Two-level injection in fiber-delay line based oscillator

Two-level injection-locked opto-electronic oscillator is proposed for low phase noise. Dielectric resonator oscillator (DRO) is used as the first injection source, injection locking a long-fiber loop based opto-electronic oscillator, then its output is injection locking another long-fiber opto-electronic oscillator for getting a lower-phase noise output carrier. After the first injection, the single side band (SSB) phase noise at 10 kHz offset frequency decreases from −123 dBc/Hz to −135 dBc/Hz, then through the second injection the SSB phase noise drops down to −146 dBc/Hz.     

Optical power equalization for upstream traffic with injection-locked Fabry-Perot lasers in TDM-PON

An optical power equalization of upstream traffic in time-division-multiplexed passive optical network (TDM-PON) based on injection-locked Fabry-Perot lasers has been experimentally investigated. The upstream transmitters with stable spectrum are achieved by using an external injection light source in the optical line terminal (OLT). The different upstream powers can be equalized by injection locking a Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD) biased below threshold current in OLT. The dynamic upstream power range from − 8.5 to − 19.5 db m is reduced to a 1.6 dB maximal power variation, when the uplink signal is directly modulated at 1.25 Gb/s.     

Enhanced quantum efficiency in polymer electroluminescence devices by inserting an ultrathin PMMA layer

We report an increase of electroluminescence (EL) efficiency by about two times for poly(2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) based polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) while employing an ultrathin layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) between a hole injection layer, polyethylenedioxythiophenne:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and an emitting layer, MEH-PPV. The peak power efficiency of the control device (ITO/MEH-PPV/LiF/Al) was 0.42 lm/W with a current efficiency of 0.66 cd/A. The device with the optimized thickness of PMMA interface layer shows the highest power efficiency of 1.15 lm/W at a current efficiency exceeding 1.83 cd/A. The significant improvement in the device performance is attributed to the decrease of holes injection and the promotion of electrons injection, which cause the balance of the carriers within the emitting layer.     

Effects of different buffer layers on the electro-luminescence performances in white organic light-emitting diodes

The effects of different hole injection materials as the buffer layer on the electro-luminescence (EL) performances of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) are investigated in detail. It is found that the EL performances and electric properties were strongly dependent on the structure of the used hole injection materials with different thicknesses, which directly affected the injection and transport properties in devices, and thus the EL efficiency and lifetime. It can be seen that a hybrid buffer layer of 5 nm aluminum fluoride (AlF₃)/15 nm 4,4′,4″-tris(3-methylphenylphenylamino) (m-MTDATA) as the hole injection buffer layer shows the best EL performances in efficiency and lifetime, showing a promising hole injection material in WOLEDs. The mechanisms behind the enhanced performance of the hybrid buffer layer in WOLEDs are discussed based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement.     

Abrasive wear under multiscratching of polystyrene + single-walled carbon nanotube nanocomposites. Effect of sliding direction and modification by ionic liquid

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (NTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes modified (NTms) by the room-temperature ionic liquid (IL) 1-octyl, 3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([OMIM]BF₄) were added in a 1 wt.% to polystyrene (PS) and processed by compression or injection moulding to obtain PS + NT and PS + NTm, respectively. Friction coefficients and abrasive wear from penetration depth, residual depth and viscoelastic recovery were determined under multiple scratching. The effect of the moulding process, the additives and the sliding direction was studied. Compression moulded PS shows a transition to more severe damage after a critical number of successive passes. Addition of NTs or NTms to compression moulded PS induces a strain hardening effect and reduces friction, residual depth and viscoelastic recovery. Strain hardening is also observed in injection moulded PS with sliding in the longitudinal and random directions, but not in the transverse direction. The scratch resistance of PS + NTm depends on sliding direction. The lowest friction coefficient and residual depth values, and the highest viscoelastic recovery were found for injection moulded PS + NTm, in the sliding direction parallel to injection flow. Mechanisms of surface damage are discussed upon scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam-field emission scanning electron microscopy (FIB-FESEM), 3D surface topography, surface roughness and profilometry observations.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy luminescence from nanoscale surface of GaAs(1 1 0)

