CMOS-integrated geometrically tunable optical filters.

We present a method for producing monolithically integrated complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) optical filters with different and customer-specific responses. The filters are constituted by a Fabry-Perot resonator formed by two Bragg mirrors separated by a patterned cavity. The filter response can be tuned by changing the geometric parameters of the patterning, and consequently the cavity effective refractive index. In this way, many different filters can be produced at once on a single chip, allowing multichanneling. The filter has been designed, produced, and characterized. The results for a chip with 24 filters are presented.

Toward local growth of individual nanowires on three-dimensional microstructures by using a minimally invasive catalyst templating method.

We present a novel minimally invasive postprocessing method for catalyst templating based on focused charged particle beam structuring, which enables a localized vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth of individual nanowires on prefabricated three-dimensional micro- and nanostructures. Gas-assisted focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) was used to deposit a SiO(x) surface layer of about 10 × 10 µm(2) on top of a silicon atomic force microscopy cantilever. Gallium focused ion beam (FIB) milling was used to make a hole through the SiO(x) layer into the underlying silicon. The hole was locally filled with a gold catalyst via FEBID using either Me(2)Au(tfac) or Me(2)Au(acac) as precursor. Subsequent chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-induced VLS growth using a mixture of SiH(4) and Ar resulted in individual high quality crystalline nanowires. The process, its yield, and the resulting angular distribution/crystal orientation of the silicon nanowires are discussed. The presented combined FIB/FEBID/CVD-VLS process is currently the only proven method that enables the growth of individual monocrystalline Si nanowires on prestructured substrates and devices.

Permanent bending and alignment of ZnO nanowires.

Ion beams can be used to permanently bend and re-align nanowires after growth. We have irradiated ZnO nanowires with energetic ions, achieving bending and alignment in different directions. Not only the bending of single nanowires is studied in detail, but also the simultaneous alignment of large ensembles of ZnO nanowires. Computer simulations reveal how the bending is initiated by ion beam induced damage. Detailed structural characterization identifies dislocations to relax stresses and make the bending and alignment permanent, even surviving annealing procedures.