NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices

Machine learning enabled spectrometry has the potential to revolutionize fields like agriculture, field biology, and chemical metrology by allowing the identification of different targets in space via a spectral fingerprint. For example, fields of diseased crops requiring pesticides may show different reflectance spectra compared to healthy plants. However, current methods using a standard spectrometer and off-chip computer must acquire, transmit, then process complete reflectance or transmittance spectra, known as a hypercube, for every point of interest in space. This is costly in terms...

This paper introduces a microfluidics platform embedded within a silicon chip implemented in CMOS technology. The platform utilizes a one-step wet etching method to create fluidic channels by selectively removing CMOS back-end-of-line (BEOL) routing metals. We term our technique “subtractive” microfluidics, to complement those fabricated with additive manufacturing. Three types of structures are presented in a TSMC I80-nm CMOS chip: (1) passive microfluidics in the form of a micro-mixer and a 1: 64 splitter, (2) fluidic channels with embedded ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous, high surface area materials that consist of metal-cluster nodes connected by organic linkers to form highly ordered structures with various pore geometries and chemical properties. Due to their unique and tunable structure, MOFs have shown substantial promise in a broad range of applications, including chemical sensing, gas adsorption and separation, and catalysis. To investigate the intrinsic properties of MOFs for their sensing performance, single crystals are ideal platforms that mitigate the impact of defects, impurities, and grain...

Point defects in crystalline materials can introduce localized defects states with optical transitions, creating color centers. Color centers in silicon have recently shown their potential as telecom-band single photon emitters. Leveraging the mature semiconductor fabrication techniques, silicon color centers can be fabricated on a large scale and are compatible with integrated photonics. Among all the silicon color centers investigated so far, T centers provide a spin-photon interface suitable for quantum networking and communication applications. In this project, we demonstrate coherent...