Scanning tunneling microscopy luminescence (STML) was induced from the nanometer scale surfaces of cleaved n-type and p-type GaAs(1 1 0) wafers by using of an ITO-coated optical fiber probe in an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber. The STML from n-type GaAs(1 1 0) surface was induced under negative sample bias when the applied bias exceeds a threshold voltage around −1.5 V. Whereas the STML from p-type GaAs(1 1 0) surface was induced under positive sample bias when the applied bias exceeds a threshold voltage around +1.5 V. The excitation energies at the threshold voltages are consistent with the band gap of GaAs (1.42 eV) at 295 K. The typical quantum efficiencies for n-type and p-type GaAs are about 3 × 10⁻⁵ and 2 × 10⁻⁴ photons/electron, respectively. The observed STML from are attributed to a radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs generated by a hole injection for n-type GaAs under negative sample bias and an electron injection for p-type GaAs under positive sample bias, respectively.     

NaCl/Ca/Al as an efficient cathode in organic light-emitting devices

An efficient cathode NaCl/Ca/Al used to improve the performance of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) was reported. Standard N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′ biphenyl 4,4′-dimaine (NPB)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃) devices with NaCl/Ca/Al cathode showed dramatically enhanced electroluminescent (EL) efficiency. A power efficiency of 4.6 lm/W was obtained for OLEDs with 2 nm of NaCl and 10 nm of Ca, which is much higher than 2.0 lm/W, 3.1 lm/W, 2.1 lm/W and 3.6 lm/W in devices using, respectively, the LiF (1 nm)/Al, LiF (1 nm)/Ca (10 nm)/Al, Ca (10 nm)/Al and NaCl (2 nm)/Al cathodes. The investigation of the electron injection in electron-only devices indicates that the utilization of the NaCl/Ca/Al cathode substantially enhances the electron injection current, which in case of OLEDs leads to the improvement of the brightness and efficiency.     

Improved electron injection of OLEDs with a thin PBD layer at Alq3/Cs2CO3 interface

In this study, the effect of one oxadiazole derivative (PBD) using as an electron injection layer (EIL) at Alq₃/Cs₂CO₃ interface has been investigated. The present of PBD EIL was showed an interesting enhanced electron injection for OLEDs although the nominal electron injection barrier for PBD based OLEDs is much larger, because PBD owns an obvious higher intrinsic the Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital level (2.3 eV) than that of Alq₃ (3.0 eV). For example, the current density of OLEDs at 8 V was increased from 54 mA/cm² to 168 mA/cm² when inserting a thin PBD layer (5 nm) at Alq₃/Cs₂CO₃ interface. Here the increased current is suggested associating with the changed electronic structure of PBD when it contacts with Cs₂CO₃.     

Novel transparent Yb-based cathodes for top-emitting organic light emitting devices with high performance

We have studied three kinds of transparent low-work-function Yb-based cathodes for the top-emitting organic light emitting devices (TEOLEDs) with a structure of ITO/NPB/Alq₃/cathodes and compared them with each other. For the Yb/Au cathodes, a series of Yb layers with various thicknesses have been tested and it is found that the Yb layer with a thickness of 4 nm is the optimum one. The Yb:Au (19 nm) and Yb:Ag (19 nm) co-evaporation cathodes possess very high transmittance but relative poor electron injection; whilst the Yb (4 nm)/Au (15 nm) cathode possess a little lower transmittance but much improved electron injection and the TEOLED with this cathode has the highest power efficiency among the TEOLEDs with the three kinds of Yb-based cathodes mentioned above.     

