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

该提案旨在开发用于低(几乎为零功率)片上光存储、计算、无标记传感和基因测序应用的新型混合硅电荷俘获光子波导器件。该项目将让学生接触到光子学、电气工程、生物化学和微生物学的跨学科研究。与硅光子学中的新型铁电集成一起，利用集成光子学演示无标记基因测序将在硅光子学与微生物学相结合的多学科保护伞下培养本科生和研究生。在商业晶圆厂运行的多项目晶圆(MPW)制造的器件将使学生接触到无晶圆厂的关键任务，即将成品设计的布局提交给商业铸造厂进行制造。该项目将最终展示电荷捕获硅光子器件在下一代芯片计算的各种应用中的可行性，并使基于光子的DNA生物存储数据读出成为可能。项目成员将在俄亥俄州大代顿开展针对初中生和高中生的STEM外联活动，并扩大少数族裔学生对STEM教育和培训的参与。由英特尔绿洲支持的特定项目活动是为半导体领域的本科生劳动力发展而设计的。这里计划的活动将展示更多的物理科学和工程专业的学生，这些学生将建立工业人力，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，而且是使用光子集成电路的下一代计算和生物存储数据读出的应用。硅光子学中的载流子电荷调制已被用于集成光子p-n掺杂光波导和谐振器中的光信号调制。在过去的十年中，在非掺杂低损耗光子器件中存储非易失性、可调整的多级权重引起了计算应用的极大兴趣。薄膜氧化物中铁电性的发现有望在用于集成光子非易失性存储应用的混合铁电硅波导中捕获未掺杂硅中的电荷。这种装置还可以用于离子选择膜的无标记DNA传感/测序。拟议活动的智力意义包括：(A)展示混合铁电硅光子波导和纳米结构谐振器作为用于计算的能效非易失性光学存储器；(B)展示多级光学存储器；(C)展示离子敏感光子场效应波导(ISPFEW)器件中的高灵敏度质子传感，其离子选择膜与光子波导集成在一起，以及d)展示在光子芯片上进行无标记基因测序的潜力，与其他标记方法形成对比。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.