PIC: Charge Trapped Photonic Devices for Computing, Sensing and Sequencing Applications

该提案旨在开发新型混合硅电荷捕获光子波导器件，用于低（几乎为零功率）片上光存储，计算，无标签传感和基因测序应用。该项目将使学生接触到光子学、电子工程、生物化学和微生物学的跨学科研究。结合硅光子学中的新型铁电集成，利用集成光子学进行无标记基因测序的演示，将在硅光子学与微生物学的多学科结合下培养本科生和研究生。在商业CMOS代工厂运行的多项目晶圆（MPW）中制造的器件将使学生了解无晶圆厂公司在向商业代工厂提交成品设计布局时的关键任务。该项目将最终证明电荷捕获硅光子器件在下一代片上计算的各种应用中的可行性，并实现基于光子读取DNA中生物存储数据的潜力。项目成员将针对俄亥俄州大代顿地区的中学生和高中生开展STEM外展活动，并扩大少数族裔学生对STEM教育和培训的参与。由英特尔OASIS支持的具体项目活动是为半导体领域的大学生劳动力发展而设计的。这里计划的活动将为物理科学和工程领域的学生提供更多的机会，这些学生将培养工业人力，以满足美国未来在半导体行业的重大需求，不仅是芯片制造，还包括下一代计算和使用光子集成电路的生物存储数据读出。硅光子学中的载流子电荷调制已被用于集成光子掺p-n波导和谐振器中的光信号调制。在过去的十年中，在未掺杂的低损耗光子器件中存储非易失性、可调、多级权重引起了计算应用的极大兴趣。薄膜氧化物中铁电特性的发现有望在集成光子非易失性存储器应用的混合铁电硅波导中捕获未掺杂硅中的电荷。这种装置也可以用于无标记的DNA传感/测序与离子选择膜。提出的活动的智力意义包括：(a)证明混合铁电硅光子波导和纳米结构谐振器作为计算的节能非易失性光存储器；(b)演示多级光存储器；（c)在离子选择膜与光子波导集成的离子敏感光子场效应波导（ISPFEW）器件中展示了高灵敏度质子传感，以及d）与其他标记方法相比，在光子芯片上展示了无标记基因测序的潜力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The proposal seeks to develop novel hybrid silicon charge trapped photonic waveguide devices for low (practically zero power) on-chip optical memory, computation, label-free sensing and genetic sequencing applications. The program will expose students to interdisciplinary research in photonics, electrical engineering, biochemistry and microbiology. Together with novel ferroelectric integration in silicon photonics, demonstration of label-free gene sequencing using integrated photonics will train undergraduate and graduate students under a multidisciplinary umbrella integrating silicon photonics with microbiology. Devices fabricated in a multi-project wafer (MPW) run at a commercial CMOS foundry will expose students to critical tasks of fabless companies in submitting layouts for finished designs to commercial foundries for fabrication. The project will culminate with the feasibility demonstration of charge trapped silicon photonic devices in diverse applications for next generation on-chip computing as well as enabling the potential for photonic based readout of biologically stored data in DNA. Project members will engage in STEM outreach targeting middle and high school students in greater Dayton, OH and broaden participation of minority students in STEM education and training. Specific project activities supported by Intel OASIS have been designed for undergrads for workforce development in semiconductors. The activities planned here will expose a larger pool of students in the physical sciences and engineering that will build industrial manpower to address the significant future US need in the semiconductor industry not only for chip fabrication but also its applications in next generation computing and biological stored data readout using photonic integrated circuits. Carrier charge modulation in silicon photonics has been used for modulation of optical signals in integrated photonic p-n doped waveguides and resonators. During the past decade, storage of non-volatile, adjustable, multi-level weights in undoped low-loss photonic devices has attracted significant interest for computing applications. The discovery of ferroelectric properties in thin film oxides promises the potential for trapping charges in undoped silicon in hybrid ferroelectric silicon waveguides for integrated photonic non-volatile memory applications. Such devices can also be used for label-free DNA sensing/sequencing with ion selective membranes. The intellectual significance of the proposed activities includes: (a) demonstrating hybrid ferroelectric silicon photonic waveguides and nanostructured resonators as energy-efficient non-volatile optical memory for computing; (b) demonstrating multi-level optical memory; (c) demonstration of high sensitivity proton sensing in ion-sensitive-photonic-field-effect-waveguide (ISPFEW) devices with ion selective membranes integrated with photonic waveguides, and d) demonstration of potential for label-free gene sequencing on a photonic chip, in contrast to labeled methods elsewhere.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.