Silicon avalanche photodiodes for low cost, high loss short wavelength radio over fiber links

An APD is shown to improve the noise figure of a lossy optical link compared to a PIN-TIA combination of equivalent gain. Transmission of IEEE 802.11g WLAN signals is demonstrated with 18dB optical link loss. © 2009 Optical Society of America.

Radio over fibre technologies for wideband in-building wireless coverage

This paper describes the use of radio over multimode fibre networks to allow wideband wireless coverage in building environments. It will cover basic principles, commercial applications of such networks and their extension to provide a converged communications/sensing system. © 2009 Optical Society of America.

Parentage determination of an isolated Yangtze finless porpoise population Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis in the Yangtze Tian-e-Zhou Baiji National Natural Reserve based on molecular data

Reproductive behaviors are poorly known for the Yangtze finless porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis. In this study, the parentage of an isolated Yangtze finless porpoise population inhabiting the Yangtze Tian-e-Zhou Baiji National Natural Reserve is determined by analysis of microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences, and the porpoise's reproductive behaviors are studied. Overall 4 full parentage assignments and additional 3 single parentage assignments were determined for the population of 23 individuals. The analysis shows that their estimated reproductive cycle is shorter than that reported previously and there probably exists an overlapping between gestation and lactation period. The Study also shows that the female does not show fidelity to a particular male for breeding and vice versa, the oldest males did not monopolize mating and the dominance rank could not be so strict for the porpoise society. Moreover, the porpoise's mating pattern and relatedness among candidate parents are discussed here. These results provide important information for making guidelines of management and conservation for this protected population.

Doped polycrystalline 3C-SiC films deposited by LPCVD for radio-frequency MEMS applications

Polycrystalline 3C-SiC films are deposited on SiO2 coated Si substrates by low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) with C3H8 and SiH4 as precursors. Controlled nitrogen doping is performed by adding NH3 during SiC growth to obtain the low resistivity 3C-SiC films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicate that the deposited films are highly textured (111) orientation. The surface morphology and roughness are determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The surface features are spherulitic texture with average grain size of 100 nm, and the rms roughness is 20nm (AFM 5 x 5 mu m images). Polycrystalline 3C-SiC films with highly orientational texture and good surface morphology deposited on SiO2 coated Si substrates could be used to fabricate rf microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices such as SiC based filters.

High rate deposition of microcrystalline silicon films by high-pressure radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) thin films were prepared by high-pressure radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) with a screened plasma. The deposition rate and crystallinity varying with the deposition pressure, rf power, hydrogen dilution ratio and electrodes distance were systematically studied. By optimizing the deposition parameters the device quality mu c-Si:H films have been achieved with a high deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s at a high pressure. The V-oc of 560 mV and the FF of 0.70 have been achieved for a single-junction mu c-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s.

Enhancement of conductivity and transmittance of ZnO films by post hydrogen plasma treatment

We studied the effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. It is found that the ZnO H film is highly transparent with the average transmittance of 92% in the visible range. Both carrier concentration and mobility are increased after hydrogen plasma treatment, correspondingly, the resistivity of the ZnO H films achieves the order of 10(-3) cm. We suggest that the incorporated hydrogen not only passivates most of the defects and/or acceptors present, but also introduces shallow donor states such as the V-O-H complex and the interstitial hydrogen H-i. Moreover, the annealing data indicate that H-i is unstable in ZnO, while the V-O-H complex remains stable on the whole at 400 degrees C, and the latter diffuses out when the annealing temperature increases to 500 degrees C. These results make ZnO H more attractive for future applications as transparent conducting electrodes.

High-performance evanescently-coupled uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes

A new evanescently-coupled uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (EC-UTC PD) based on a multimode diluted waveguide (MDW) structure is fabricated, analysed and characterized. Optical and electrical characteristics of the device are investigated. The excellent characteristics are demonstrated such as a responsivity of 0.36 A/W, a bandwidth of 11.5 GHz and a small-signal 1-dB compression current greater than 18 mA at 10 GHz. The saturation current is significantly improved compared with those of similar evanescently-coupled pin photodiodes. The radio frequency (RF) bandwidth can be further improved by eliminating RF losses induced by the cables, the probe and the bias tee between the photodiode and the spectrum analyzer.

Development of Swept Frequency Method for Measuring Frequency Response of Photodetectors Based on Harmonic Analysis

We develop a swept frequency method for measuring the frequency response of photodetectors; (PDs) based on harmonic analysis. In this technique, a lightwave from a laser source is modulated by a radio-frequency (RF) signal via a Mach-Zehnder LiNbO3 modulator, and detected by a PD under test. The measured second-order harmonic of the RF signal contains information of the frequency responses and nonlinearities of the RF source, modulator, and PD. The frequency response of the PD alone is obtained by deducting the known frequency responses and nonlinearities of the RF source and modulator. Compared with the conventional swept frequency method, the measurement frequency range can be doubled using the proposed method. Experiment results show a good agreement between the measured results and those obtained using other techniques.

Effects of crystalline quality on the ultraviolet emission and electrical properties of the ZnO films deposited by magnetron sputtering

The ZnO films were deposited on c-plane sapphire, Si (0 0 1) and MgAl2O4 (1 1 1) substrates in pure Ar ambient at different substrate temperatures ranging from 400 to 750 degrees C by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence and Hall measurements were used to evaluate the growth temperature and the substrate effects on the properties of ZnO films. The results show that the crystalline quality of the ZnO films improves with increasing the temperature up to 600 degrees C, the crystallinity of the films is degraded as the growth temperature increasing further, and the ZnO film with the best crystalline quality is obtained on sapphire at 600 degrees C. The intensity of the photoluminescence and the electrical properties strongly depend on the crystalline quality of the ZnO films. The ZnO films with the better crystallinity have the stronger ultraviolet emission, the higher mobility and the lower residual carrier concentration. The effects of crystallinity on light emission and electrical properties, and the possible origin of the n-type conductivity of the undoped ZnO films are also discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

A study on the realization of radio frequency energy AC/DC charge pump based on MOS FET

This paper presents a novel efficient charge pump composed of low Vth metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistors (FET) in the course of realizing radio frequency (RF) energy AC/DC conversion. The novel structure eliminates those defects caused by typical Schottky-diode charge pumps, which are dependent on specific processes and inconsistent in quality between different product batches. Our analyses indicate that an easy-fabricated, stable and efficient RF energy AC/DC charge pump can be conveniently implemented through reasonably configuring the MOS transistor aspect ratio, and other design parameters such as capacitance, multiplying stages to meet various demands on performance.

High-power electroabsorption modulator for radio over fibre system

An electroabsorption modulator using an intra-step quantum well (IQW) active region is fabricated for a radio over fibre system. The strain-compensated InGaAsP/InGaAsP IQW shows good material quality and improved modulation properties, high extinction ratio efficiency (10 dB V-1) and low capacitance (< 0.42 pF), with which high frequency (> 15 GHz) can be obtained. High-speed measurement under high-power excitation shows no power saturation up to an excitation power of 21 dBm. To our knowledge, the input optical power is the highest reported for a multi-quantum well EAM without a heat sink.

p-type Zn1-xMgxO films with Sb doping by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

Sb-doped Zn1-xMgxO films were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The p-type conduction of the films (0.05 <= x <= 0.13) was confirmed by Hall measurements, revealing a hole concentration of 10(15)-10(16) cm(-3) and a mobility of 0.6-4.5 cm(2)/V s. A p-n homojunction comprising an undoped ZnO layer and an Sb-doped Zn0.95Mg0.05O layer shows a typical rectifying characteristic. Sb-doped p-type Zn1-xMgxO films also exhibit a changeable wider band gap as a function of x, implying that they can probably be used for fabrication of ZnO-based quantum wells and ultraviolet optoelectronic devices. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Influence of growth parameters of frequency-radio plasma nitrogen source on extending emission wavelengths from 1.31 mu m to 1.55 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

High (42.5%) indium content GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells with room temperature emission wavelength from 1.3 mu m to 1.5 mu m range were successfully grown by Radio Frequency Plasma Nitrogen source assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The growth parameters of plasma power and N-2 How rate were optimized systematically to improve the material quality. Photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that the optical and crystal quality of the 1.54 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs QWs was kept as comparable as that in 1.31 mu m.

P-doped p-type ZnO films deposited on Si substrate by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

P-doped ZnO films were deposited on n-Si substrate by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Hall measurements revealed that the films annealed in situ at 750 degrees C in an oxygen ambient at a pressure of 1.3x10(-3)-3.9x10(-3) Pa showed p-type behavior with a hole concentration of 2.7x10(16)-2.2x10(17) cm(-3), a mobility of 4-13 cm(2)/V s, and a resistivity of 10.4-19.3 Omega cm. Films annealed at 750 degrees C in a vacuum or in oxygen ambient at higher pressures (5.2x10(-3) and 6.5x10(-3) Pa) showed n-type behavior. Additionally, the p-ZnO/n-Si heterojunction showed a diodelike I-V characteristic. Our results indicate that P-doped p-type ZnO films can be obtained by annealing in oxygen ambient at very low pressures. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Fabrication and properties of Sb-doped ZnO thin films grown by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering

Sb-doped and undoped ZnO thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses revealed that all the films had polycrystalline wurtzite structure and c-axis preferred orientation. Room temperature Hall measurements showed that the as-grown films were n-type and conducting (rho similar to 1-10 Omega cm). Annealing in a nitrogen ambient at 400 degrees C for 1 h made both samples highly resistive (rho > 10(3) Omega cm). Increasing the annealing temperature up to 800 C, the resistivity of the ttndoped ZnO film decreased gradually, but it increased for the Sb-doped ZnO film. In the end, the Sb-doped ZnO film annealed at 800 C became semi-insulating with a resistivity of 10(4)Omega cm. In addition, the effects of annealing treatment and Sb-doping on the structural and electrical properties are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.