the kinetic barrier for dislocation nucleation. Using zero-temperature energy barrier calculations and finite-temperature Molecular Dynamics simulations, we show that 3-dimensional surface features such as a sharpl…
This work presents a self-heating study of a 40-nm bulk-CMOS technology in the ambient temperature range from 300 K down to 4.2 K. A custom test chip was designed and fabricated for measuring both the temperature rise in the MOSFET channel and in the surrounding silicon substrate, using the gate resistance and silicon diodes as sensors, respectively. Since self-heating depends on factors such as device geometry and power density, the test structure characterized in this work was specifically designed to resemble actual devices used in cryogenic qubit control ICs. Severe self-heating was observ…
There are many researches reported in using Germanium in Silicon based lasers but acquiring this potential for a nanolaser may also be important for development of a CMOS compatible plasmon source. In this paper, a Ge/SiGe multiple quantum well waveguide integrated nanolaser is introduced and theoretically investigated. This structure is simulated and by means of a semi-classical rate equation model, its performance is studied. The proposed nano laser has a tiny footprint of 0.07um^2, room temperature performance and CMOS compatible fabrication process. The output performance of the proposed s…
Previous cryogenic electronics studies are most above 4.2K. In this paper we present the cryogenic characterization of a 0.18μm standard bulk CMOS technology(1.8V and 5V) at sub-kelvin temperature around 270mK. PMOS and NMOS devices with different width to length ratios(W/L) are tested and characterized under various bias conditions at temperatures from 300K to 270mK. It is shown that the 0.18μm standard bulk CMOS technology is still working at sub-kelvin temperature. The kink effect and current overshoot phenomenon are observed at sub-kelvin temperature. Especially, current overshoot phenomen…
In integrated photonics, specific wavelengths are preferred such as 1550 nm due to low-loss transmission and the availability of optical gain in this spectral region. For chip-based photodetectors, layered two-dimensional (2D) materials bear scientific and technologically-relevant properties leading to strong light-matter-interaction devices due to effects such as reduced coulomb screening or excitonic states. However, no efficient photodetector in the telecommunication C-band using 2D materials has been realized yet. Here, we demonstrate a MoTe2-based photodetector featuring strong photorespo…
Gate induced strain on a two-dimensional hole gas in silicon
MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente（特温特大学 MESA+ 纳米技术研究所）；High Field Magnet Laboratory (HFML-EMFL), Radboud University（拉布德大学高磁场实验室（HFML-EMFL））；Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials（拉布德大学分子与材料研究所）
