Surface-normal illuminated pseudo-planar Ge-on-Si avalanche photodiodes with high gain and low noise.

Germanium-on-Silicon (Ge-on-Si) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are of considerable interest as low intensity light detectors for emerging applications. The Ge absorption layer detects light at wavelengths up to ≈ 1600 nm with the Si acting as an avalanche medium, providing high gain with low excess avalanche noise. Such APDs are typically used in waveguide configurations as growing a sufficiently thick Ge absorbing layer is challenging. Here, we report on a new vertically illuminated pseudo-planar Ge-on-Si APD design utilizing a 2 µm thick Ge absorber and a 1.4 µm thick Si multiplication region. At a wavelength of 1550 nm, 50 µm diameter devices show a responsivity of 0.41 A/W at unity gain, a maximum avalanche gain of 101 and an excess noise factor of 3.1 at a gain of 20. This excess noise factor represents a record low noise for all configurations of Ge-on-Si APDs. These APDs can be inexpensively manufactured and have potential integration in silicon photonic platforms allowing use in a variety of applications requiring high-sensitivity detectors at wavelengths around 1550 nm.

Very low excess noise Al0.75Ga0.25As0.56Sb0.44 avalanche photodiode.

AlxGa1-xAsySb1-y grown lattice-matched to InP has attracted significant research interest as a material for low noise, high sensitivity avalanche photodiodes (APDs) due to its very dissimilar electron and hole ionization coefficients, especially at low electric fields. All work reported to date has been on Al concentrations of x = 0.85 or higher. This work demonstrates that much lower excess noise (F = 2.4) at a very high multiplication of 90 can be obtained in thick Al0.75Ga0.25As0.56Sb0.44 grown on InP substrates. This is the lowest excess noise that has been reported in any III-V APD operating at room temperature. The impact ionization coefficients for both electrons and holes are determined over a wide electric field range (up to 650 kV/cm) from avalanche multiplication measurements undertaken on complementary p-i-n and n-i-p diode structures. While these ionization coefficients can fit the experimental multiplication over three orders of magnitude, the measured excess noise is significantly lower than that expected from the ß/α ratio and the conventional local McIntyre noise theory. These results are of importance not just for the design of APDs but other high field devices, such as transistors using this material.

Evidence of Partial Seniority Conservation in the πg_{9/2} Shell for the N=50 Isotones.

The reduced transition probabilities for the 4_{1}^{+}→2_{1}^{+} and 2_{1}^{+}→0_{1}^{+} transitions in ^{92}Mo and ^{94}Ru and for the 4_{1}^{+}→2_{1}^{+} and 6_{1}^{+}→4_{1}^{+} transitions in ^{90}Zr have been determined in this experiment making use of a multinucleon transfer reaction. These results have been interpreted on the basis of realistic shell-model calculations in the f_{5/2}, p_{3/2}, p_{1/2}, and g_{9/2} proton valence space. Only the combination of extensive lifetime information and large scale shell-model calculations allowed the extent of the seniority conservation in the N=50 g_{9/2} orbital to be understood. The conclusion is that seniority is largely conserved in the first πg_{9/2} orbital.

