Plasmon-polaritons on graphene-metal surface and their use in biosensors

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We studied excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons on graphene-metal surface. The metal surface is functionalized by transfer printing of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition on copper foils. Surface plasmon resonance characteristics of monolayer and multilayer graphene on the metal surface are presented. We were able to obtain the dispersion relation of graphene-metal surface which reveals the essential feature of the plasmon-polaritons. As an application, we fabricated a surface plasmon resonance sensor integrated with a microfluidic device to study nonspecific physical interaction between graphene layer and proteins. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics

A Comparative Passivation Study for InAs/GaSb Pin Superlattice Photodetectors

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In the quest to find ever better passivation techniques for infrared photodetectors, we explore several passivation layers using atomic layer deposition (ALD). We compare the impact of these layers on detectors fabricated under same conditions. We use ALD deposited Al2O3, HfO2, TiO2, ZnO, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition deposited SiO2, Si3N4, and sulfur containing octadecanethiol self assembled monolayer passivation layers on InAs/GaSb p-i-n superlattice diodes with an average cutoff wavelength of 5.1 mu m. Passivated and unpassivated photodetectors compared for their electrical performances

Synthesis of Graphene on Gold

Here we report chemical vapor deposition of graphene on gold surface at ambient pressure. We studied effects of the growth temperature, pressure and cooling process on the grown graphene layers. The Raman spectroscopy of the samples reveals the essential properties of the graphene grown on gold surface. In order to characterize the electrical properties of the grown graphene layers, we have transferred them on insulating substrates and fabricated field effect transistors. Owing to distinctive properties of gold, the ability to grow graphene layers on gold surface could open new applications of graphene in electrochemistry and spectroscopy.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Femtosecond laser crystallization of amorphous Ge

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Ultrafast crystallization of amorphous germanium (a-Ge) in ambient has been studied. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition grown a-Ge was irradiated with single femtosecond laser pulses of various durations with a range of fluences from below melting to above ablation threshold. Extensive use of Raman scattering has been employed to determine post solidification features aided by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements. Linewidth of the Ge optic phonon at 300 cm(-1) as a function of laser fluence provides a signature for the crystallization of a-Ge. Various crystallization regimes including nanostructures in the form of nanospheres have been identified. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3601356

Crystallization of Ge in SiO2 matrix by femtosecond laser processing

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Germanium nanocrystals embedded in a siliconoxide matrix has been fabricated by single femtosecond laser pulse irradiation of germanium doped SiO2 thin films deposited with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. SEM and AFM are used to analyze surface modification induced by laser irradiation. Crystallization of Ge in the oxide matrix is monitored with the optic phonon at 300 cm(-1) as a function of laser fluence. Both the position the linewidth of the phonon provides clear signature for crystallization of Ge. In PL experiments, strong luminescence around 600 nm has been observed. (C) 2012 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3677829

Thiol passivation of MWIR Type II superlattice photodetectors

Poor passivation on photodetectors can result in catastrophic failure of the device. Abrupt termination of mesa side walls during pixel definition generates dangling bonds that lead to inversion layers and surface traps leading to surface leakage currents that short circuit diode action. Good passivation, therefore, is critical in the fabrication of high performance devices. Silicondioxide has been the main stay of passivation for commercial photodetectors, deposited at high temperatures and high RF powers using plasma deposition techniques. In photodetectors based on III-V compounds, sulphur passivation has been shown to replace oxygen and saturate the dangling bonds. Despite its effectiveness, it degrades over time. More effort is required to create passivation layers which eliminate surface leakage current. In this work, we propose the use of sulphur based octadecanethiol (ODT), CH3(CH2)17SH, as a passivation layer for the InAs/GaSb superlattice photodetectors that acts as a self assembled monolayer (SAM). ODT SAMs consist of a chain of 18 carbon atoms with a sulphur atom at its head. ODT Thiol coating is a simple process that consist of dipping the sample into the solution for a prescribed time. Excellent electrical performance of diodes tested confirm the effectiveness of the sulphur head stabilized by the intermolecular interaction due to van der Walls forces between the long chains of ODT SAM which results in highly stable ultrathin hydrocarbon layers without long term degradation. © 2013 SPIE

Graphene as a Reversible and Spectrally Selective Fluorescence Quencher

We report reversible and spectrally selective fluorescence quenching of quantum dots (QDs) placed in close proximity to graphene. Controlling interband electronic transitions of graphene via electrostatic gating greatly modifies the fluorescence lifetime and intensity of nearby QDs via blocking of the nonradiative energy transfer between QDs and graphene. Using ionic liquid (IL) based electrolyte gating, we are able to control Fermi energy of graphene in the order of 1 eV, which yields electrically controllable fluorescence quenching of QDs in the visible spectrum. Indeed, our technique enables us to perform voltage controllable spectral selectivity among quantum dots at different emission wavelengths. We anticipate that our technique will provide tunable light-matter interaction and energy transfer that could yield hybrid QDs-graphene based optoelectronic devices with novel functionalities, and additionally, may be useful as a spectroscopic ruler, for example, in bioimaging and biomolecular sensing. We propose that graphene can be used as an electrically tunable and wavelength selective fluorescence quencher. � 2016 The Author(s)

Weighing graphene with QCM to monitor interfacial mass changes

In this Letter, we experimentally determined the mass density of graphene using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as a mechanical resonator. We developed a transfer printing technique to integrate large area single-layer graphene on QCM. By monitoring the resonant frequency of an oscillating quartz crystal loaded with graphene, we were able to measure the mass density of graphene as ∼118 ng/cm2, which is significantly larger than the ideal graphene (∼76 ng/cm2) mainly due to the presence of wrinkles and organic/inorganic residues on graphene sheets. High sensitivity of the quartz crystal resonator allowed us to determine the number of graphene layers in a particular sample. Additionally, we extended our technique to probe interfacial mass variation during adsorption of biomolecules on graphene surface and plasma-assisted oxidation of graphene. © 2016 Author(s)

Low dark current N structure superlattice MWIR photodetectors

Commercially available read out integrated circuits (ROICs) require the FPA to have high dynamic resistance area product at zero bias (R0A) which is directly related to dark current of the detector. Dark current arises from bulk and surface contributions. Recent band structure engineering studies significantly suppressed the bulk contribution of the type-II superlattice infrared photodetectors (N structure, M structure, W structure). In this letter, we will present improved dark current results for unipolar barrier complex supercell superlattice system which is called as "N structure". The unique electronic band structure of the N structure increases electron-hole overlap under bias, significantly. N structure aims to improve absorption by manipulating electron and hole wavefunctions that are spatially separated in T2SLs, increasing the absorption while decreasing the dark current. In order to engineer the wavefunctions, we introduce a thin AlSb layer between InAs and GaSb layers in the growth direction which also acts as a unipolar electron barrier. Despite the difficulty of perfect lattice matching of InAs and AlSb, such a design is expected to reduce dark current. Experiments were carried out on Single pixel with mesa sizes of 100 × 100 - 700 × 700 μm photodiodes. Temperature dependent dark current with corresponding R0A resistance values are reported. © 2014 SPIE