Acoustic characterization of a new trisacryl contrast agent. Part II: Flow phantom study and in vivo quantification

The biocompatible trisacryl particles (TMP) are made of a cross-linked acrylic copolymer. Their inherent acoustic properties, studied for a contrast agent application, have been previously demonstrated in a in vitro Couette device. To measure their acoustic behaviour under circulating blood conditions, the TMP backscatter enhancement was further evaluated on a home-made flow phantom at different TMP doses (0.12-15.6 mg/ml) suspended in aqueous and blood media, and in nude mice (aorta and B16 grafted melanoma). Integrated backscatter (IB) was measured by spectral analysis of the Doppler signals recorded from an ultrasound system (Aplio^®) combined with a 12-MHz probe. Doppler phantom experiments revealed a maximal IB of 17 ± 0.88 dB and 7.5 ± 0.7 dB in aqueous and blood media, respectively. IB measured on mice aorta, in pulsed Doppler mode, confirmed a constant maximal value of 7.29 ± 1.72 dB over the first minutes after injection of a 7.8 mg/ml TMP suspension. Following the injection, a 60% enhancement of intratumoral vascularization detection was observed in power Doppler mode. A preliminary histological study revealed inert presence of some TMP in lungs 8 and 16 days after injection.Doppler phantom experiments on whole blood allowed to anticipate the in vivo acoustic behaviour. Both protocols demonstrated TMP effectiveness in significantly increasing Doppler signal intensity and intratumoral vascularization detection. However, it was also shown that blood conditions seemed to shadow the TMP contrast effect, as compared to in vitro observations. These results encourage further investigations on the specific TMP targeting and on their bio-distribution in the different tissues.     

Blue organic light-emitting diodes with low driving voltage and maximum enhanced power efficiency based on buffer layer MoO3

Blue organic light-emitting devices based on wide bandgap host material, 2-(t-butyl)-9, 10-di-(2-naphthyl) anthracene (TBADN), blue fluorescent styrylamine dopant, p-bis(p-N,N-diphenyl-amino-styryl)benzene (DSA-Ph) have been realized by using molybdenum oxide (MoO₃) as a buffer layer and 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BPhen) as the ETL. The typical device structure used was glass substrate/ITO/MoO₃ (5 nm)/NPB (30 nm)/[TBADN: DSA-Ph (3 wt%)](35 nm)/BPhen (12 nm)/LiF (0.8 nm)/Al (100 nm). It was found that the MoO₃∥BPhen-based device shows the lowest driving voltage and highest power efficiency among the referenced devices. At the current density of 20 mA/cm², its driving voltage and power efficiency are 5.4 V and 4.7 Lm/W, respectively, which is independently reduced 46%, and improved 74% compared with those the m-MTDATA∥Alq₃ is based on, respectively. The J-V curves of ‘hole-only’ devices reveal that a small hole injection barrier between MoO₃∥NPB leads to a strong hole injection, resulting low driving voltage and high power efficiency. The results strongly indicate that carrier injection ability and balance shows a key significance in OLED performance.     

Spin transport and relaxation in graphene

We review our recent work on spin injection, transport and relaxation in graphene. The spin injection and transport in single layer graphene (SLG) were investigated using nonlocal magnetoresistance (MR) measurements. Spin injection was performed using either transparent contacts (Co/SLG) or tunneling contacts (Co/MgO/SLG). With tunneling contacts, the nonlocal MR was increased by a factor of ∼1000 and the spin injection/detection efficiency was greatly enhanced from ∼1% (transparent contacts) to ∼30%. Spin relaxation was investigated on graphene spin valves using nonlocal Hanle measurements. For transparent contacts, the spin lifetime was in the range of 50-100 ps. The effects of surface chemical doping showed that for spin lifetimes in the order of 100 ps, charged impurity scattering (Au) was not the dominant mechanism for spin relaxation. While using tunneling contacts to suppress the contact-induced spin relaxation, we observed the spin lifetimes as long as 771 ps at room temperature, 1.2 ns at 4 K in SLG, and 6.2 ns at 20 K in bilayer graphene (BLG). Furthermore, contrasting spin relaxation behaviors were observed in SLG and BLG. We found that Elliot-Yafet spin relaxation dominated in SLG at low temperatures whereas Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation dominated in BLG at low temperatures. Gate tunable spin transport was studied using the SLG property of gate tunable conductivity and incorporating different types of contacts (transparent and tunneling contacts). Consistent with theoretical predictions, the nonlocal MR was proportional to the SLG conductivity for transparent contacts and varied inversely with the SLG conductivity for tunneling contacts. Finally, bipolar spin transport in SLG was studied and an electron-hole asymmetry was observed for SLG spin valves with transparent contacts, in which nonlocal MR was roughly independent of DC bias current for electrons, but varied significantly with DC bias current for holes. These results are very important for the use of graphene for spin-based logic and information storage applications.     