Stress response during early sedation with dexmedetomidine compared with usual-care in ventilated critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND: Sedative agents may variably impact the stress response. Dexmedetomidine is a sympatholytic alpha2-adrenergic agonist mainly used as a second-line sedative agent in mechanically ventilated patients. We hypothesised that early sedation with dexmedetomidine as the primary agent would result in a reduced stress response compared to usual sedatives in critically ill ventilated adults. METHODS: This was a prospective sub-study nested within a multi-centre randomised controlled trial of early sedation with dexmedetomidine versus usual care. The primary outcome was the mean group differences in plasma levels of stress response biomarkers measured over 5 days following randomisation. Other hormonal, biological and physiological parameters were collected. Subgroup analyses were planned for patients with proven or suspected sepsis. RESULTS: One hundred and three patients were included in the final analysis. Baseline illness severity (APACHE II score), the proportion of patients receiving propofol and the median dose of propofol received were comparable between groups. More of the usual-care patients received midazolam (57.7% vs 33.3%; p = 0.01) and at higher dose (median (95% interquartile range) 0.46 [0.20-0.93] vs 0.14 [0.08-0.38] mg/kg/day; p < 0.01). The geometric mean (95% CI) plasma level of the stress hormones, adrenaline (0.32 [0.26-0.4] vs 0.38 [0.31-0.48]), noradrenaline (4.27 [3.12-5.85] vs 6.2 [4.6-8.5]), adrenocorticotropic hormone (17.1 [15.1-19.5] vs 18.1 [15.9-20.5]) and cortisol (515 [409-648] vs 618 [491-776)] did not differ between dexmedetomidine and usual-care groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in any other assayed biomarkers or physiological parameters Sensitivity analyses showed no effect of age or sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: Early sedation with dexmedetomidine as the primary sedative agent in mechanically ventilated critically ill adults resulted in comparable changes in physiological and blood-borne parameters associated with the stress-response as with usual-care sedation.

Neutron Skin Effects in Mirror Energy Differences: The Case of

Energy differences between analogue states in the T=1/2 ^{23}Mg-^{23}Na mirror nuclei have been measured along the rotational yrast bands. This allows us to search for effects arising from isospin-symmetry-breaking interactions (ISB) and/or shape changes. Data are interpreted in the shell model framework following the method successfully applied to nuclei in the f_{7/2} shell. It is shown that the introduction of a schematic ISB interaction of the same type of that used in the f_{7/2} shell is needed to reproduce the data. An alternative novel description, applied here for the first time, relies on the use of an effective interaction deduced from a realistic charge-dependent chiral nucleon-nucleon potential. This analysis provides two important results: (i) The mirror energy differences give direct insight into the nuclear skin; (ii) the skin changes along the rotational bands are strongly correlated with the difference between the neutron and proton occupations of the s_{1/2} "halo" orbit.

Shell Evolution towards

The level structure of the neutron-rich ^{77}Cu nucleus is investigated through ß-delayed γ-ray spectroscopy at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory of the RIKEN Nishina Center. Ions of ^{77}Ni are produced by in-flight fission, separated and identified in the BigRIPS fragment separator, and implanted in the WAS3ABi silicon detector array, surrounded by Ge cluster detectors of the EURICA array. A large number of excited states in ^{77}Cu are identified for the first time by correlating γ rays with the ß decay of ^{77}Ni, and a level scheme is constructed by utilizing their coincidence relationships. The good agreement between large-scale Monte Carlo shell model calculations and experimental results allows for the evaluation of the single-particle structure near ^{78}Ni and suggests a single-particle nature for both the 5/2_{1}^{-} and 3/2_{1}^{-} states in ^{77}Cu, leading to doubly magic ^{78}Ni.

1550 nm InGaAs/InAlAs single photon avalanche diode at room temperature.

An InGaAs/InAlAs Single Photon Avalanche Diode was fabricated and characterized. Leakage current, dark count and photon count measurements were carried out on the devices from 260 to 290 K. Due to better temperature stability of avalanche breakdown in InAlAs, the device breakdown voltage varied by < 0.2 V over the 30 K temperature range studied, which corresponds to a temperature coefficient of breakdown voltage less than 7 mV/K. The single photon detection efficiency achieved in gated mode was 21 and 10% at 260 and 290 K, respectively. However the dark count rates were high due to excessive band-to-band tunneling current in the InAlAs avalanche region.

Quadrupole transition strength in the (74)Ni nucleus and core polarization effects in the neutron-rich Ni isotopes.

The reduced transition probability B(E2;0(+)→2(+)) has been measured for the neutron-rich nucleus (74)Ni in an intermediate energy Coulomb excitation experiment performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. The obtained B(E2;0(+)→2(+))=642(-226)(+216) e(2) fm(4) value defines a trend which is unexpectedly small if referred to (70)Ni and to a previous indirect determination of the transition strength in (74)Ni. This indicates a reduced polarization of the Z=28 core by the valence neutrons. Calculations in the pfgd model space reproduce well the experimental result indicating that the B(E2) strength predominantly corresponds to neutron excitations. The ratio of the neutron and proton multipole matrix elements supports such an interpretation.

