Multi-Functional van der Waals Superlattices for Integrated Photonics
Abstract
Semiconductor electronics and optoelectronics under pin the marvels of information technology of the 21st century. Digital computing with silicon-based transistors has continually progressed along with Moore’s law. Silicon nanoelectronics is being pushed to the limit, not just in terms of miniaturization but also in terms of power consumption. Therefore, numerous research efforts over the years have focused on overcoming the above challenges of size, power and speed in Si electronics. While several materials have been proposed and investigated for post Si electronics, using an entirely new state variable such as photons is perhaps most appealing due to the mass-less, charge-less, and bosonic nature of photons resulting in lossless, scattering free propagation. However, this very bosonic nature of photons presents additional challenges from the perspective of control and confinement into highly dense, deep-subwavelength integrated photonic circuits, akin to electronic circuit analogues. Therefore, a more appealing approach for the near to intermediate future is hybrid electronic-photonic computing where photonic elements-system level chipsets are heterogeneously integrated on top of Si electronic chips. The discovery and large-area synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) materials with controlled thickness, composition, and crystal quality open up a much wider range of possibilities for hetero-integration of novel and multi-functional photonic platforms on top of Si or III-V chips. In this proposal, we propose to address the above described grand challenges in nanophotonics by using 2D chalcogenide materials, assembling them into superlattices with nitride and oxide materials, and investigating photonic devices in this novel materials platform. The superlattices will be grown via direct in-situ growth means as well as via artificial layering of the individual oxide or nitride and chalcogenide layers. The samples will be characterized via a suite of spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. Program results will provide a substrate agnostic, tunable photonic platform for scalable photonic integration with electronics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 17, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23862114063
Entities
People
- Deep Jariwala
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Pennsylvania