Mechanically-flexible wafer-scale integrated-photonics fabrication platform.

The field of integrated photonics has advanced rapidly due to wafer-scale fabrication, with integrated-photonics platforms and fabrication processes being demonstrated at both infrared and visible wavelengths. However, these demonstrations have primarily focused on fabrication processes on silicon substrates that result in rigid photonic wafers and chips, which limit the potential application spaces. There are many application areas that would benefit from mechanically-flexible integrated-photonics wafers, such as wearable healthcare monitors and pliable displays. Although there have been demonstrations of mechanically-flexible photonics fabrication, they have been limited to fabrication processes on the individual device or chip scale, which limits scalability. In this paper, we propose, develop, and experimentally characterize the first 300-mm wafer-scale platform and fabrication process that results in mechanically-flexible photonic wafers and chips. First, we develop and describe the 300-mm wafer-scale CMOS-compatible flexible platform and fabrication process. Next, we experimentally demonstrate key optical functionality at visible wavelengths, including chip coupling, waveguide routing, and passive devices. Then, we perform a bend-durability study to characterize the mechanical flexibility of the photonic chips, demonstrating bending a single chip 2000 times down to a bend diameter of 0.5 inch with no degradation in the optical performance. Finally, we experimentally characterize polarization-rotation effects induced by bending the flexible photonic chips. This work will enable the field of integrated photonics to advance into new application areas that require flexible photonic chips.

Publisher Correction: Integrating photonics with silicon nanoelectronics for the next generation of systems on a chip.

In this Letter, owing to an error during the production process, the author affiliations were listed incorrectly. Affiliation number 5 (Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, State University of New York (SUNY)) was repeated, and affiliation numbers 6-8 were incorrect. In addition, the phrase "two oxide thickness variants" should have been "two gate oxide thickness variants". These errors have all been corrected online.

Integrating photonics with silicon nanoelectronics for the next generation of systems on a chip.

Electronic and photonic technologies have transformed our lives-from computing and mobile devices, to information technology and the internet. Our future demands in these fields require innovation in each technology separately, but also depend on our ability to harness their complementary physics through integrated solutions1,2. This goal is hindered by the fact that most silicon nanotechnologies-which enable our processors, computer memory, communications chips and image sensors-rely on bulk silicon substrates, a cost-effective solution with an abundant supply chain, but with substantial limitations for the integration of photonic functions. Here we introduce photonics into bulk silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chips using a layer of polycrystalline silicon deposited on silicon oxide (glass) islands fabricated alongside transistors. We use this single deposited layer to realize optical waveguides and resonators, high-speed optical modulators and sensitive avalanche photodetectors. We integrated this photonic platform with a 65-nanometre-transistor bulk CMOS process technology inside a 300-millimetre-diameter-wafer microelectronics foundry. We then implemented integrated high-speed optical transceivers in this platform that operate at ten gigabits per second, composed of millions of transistors, and arrayed on a single optical bus for wavelength division multiplexing, to address the demand for high-bandwidth optical interconnects in data centres and high-performance computing3,4. By decoupling the formation of photonic devices from that of transistors, this integration approach can achieve many of the goals of multi-chip solutions 5 , but with the performance, complexity and scalability of 'systems on a chip'1,6-8. As transistors smaller than ten nanometres across become commercially available 9 , and as new nanotechnologies emerge10,11, this approach could provide a way to integrate photonics with state-of-the-art nanoelectronics.

Fluorinated acid amplifiers for EUV lithography.

Five new compounds were synthesized for use as acid amplifiers in EUV (13.5 nm) photoresists. Four compounds act as acid amplifiers and decompose by autocatalytic kinetics to generate fluorinated sulfonic acids, essential for the simultaneous improvement of resolution, sensitivity, and line edge roughness (LER) in EUV photoresists. The decomposition rates were studied using (19)F NMR in the presence and absence of 1.2 equiv of tri-tert-butylpyridine. Three acid amplifiers decomposed 490, 1360, and 1430 times faster without base than with base. Preliminary lithographic evaluations show that cis-1-methyl-2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenylsulfonyloxy)cyclohexyl acetate simultaneously improves the resolution, LER, and sensitivity of an EUV photoresist.

Synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of [Ru(bpy)(CH3CN)3(NO2)]PF6, a synthon for [Ru(bpy)(L3)NO2] complexes.

We report a high yield, two-step synthesis of fac-[Ru(bpy)(CH3CN)3NO2]PF6 from the known complex [(p-cym)Ru(bpy)Cl]PF6 (p-cym = eta(6)-p-cymene). [(p-cym)Ru(bpy)NO2]PF6 is prepared by reacting [(p-cymene)Ru(bpy)Cl]PF6 with AgNO3/KNO2 or AgNO2. The 15NO2 analogue is prepared using K15NO2. Displacement of p-cymene from [(p-cym)Ru(bpy)NO2]PF6 by acetonitrile gives [Ru(bpy)(CH3CN)3NO2]PF6. The new complexes [(p-cym)Ru(bpy)NO2]PF6 and fac-[Ru(bpy)(CH3CN)3NO2]PF6 have been fully characterized by 1H and 15N NMR, IR, elemental analysis, and single-crystal structure determination. Reaction of [Ru(bpy)(CH3CN)3NO2]PF6 with the appropriate ligands gives the new complexes [Ru(bpy)(Tp)NO2] (Tp = HB(pz)3-, pz = 1-pyrazolyl), [Ru(bpy)(Tpm)NO2]PF6 (Tpm = HC(pz)3), and the previously prepared [Ru(bpy)(trpy)NO2]PF6 (trpy = 2,2',6',2' '-terpyridine). Reaction of the nitro complexes with HPF6 gives the new nitrosyl complexes [Ru(bpy)TpNO][PF6]2 and [Ru(bpy)(Tpm)NO][PF6]3. All complexes were prepared with 15N-labeled nitro or nitrosyl groups. The nitro and nitrosyl complexes were characterized by 1H and 15N NMR and IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, cyclic voltammetry, and single-crystal structure determination for [Ru(bpy)TpNO][PF6]2. For the nitro complexes, a linear correlation is observed between the nitro 15N NMR chemical shift and 1/nu(asym), where nu(asym) is the asymmetric stretching frequency of the nitro group.