Brazing techniques for the fabrication of biocompatible carbon-based electronic devices

Prototype electronic devices have been critical to the discovery and demonstration of the unique properties of new materials, including composites based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene. However, these devices are not typically constructed with durability or biocompatibility in mind, relying on conductive polymeric adhesives, mechanical clamps or crimps, or solders for electrical connections. In this paper, two key metallization techniques are presented that employ commercially-available brazing alloys to fabricate electronic devices based on diamond and carbonaceous wires. Investigation of the carbon - alloy interfacial interactions was utilized to guide device fabrication. The interplay of both chemical ( adhesive ) and mechanical ( cohesive ) forces at the interface of different forms of carbon was exploited to fabricate either freestanding or substrate-fixed carbonaceous electronic devices. Elemental analysis in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy of the carbon - alloy interface revealed the chemical nature of the Ag alloy bond and the mechanical nature of the Au alloy bond. Electrical characterization revealed the non-rectifying nature of the carbon - Au alloy interconnects. Finally, electronic devices were fabricated, including a Au circuit structure embedded in a polycrystalline diamond substrate

Feasibility Assessment of an Optically Powered Digital Retinal Prosthesis Architecture for Retinal Ganglion Cell Stimulation

Clinical trials previously demonstrated the notable capacity to elicit visual percepts in blind patients affected with retinal diseases by electrically stimulating the remaining neurons on the retina. However, these implants restored very limited visual acuity and required transcutaneous cables traversing the eyeball, leading to reduced reliability and complex surgery with high postoperative infection risks. To overcome the limitations imposed by cables, a retinal implant architecture in which near-infrared illumination carries both power and data through the pupil to a digital stimulation controller is presented. A high efficiency multi-junction photovoltaic cell transduces the optical power to a CMOS stimulator capable of delivering flexible interleaved sequential stimulation through a diamond microelectrode array. To demonstrate the capacity to elicit a neural response with this approach while complying with the optical irradiance limit at the pupil, fluorescence imaging with a calcium indicator is used on a degenerate rat retina. The power delivered by the laser at the permissible irradiance of 4 mW/mm2 at 850 nm is shown to be sufficient to both power the stimulator ASIC and elicit a response in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), with the ability to generate of up to 35 000 pulses per second at the average stimulation threshold. This confirms the feasibility of generating a response in RGCs with an infrared-powered digital architecture capable of delivering complex sequential stimulation patterns at high repetition rates, albeit with some limitations.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figure

Characterization of microcrystalline I-layer for solar cells prepared in low temperature - plastic compatible process

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Laser Driven Miniature Diamond Implant for Wireless Retinal Prostheses

AbstractThe design and benchtop operation of a wireless miniature epiretinal stimulator implant is reported. The implant is optically powered and controlled using safe illumination at near‐infrared wavelengths. An application‐specific integrated circuit (ASIC) hosting a digital control unit is used to control the implant's electrodes. The ASIC is powered using an advanced photovoltaic (PV) cell and programmed using a single photodiode. Diamond packaging technology is utilized to achieve high‐density integration of the implant optoelectronic circuitry, as well as individual connections between a stimulator chip and 256 electrodes, within a 4.6 mm × 3.7 mm × 0.9 mm implant package. An ultrahigh efficiency PV cell with a monochromatic power conversion efficiency of 55% is used to power the implant. On‐board photodetection circuity with a bandwidth of 3.7 MHz is used for forward data telemetry of stimulation parameters. In comparison to implants which utilize inductively coupled coils, laser power delivery enables a high degree of miniaturization and lower surgical complexity. The device presented combines the benefits of implant miniaturization and a flexible stimulation strategy provided by a dedicated stimulator chip. This development provides a route to fully wireless miniaturized minimally invasive implants with sophisticated functionalities

Analytical Field-Effect Method for Extraction of Subgap States in Thin-Film Transistors

We present an analytical field-effect method to extract the density of subgap states (subgap DOS) in amorphous semiconductor thin-film transistors (TFTs), using a closed-form relationship between surface potential and gate voltage. By accounting the interface states in the subthreshold characteristics, the subgap DOS is retrieved, leading to a reasonably accurate description of field-effect mobility and its gate voltage dependence. The method proposed here is very useful not only in extracting device performance but also in physically based compact TFT modeling for circuit simulation

Fourier spectrum based extraction of an equivalent trap state density in indium gallium zinc oxide transistors

Segregating the dynamics of gate bias induced threshold voltage shift, and in particular, charge trapping in thin film transistors (TFTs) based on time constants provides insight into the different mechanisms underlying TFTs instability. In this Letter we develop a representation of the time constants and model the magnitude of charge trapped in the form of an equivalent density of created trap states. This representation is extracted from the Fourier spectrum of the dynamics of charge trapping. Using amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O TFTs as an example, the charge trapping was modeled within an energy range of Delta E-t approximate to 0.3 eV and with a density of state distribution as D-t(Et-j) = D-t0 exp(-Delta E-t/kT) with D-t0 = 5.02 x 10(11) cm(-2) eV(-1). Such a model is useful for developing simulation tools for circuit design. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

Periodic Nanopillar N-I-P Amorphous Si Photovoltaic Cells Using Carbon Nanotube Scaffolds

Arrays of periodic one-dimensional nanomaterials offer tunable optical properties in terms of light-matter interaction which are attractive for designing efficient optoelectronic devices. This paper presents a fabrication of bottom-up grown nanopillar (NP) array solar cells based on n-i-p thin-film amorphous silicon using scaffolds of vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) array. The effects of varying the CNT spacing over the range from 800 to 2000 nm on optical and electrical properties of the solar cells were investigated. The NP solar cell with CNT spacing of 800 nm exhibited 'moth-eye' broadband antireflection behavior, showing an average reflectance value lower than 10%. The enhanced optical absorption translated to significant enhancements in photocurrent and quantum efficiency compared to a conventional planar solar cell under low light condition. The open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of the NP solar cell was found systematically correlated with the CNT spacing and the illumination condition. The results presented here is of importance for developing high efficiency one-dimensional nanostructured solar cells