Hopping motion of chlorine atoms on Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1) surfaces induced by carrier injection from scanning tunneling microscope tips

Injection of tunneling electrons and holes from the probe tips of a scanning tunneling microscope was found to enhance the hopping motion of Cl atoms between neighboring dangling-bond sites of Si dimers on Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1) surfaces, featured by the rate of hopping linearly dependent on the injection current. The hopping rate formed peaks at sample biases of V_S∼+1.25 and −0.85 V, which agree with the peaks in the local density of states spectrum measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The Cl hopping was enhanced at Cl-adsorbed sites even remote from the injection point. The Cl hopping by hole injection was more efficiently enhanced by sweeping the tip along the Si dimer row than by tip-sweeping along the perpendicular direction. Such anisotropy, on the other hand, was insignificant in the electron injection case. All of these findings can be interpreted by the model that the holes injected primarily into a surface band originated from the dangling bonds of Si dimers propagate quite anisotropically along the surface, and become localized at Cl sites somehow to destabilize the Si-Cl bonds causing hopping of the Cl atoms. The electrons injected into a bulk band propagate in an isotropic manner and then get resonantly trapped at Si-Cl antibonding orbitals, resulting in bond destabilization and hopping of the Cl atoms.     

Reduction of driving voltage in organic light-emitting diodes with molybdenum trioxide in CuPc/NPB interface

A novel structure of organic light-emitting diode was fabricated by inserting a molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃) layer into the interface of hole injection layer copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and hole transport layer N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-napthyl-phenyl)-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPB). It has the configuration of ITO/CuPc(10 nm)/MoO₃(3 nm)/NPB(30 nm)/ tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)(60 nm)/LiF(0.5 nm)/Al. The current density-voltage-luminance (J-V-L) performances show that this structure is beneficial to the reduction of driving voltage and the enhancement of luminance. The highest luminance increased by more than 40% compared to the device without hole injection layer. And the driving voltage was decreased obviously. The improvement is ascribed to the step barrier theory, which comes from the tunnel theory. The power efficiency was also enhanced with this novel device structure. Finally, “hole-only” devices were fabricated to verify the enhancement of hole injection and transport properties of this structure.     

Ultrafast mode switching based on a micro-ring laser

Injection locking and multi-mode switching characteristics of a semiconductor ring laser with the radius of 10 μm are investigated based on a nonlinear time domain multimode rate-equation model. The stable injection locking regions for different target modes are studied as the function of detuning frequency and injection power ratio. The results show that ultra-wide detuning range of ∼100 GHz wide at 5 dB injection power ratio and ultra-low switching power ratio of −27 dB can be realized for this micro-ring laser device. Optimal detuning value and high injection power lead to the minimal switching time. An ultrafast response time of 10 ps indicates that a 10 μm-radius SRL can be utilized for ultrafast all-optical scenarios and high-speed tunable lasers.     

Experimental investigation of the impact of optical injection on vital parameters of a gain-switched pulse source

An analysis of optical injection on a gain-switched distributed feedback (DFB) laser and its impact on pulse parameters that influence the performance of the pulse source in high-speed optical communication systems is presented in this paper. A range of 10 GHz in detuning and 5 dB in injected power has been experimentally identified to attain pulses, from an optically injected gain-switched DFB laser, with durations below 10 ps and pedestal suppression higher than 35 dB. These pulse features are associated with a side mode suppression ratio of about 30 dB and a timing jitter of less than 1 ps. This demonstrates the feasibility of using optical injection in conjunction with appropriate pulse compression schemes for developing an optimized and cost-efficient pulse source, based on a gain-switched DFB laser, for high-speed photonic systems.     

