The Infiltration of Silver Nanoparticles into Porous Silicon for Improving the Performance of Photonic Devices

Hybrid nanostructures have a great potential to improve the overall properties of photonic devices. In the present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were infiltrated into nanostructured porous silicon (PSi) layers, aiming at enhancing the optoelectronic performance of Si-based devices. More specifically, Schottky diodes with three different configurations were fabricated, using Al/Si/Au as the basic structure. This structure was modified by adding PSi and PSi + AgNPs layers. Their characteristic electrical parameters were accurately determined by fitting the current–voltage curves to the non-ideal diode equation. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to determine the electrical parameters of the diodes in a wide frequency range by fitting the Nyquist plots to the appropriate equivalent circuit model. The experimental results show a remarkable enhancement in electrical conduction after the incorporation of metallic nanoparticles. Moreover, the spectral photoresponse was examined for various devices. An approximately 10-fold increment in photoresponse was observed after the addition of Ag nanoparticles to the porous structures.

The Design of Terahertz Frequency Quadruplers Based on Discrete Schottky Diodes

On the basis of the W-band power source, a single-stage frequency quadrupler method was used to implement two 335 GHz frequency quadruplers. The two frequency quadruplers adopted a traditional binomial matching structure and an improved gradient line matching structure, respectively. An idle loop was added to the overall circuit in the design of the DC filter and low-pass filter. The improved gradient line matching structure reduced the circuit length while increasing the bandwidth, effectively reducing the power loss on the transmission line. A micro-strip circuit was fabricated with a 50 μm thick quartz circuit and was mounted onto a split waveguide block. The results showed that the output power of the quadrupler with the improved matching structure was better than that of the quadrupler with the conventional matching structure. The peak output power of the improved frequency quadrupler was 4.75 mW at 333 GHz when driven with 200 mW. In contrast, this improved structure broadened the bandwidth by 8 GHz and reduced the length of the substrate by 0.607 mm, effectively reducing the length of the traditionally designed circuit by 11.5%.

Materials and Processes for Schottky Contacts on Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide (4H-SiC) Schottky diodes have reached a mature level of technology and are today essential elements in many applications of power electronics. In this context, the study of Schottky barriers on 4H-SiC is of primary importance, since a deeper understanding of the metal/4H-SiC interface is the prerequisite to improving the electrical properties of these devices. To this aim, over the last three decades, many efforts have been devoted to developing the technology for 4H-SiC-based Schottky diodes. In this review paper, after a brief introduction to the fundamental properties and electrical characterization of metal/4H-SiC Schottky barriers, an overview of the best-established materials and processing for the fabrication of Schottky contacts to 4H-SiC is given. Afterwards, besides the consolidated approaches, a variety of nonconventional methods proposed in literature to control the Schottky barrier properties for specific applications is presented. Besides the possibility of gaining insight into the physical characteristics of the Schottky contact, this subject is of particular interest for the device makers, in order to develop a new class of Schottky diodes with superior characteristics.

High-Performance RF Balanced Microstrip Mixer Configuration for Cryogenic and Room Temperatures

A high-performance S-band down-conversion microstrip mixer, for operation from 77 K to 300 K, is described. The balanced mixer combines a 90 degree hybrid coupler, two Schottky diodes, a band pass filter, and a low pass filter. The coupler phase shift drastically improves noise rejection. The circuit was implemented according to the configuration obtained from extensive simulation results based on electromagnetic analysis. The experimental results agreed well with the simulation results, showing a maximum measured insertion loss of 0.4 dB at 2 GHz. The microstrip mixer can be easily adjusted to different frequency ranges, up to about 50 GHz, through the proper choice of microstrip configuration. This novel S-band cryogenic mixer, implemented without resorting to special components, shows a very high performance at liquid nitrogen temperatures, making this mixer very suitable for high-temperature superconductive applications, such as front-ends.

Measuring complex for determining the characteristics of high-voltage silicon carbide Schottky diodes in impulse modes

This paper describes a developed automated research measuring complex that allows one to determine the parameters of currents, voltages and power of silicon carbide Schottky diodes when applied reverse voltage impulses with amplitudes from 400 to 1000 V. The research measuring complex was tested on DDSH411A91 («GRUPPA KREMNY EL») and C3D1P7060Q (Cree/Wolfspeed) silicon carbide Schottky diodes and allows to determine their maximum values of the rate of rise of reverse voltage dV/dt (877 V/ns and 683 V/ns). Also, the maximum values of the current rise rate dI/dt were determined for DDSH411A91 (3.24 A/ns) and C3D1P7060Q (3.72 A/ns) diodes. For the first time it was established that, when a reverse voltage impulse with an amplitude of 1000 V is applied, the maximum values of instantaneous fullpower reach 1419 VA for the DDSH411A91 diode and 1638 VA for the C3D1P7060Q diode.