ß-Decay half-lives of 76,77Co, 79,80Ni, and 81Cu: experimental indication of a doubly magic 78Ni.

The half-lives of 20 neutron-rich nuclei with Z=27-30 have been measured at the RIBF, including five new half-lives of (76)Co(21.7(-4.9)(+6.5) ms), (77)Co(13.0(-4.3)(+7.2) ms), (79)Ni(43.0(-7.5)(+8.6) ms), (80)Ni(23.9(-17.2)(+26.0) ms), and (81)Cu(73.2 ± 6.8 ms). In addition, the half-lives of (73-75)Co, (74-78)Ni, (78-80)Cu, and (80-82)Zn were determined with higher precision than previous works. Based on these new results, a systematic study of the ß-decay half-lives has been carried out, which suggests a sizable magicity for both the proton number Z = 28 and the neutron number N=50 in (78)Ni.

The formation of surface multilayers at the air-water interface from sodium diethylene glycol monoalkyl ether sulfate/AlCl3 solutions: the role of the alkyl chain length.

The influence of the alkyl chain length on surface multilayer formation at the air-water interface for the anionic surfactant sodium diethylene glycol monoalkyl ether sulfate, SAE2S, in the presence of Al(3+) multivalent counterions, in the form of AlCl3, is described. In the absence of electrolyte, the saturated monolayer adsorption is determined by the headgroup geometry and is independent of the alkyl chain length. In the presence of Al(3+) counterions, surface multilayer formation occurs, due to the strong SAE2S/Al(3+) binding and complexation. The neutron reflection data show that the alkyl chain length of the surfactant has a significant impact upon the evolution of the surface multilayer structure with surfactant and AlCl3 concentration. Increasing the alkyl chain length from decyl to tetradecyl results in the surface multilayer formation occurring at lower surfactant and AlCl3 concentrations. At the short alkyl chain lengths, decyl and dodecyl, the regions of multilayer formation with a small number of bilayers are increasingly extended with decreasing alkyl chain length. For the alkyl chain lengths of tetradecyl and hexadecyl, the surface behavior is further affected by decreases in the surfactant solubility in the presence of AlCl3, and this ultimately dominates the surface behavior at the longer alkyl chain lengths.

The formation of surface multilayers at the air-water interface from sodium polyethylene glycol monoalkyl ether sulfate/AlCl(3) solutions: the role of the size of the polyethylene oxide group.

Neutron reflectivity, NR, and surface tension, ST, have been used to study the surface adsorption properties at the air-water interface of the anionic surfactant sodium polyethylene glycol monododecyl ether sulfate (sodium lauryl ether sulfate, SLES) in the presence of Al(3+) multivalent counterions, by the addition of AlCl3. In the absence of AlCl3 and at low AlCl3 concentrations monolayer adsorption is observed. With increasing AlCl3 concentration, surface multilayer formation is observed, driven by SLES/Al(3+) complex formation. The onset of multilayer formation occurs initially as a single bilayer or a multilayer structure with a limited number of bilayers, N, ≤3, and ultimately at higher AlCl3 concentrations N is large, >20. The evolution in the surface structure is determined by the surfactant and AlCl3 concentrations, and the size of the polyethylene oxide group in the different SLES surfactants studied. From the NR data, approximate surface phase diagrams are constructed, and the evolution of the surface structure with surfactant and electrolyte concentration is shown to be dependent on the size of the polyethylene oxide group. As the polyethylene oxide group increases in size the multilayer formation requires increasingly higher surfactant and AlCl3 concentrations to promote the formation. This is attributed to the increased steric hindrance of the polyethylene oxide group disrupting SLES/Al(3+) complex formation.

Anomalous excess noise behavior in thick Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 avalanche photodiodes.

Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 has recently attracted significant research interest as a material for 1550 nm low-noise short-wave infrared (SWIR) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) due to the very wide ratio between its electron and hole ionization coefficients. This work reports new experimental excess noise data for thick Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 PIN and NIP structures, measuring low noise at significantly higher multiplication values than previously reported (F = 2.2 at M = 38). These results disagree with the classical McIntyre excess noise theory, which overestimates the expected noise based on the ionization coefficients reported for this alloy. Even the addition of 'dead space' effects cannot account for these discrepancies. The only way to explain the low excess noise observed is to conclude that the spatial probability distributions for impact ionization of electrons and holes in this material follows a Weibull-Fréchet distribution function even at relatively low electric-fields. Knowledge of the ionization coefficients alone is no longer sufficient to predict the excess noise properties of this material system and consequently the electric-field dependent electron and hole ionization probability distributions are extracted for this alloy.

Temperature dependence of gain and excess noise in InAs electron avalanche photodiodes.

Measurement and analysis of the temperature dependence of avalanche gain and excess noise in InAs electron avalanche photodiodes (eAPDs) at 77 to 250 K are reported. The avalanche gain, initiated by pure electron injection, was found to reduce with decreasing temperature. However no significant change in the excess noise was measured as the temperature was varied. For avalanche gain > 3, the InAs APDs with 3.5 µm i-region show consistently low excess noise factors between 1.45 and 1.6 at temperatures of 77 to 250 K, confirming that the eAPD characteristics are exhibited in the measured range of electric field. As the dark current drops much more rapidly than the avalanche gain and the excess noise remains very low, our results confirmed that improved signal to noise ratio can be obtained in InAs eAPDs by reducing the operating temperature. The lack of hole impact ionization, as confirmed by the very low excess noise and the exponentially rising avalanche gain, suggests that hole impact ionization enhancement due to band "resonance" does not occur in InAs APDs at the reported temperatures.

1300 nm wavelength InAs quantum dot photodetector grown on silicon.

The optical and electrical properties of InAs quantum dots epitaxially grown on a silicon substrate have been investigated to evaluate their potential as both photodiodes and avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating at a wavelength of 1300 nm. A peak responsivity of 5 mA/W was observed at 1280 nm, with an absorption tail extending beyond 1300 nm, while the dark currents were two orders of magnitude lower than those reported for Ge on Si photodiodes. The diodes exhibited avalanche breakdown at 22 V reverse bias which is probably dominated by impact ionisation occurring in the GaAs and AlGaAs barrier layers. A red shift in the absorption peak of 61.2 meV was measured when the reverse bias was increased from 0 to 22 V, which we attributed to the quantum confined stark effect. This shift also leads to an increase in the responsivity at a fixed wavelength as the bias is increased, yielding a maximum increase in responsivity by a factor of 140 at the wavelength of 1365 nm, illustrating the potential for such a structure to be used as an optical modulator.

High speed InAs electron avalanche photodiodes overcome the conventional gain-bandwidth product limit.

High bandwidth, uncooled, Indium Arsenide (InAs) electron avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) with unique and highly desirable characteristics are reported. The e-APDs exhibit a 3dB bandwidth of 3.5 GHz which, unlike that of conventional APDs, is shown not to reduce with increasing avalanche gain. Hence these InAs e-APDs demonstrate a characteristic of theoretically ideal electron only APDs, the absence of a gain-bandwidth product limit. This is important because gain-bandwidth products restrict the maximum exploitable gain in all conventional high bandwidth APDs. Non-limiting gain-bandwidth products up to 580 GHz have been measured on these first high bandwidth e-APDs.

Valence band engineering of GaAsBi for low noise avalanche photodiodes.

Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) are key semiconductor components that amplify weak optical signals via the impact ionization process, but this process' stochastic nature introduces 'excess' noise, limiting the useful signal to noise ratio (or sensitivity) that is practically achievable. The APD material's electron and hole ionization coefficients (α and ß respectively) are critical parameters in this regard, with very disparate values of α and ß necessary to minimize this excess noise. Here, the analysis of thirteen complementary p-i-n/n-i-p diodes shows that alloying GaAs with ≤ 5.1 % Bi dramatically reduces ß while leaving α virtually unchanged-enabling a 2 to 100-fold enhancement of the GaAs α/ß ratio while extending the wavelength beyond 1.1 µm. Such a dramatic change in only ß is unseen in any other dilute alloy and is attributed to the Bi-induced increase of the spin-orbit splitting energy (∆so). Valence band engineering in this way offers an attractive route to enable low noise semiconductor APDs to be developed.

Allostasis and sedation practices in intensive care evaluation: an observational pilot study.

BACKGROUND: A dysregulated stress response has been implicated in the pathogenesis of critical illness. Sedative agents utilised in the critically unwell patient may impact upon the stress response with a downstream negative effect on multiple organ systems. This study was designed to assess the feasibility of investigating components of the stress response as a sub-study of the current SPICE-III study (NCT01728558). METHODS: This pilot observational cohort study was conducted in a single intensive care unit in Queensland, Australia. Enrolled patients were over 18 years who had been commenced on mechanical ventilation requiring sedation for less than 12 h but expected to remain ventilated for > 24 h. Blood samples were taken at 12 h intervals over a 5-day period commencing at the time of enrolment, and subsequently tested for various markers of key efferent limbs of the stress axis. RESULTS: The 12 patients recruited closely mirrored the population within the pilot study used to design SPICE-III. Eighty-nine percent (107/120) of all planned blood samples were obtained and drawn within 0 h (0-0.3) of the planned sampling time point. Time from eligibility to enrolment was a median (IQR) 1.4 h (0.36-9.19), and time from eligibility to the first blood sample was 4.79 h (2.0-10.61). Physiological, hormonal, metabolic and cardiac biomarkers were consistent with an elevated stress response at baseline which mostly normalised over the 5-day study period. Plasma noradrenaline levels correlated with the dose of norepinephrine used. CONCLUSIONS: A larger sub-study of the SPICE-III study is feasible. The study has demonstrated a predictable trend of variation of the components of the blood panel during the evolution of critical illness and supports multiple sampling time points for the follow-up study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ANZCTR.org.au , ACTRN12616001200471, Registered on 22 January 2016.

Demonstration of large ionization coefficient ratio in AlAs0.56Sb0.44 lattice matched to InP.

The electron and hole avalanche multiplication characteristics have been measured in bulk AlAs0.56Sb0.44 p-i-n and n-i-p homojunction diodes, lattice matched to InP, with nominal avalanche region thicknesses of ~0.6 µm, 1.0 µm and 1.5 µm. From these and data from two much thinner devices, the bulk electron and hole impact ionization coefficients (α and ß respectively), have been determined over an electric-field range from 220-1250 kV/cm for α and from 360-1250 kV/cm for ß for the first time. The α/ß ratio is found to vary from 1000 to 2 over this field range, making it the first report of a wide band-gap III-V semiconductor with ionization coefficient ratios similar to or larger than that observed in silicon.

Assessing the Nature of the Distribution of Localised States in Bulk GaAsBi.

A comprehensive assessment of the nature of the distribution of sub band-gap energy states in bulk GaAsBi is presented using power and temperature dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy. The observation of a characteristic red-blue-red shift in the peak luminescence energy indicates the presence of short-range alloy disorder in the material. A decrease in the carrier localisation energy demonstrates the strong excitation power dependence of localised state behaviour and is attributed to the filling of energy states furthest from the valence band edge. Analysis of the photoluminescence lineshape at low temperature presents strong evidence for a Gaussian distribution of localised states that extends from the valence band edge. Furthermore, a rate model is employed to understand the non-uniform thermal quenching of the photoluminescence and indicates the presence of two Gaussian-like distributions making up the density of localised states. These components are attributed to the presence of microscopic fluctuations in Bi content, due to short-range alloy disorder across the GaAsBi layer, and the formation of Bi related point defects, resulting from low temperature growth.