Multiple roles of bathocuproine employed as a buffer-layer in organic light-emitting diodes

Efficiency and brightness and carriers injection have been obviously improved by using bathocuproine (BCP) as a buffer-layer in organic light-emitting diodes. Compared with the bufferless device, the quantum efficiency of device ITO/NPB (10 nm)/Alq₃ (10 nm)/BCP (2.4 nm)/Al has increased four times at the same current density (32 mA/cm²). Moreover, the buffer layer has changed the current-voltage properties and the turn-on voltage has obviously decreased. Considering BCP and Al³⁺ can react conveniently under room temperature, we suggest that a complex cathode structure of BCP/[(Al)_x(BCP)_y]^3x+/Al has formed under electric field and the new cation [(Al)_x(BCP)_y]^3x+ at the BCP/Al interface has improved the internal electric field and then enhanced the electrons injection. we conclude that: for a very thin (<1 nm) BCP buffer layer, improving electron injection will principally responsible to the improvement of the performance of the OLEDs; for a thicker BCP layer, there will be a synthetic function of BCP: improving electron injection, hole-blocking and electron-transporting.     

Electrical characterization and carrier transportation in Hf-silicate dielectrics using ALD gate stacks for 90 nm node MOSFETs

Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) incorporating hafnium silicate (Hf-silicate) dielectrics were fabricated by using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The electrical properties of these Hf-silicate thin films with various postnitridation annealing (PNA) temperatures were then examined to find the best nitridation condition. It is found that the best conditions to achieve the lowest gate leakage current and best equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) are when PNA is performed at 800 °C in NH₃ ambient for 60 s. To understand the obtained film, carrier transportation mechanisms, the temperature dependence of the leakage current was measured from 300 K to 500 K for both gate injection and substrate injection. The result reveals that the leakage mechanisms involve Schottky emission at high temperature and low electrical field and Poole-Frenkle emission at low temperature and high electrical field. The barrier heights of poly-Si/Hf-silicate and Hf-silicate/Si interfaces extracted from Schottky emission are 1.1 eV and 1.04 eV, respectively. The interface traps per unit area, the mean density of interface traps per area and energy and the mean capture cross-section are determined about 8.1 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻², 2.7 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ and 6.4 × 10⁻¹⁵ cm⁻² using charge pumping method.     

Enhancement of chaotic carrier bandwidth in laser diode transmitter utilizing external light injection

Semiconductor laser with optical feedback emitting chaotic optical signal can be treated as chaotic carrier transmitter. Based on laser rate equations, we numerically study the effect of external injection light on the bandwidth of chaotic carrier transmitter. Our numerical simulation shows that the bandwidth of the chaotic carrier transmitter can be enhanced significantly by external photons injection. Compared with the 2 GHz relaxation oscillation frequency of a solitary laser diode without optical injection, the bandwidth of a chaotic carrier transmitter is expanded to 14.5 GHz with injection parameter at k_inj = 0.39. Simulation results also demonstrate that the enhanced bandwidth depends obviously on the frequency detuning between the external injection laser diode and the chaotic carrier transmitter. The maximum bandwidth of the chaotic transmitter can be obtained when the frequency of the injected light is higher than the central frequency of the carrier transmitter between 2 GHz and 4 GHz.     

Deposition and growth kinetics studies of thin zirconium dioxide films by UVILS-CVD

We report the deposition of thin zirconium dioxide films on Si(1 0 0) by a technique of ultraviolet-assisted injection liquid source chemical vapor deposition (UVILS-CVD) by using ultraviolet with 222 nm radiation. The alkoxide zirconium(IV) tert-butoxide (Zr[OC(CH₃)₃]₄) was used as precursor while nitrous oxide was driven into the reaction chamber as an oxidizing agent. The ZrO₂ films were deposited under various conditions and characterized by ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The growth rate decreased with the increasing of substrate temperatures from 200 to 400 °C. Deposition rate of 20 nm/min was observed at a substrate temperature of 350 °C. There was a liner relation between the thicknesses of the films and deposition times. As a result the thicknesses can be accurately controlled by changing the number of drops of precursor introduced by the injection liquid source. The growth rate increased with the increasing concentrations of the precursor, nevertheless the trend stopped when the concentration exceeded 8.5%. The growth kinetics were also studied and the results were fit to a three-step kinetic model involving a photo chemical reaction, a reversible precursor absorption process and a following irreversible deposition reaction.