Microdischarge Devices and Arrays
Abstract
During this grant, several major advances have been made in the technology of this new family of photonic devices. Highlights include: 1. The discovery that microdischarge devices with Si pyramid cathodes are extraordinarily sensitive photo detectors in the near-IR and visible. This new hybrid semiconductor/plasma device was found to have a photoresponsivity at least an order of magnitude greater than that of commercially-available avalanche photodiodes and two orders of magnitude larger than the response of conventional Si photodiodes. 2. Gain on a blue (460.30 nm) transition of singly-charged Xe has been observed in a segmented, linear array of microdischarges, fabricated in a ceramic multilayer structure having an active length of ? 1 cm. This is the first example of a microdischarge-driven optical amplifier. 3. The first large arrays of microdischarges have been fabricated and characterized. Nine hundred (900) pixels have been integrated into 8.5 mm2 of Si, which corresponds to >104 pixels-cm-2. An order of magnitude increase in this packing density should be feasible. The critical innovation (?trick?) to making arrays larger than ??5 x 5 work is the design of the dielectric. 4. Arrays as large as 13 x 13 pixels in ceramic structures have been achieved by individually ballasting each pixel with integrated thick film resistors. Much larger arrays are undoubtedly feasible. 5. Devices having dimensions and volumes as small as (10 um)2 and 10 nL, respectively, have been operated successfully. 6. An array of microdischarges has been shown to significantly decrease the starting voltage for an arc lamp, addressing a major concern of the lighting industry. 7. Eight patent applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the claims for another patent have been granted by the Examiner.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA431040
Entities
People
- James Gary Eden
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign