Efficient waveguide-integrated tunnel junction detectors at 1.6 μm

Hobbs, Philip C. D.; Laibowitz, R. B.; Libsch, F.; LaBianca, N.; Chiniwalla, P.

doi:10.1364/oe.15.016376

Cited by 73 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…1B). Rectennas are traditionally used to generate power from microwaves (12), but have also been demonstrated for higher-frequency radiation, up to visible (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

Section: Cooling Certain Electronic Degrees Of Freedommentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting renewable energy from Earth’s mid-infrared emissions

Byrnes

Blanchard

Capasso

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

161

124

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It is possible to harvest energy from Earth's thermal infrared emission into outer space. We calculate the thermodynamic limit for the amount of power available, and as a case study, we plot how this limit varies daily and seasonally in a location in Oklahoma. We discuss two possible ways to make such an emissive energy harvester (EEH): A thermal EEH (analogous to solar thermal power generation) and an optoelectronic EEH (analogous to photovoltaic power generation). For the latter, we propose using an infraredfrequency rectifying antenna, and we discuss its operating principles, efficiency limits, system design considerations, and possible technological implementations.long-wave infrared | rectenna W henever energy flows from hotter to colder, there is an opportunity to harvest renewable energy. For example, solar energy and biofuels rely on the energy flow from the Sun to the Earth, and wind power and hydroelectricity rely on the energy flow from hotter to colder areas on Earth. However, there is one massive energy flow that has been neglected: The roughly 10 17 W of infrared thermal radiation that Earth continuously emits into cold outer space. The technology does not yet exist to siphon renewable energy out of this flow, but we will argue that it is possible to make a device that does exactly that. We call such a device an emissive energy harvester (EEH).In general terms, we propose a device that has a large emissivity in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) "atmospheric window" at 8-13 μm, where the atmosphere is mostly transparent, and small emissivity at other wavelengths, where the atmosphere is mostly opaque. It would sit outdoors with its emissive surface pointing upward, emitting thermal radiation toward the sky, but receiving far less radiation back (1, 2). This imbalance between incoming and outgoing radiation can be converted into an imbalance in electron motion, i.e., into useful electrical power. With a perfectly transparent atmosphere, an EEH would be a kind of heat engine harnessing the temperature difference between Earth's surface at ∼275-300 K and outer space at 3 K. However, because the atmosphere is not perfectly transparent, EEH power generation will be affected by weather and atmospheric conditions-and stopped altogether by thick, low clouds. On the other hand, because the Sun emits negligible LWIR compared with the atmosphere, an EEH can operate during both day and night. The effects of sunlight are discussed in more detail below.One possible design of an EEH, shown in Fig. 1A, is a heat engine running between the ambient temperature and a cold panel, where the latter maintains its temperature by radiative cooling (1, 2). We will argue below that this is not the most promising EEH design, but it is a simple example that illustrates the principle. Fig. 2A shows the energy flows involved in EEH operation. There are three relevant temperatures, T hot > T cold > T sky , corresponding to the hot reservoir temperature, the cold panel temperature, and the radiation brightness temperature of the sky, r...

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“…1B). Rectennas are traditionally used to generate power from microwaves (12), but have also been demonstrated for higher-frequency radiation, up to visible (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

Section: Cooling Certain Electronic Degrees Of Freedommentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvesting renewable energy from Earth’s mid-infrared emissions

Byrnes

Blanchard

Capasso

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

161

124

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“…Conduction through the device is dominated by tunneling, and operation is relatively insensitive to temperature. Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) devices are of interest for hot electron transistors; 1,2 high speed diodes for rectenna based infrared (IR) energy harvesting, 3,4 IR detectors, 5 and thermal imaging; 6 selector diodes for resistive random access memory (RRAM); 7,8 tunneling cathodes; [9][10][11] and large area macroelectronics. 12,13 Figures of merit for MIM diodes include the asymmetry, nonlinearity, and turn-on voltage (V ON ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Enhancing metal-insulator-insulator-metal tunnel diodes via defect enhanced direct tunneling

Alimardani

Conley

2014

Applied Physics Letters

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Articles you may be interested inInvestigation of the impact of insulator material on the performance of dissimilar electrode metal-insulator-metal diodes J. Appl. Phys. 116, 024508 (2014); 10.1063/1.4889798 Conduction processes in metal-insulator-metal diodes with Ta2O5 and Nb2O5 insulators deposited by atomic layer deposition J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 32, 01A122 (2014); 10.1116/1.4843555Step tunneling enhanced asymmetry in asymmetric electrode metal-insulator-insulator-metal tunnel diodes Impact of electrode roughness on metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes with atomic layer deposited Al2O3 tunnel barriers J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 30, 01A113 (2012); 10.1116/1.3658380Controlled barrier modification in Nb/NbOx/Ag metal insulator metal tunnel diodes

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“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]14,16,18,19 We recently showed that roughness at the bottom metalinsulator interface can dominate the I-V behavior of MIM diodes and that the use of atomically smooth bottom electrodes combined with high quality insulators deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) allowed for fabrication of high quality MIM diodes with well controlled quantum mechanical tunneling. 20,21 Therefore, we fabricate M 1 IIM 2 diodes using smooth amorphous metal ZrCuAlNi (ZCAN) bottom electrodes 22 and nanolaminate insulator bilayers of HfO 2 and Al 2 O 3 deposited via ALD.…”

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confidence: 99%