NanoTechnology: Materials, Processes & Devices

Animal skins often possess both functions of sensing and actuating to detect external stimulations and change shapes when needed, respectively. Furthermore, many animals, such as jellyfish and leptocephalus (eel larvae) have tissues that are transparent and ultra-stretchable, which are difficult to build in synthetic sensors and actuators. Moreover, all these living skins have self-healing properties, i.e. to restore their critical functions after being damaged. On the contrary, artificial electronic systems are often brittle and non-transparent. As such, biomimetic, skin-like materials...

Silicon, a mature platform for the semiconductor industry, has become a leading platform for future quantum technologies. As a high-purity material, it serves as a low-noise host for a variety of quantum defects. As a low-loss material, it is a desirable substrate and material platform for next generation quantum devices. However, the lack of piezoelectricity in silicon, due to its centro-symmetric structure, poses challenges for its electromechanical applications. In this project, we aim to engineer strong piezoelectric response in silicon using the atomic coherence of acceptor dopants....

Despite decades of study and deployment, chemiresistive gas sensors based on SnO2 suffer from baseline drift due to aging of the SnO2 sensing material. In this work, we investigate how repeated, simulated operation of SnO2-based sensors causes irreversible changes in the electronic sensing behavior of SnO2, quantified through the bulk and inter-grain resistance of SnO2 as measured by potentiometric impedance spectroscopy (PIS). In tandem, we apply powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to link the observed changes in the bulk and inter-grain...

We introduce a method for achieving high-efficiency and broadband fiber interfaces to silicon photonic devices at cryogenic temperatures, utilizing edge coupling between waveguides and lensed fibers. We will describe the simulation, design, and fabrication of single-sided waveguides featuring Bragg mirrors and tapered mode converter optimized for maximum photon collection from emitters in the devices. We then present fabrication techniques, including deep etching for edge coupling, as well as the experimental setup used to test our devices at cryogenic temperatures. Our method will...