Crouse D.T., Crouse M., Crouse D.T., Crouse M., Mahapatra S., Ikram A.A.
City College of New York, US
Keywords: alumina, IR, nanowire, photodetector, quantum wire
A nanoporous alumina template has been developed that provides a practical and flexible method of fabricating semiconductor and metal nanowires on any desired substrate. In situ electrochemical techniques are used to transform this multilayer precursor to a nanoporous alumina template and the insulating alumina barrier layer is removed resulting in the base of the pores terminating at a Pt contact, all in one process. II-VI semiconductor nanowires have been fabricated using this template including CdTe, CdSe and CdS. The goal of this work is to fabricate nanowire heterostructures, that will employ intersubband absorption for mid and long wavelength IR photodetection. Toward this end, a complete and accurate analysis of the electron and hole quantum states, the surface optical and longitudinal optical phonon modes, electron-phonon interaction and incident light-electron interaction is also being done. Nanowires fabricated in such a way will have higher operating temperatures and the ability to absorb normally incident light. Cost effective optoelectronic devices including mid and long wavelength IR (MWIR and LWIR) photodetectors and emitters can therefore be fabricated. The control on dimensions of nanowires allows for photoabsorption in different regions of the spectrum and will allow for multi-wavelength forward looking, MWIR and LWIR focal plane arrays.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Technical Proceedings of the 2006 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 3
Published: May 7, 2006
Pages: 117 - 120
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topics: Nanoelectronics, Photonic Materials & Devices
ISBN: 0-9767985-8-1