Silicon-on-insulator microring resonators have proven to be an excellent platform for label-free nanophotonic biosensors. The high index contrast of the silicon-on-insulator platform allows for fabrication of micrometer size sensors. However, it also limits the quality of the resonances by introducing an intrinsic mode-splitting. Small deviations from perfect symmetry lift the degeneracy of the...

We have demonstrated a family of large force and large displacement electrostatic linear inchworm motors that operate with moderate to high voltages. The inchworm motor design decouples actuator force from total travel and allows the use of electrostatic gap-closing actuators to achieve large force and large displacement while consuming low power. A typical inchworm motor measures 3 mm 1 mm 50 ...

In this letter, we present techniques, utilizing dielectrophoresis and electrohydrodynamics, which can be used for assembling single-crystal silicon devices suspended in a solution onto a binding site on a heterogeneous substrate. Silicon resistors with gold/chromium layers located at the end of the resistors and silicon blocks without metal were fabricated on bonded and etched-backed silicon-o...

We investigate the influence of heteroepitaxially grown Ge on the thermal dewetting and agglomeration of the Si(0 0 1) template layer in ultrathin silicon-on-insulator (SOI). We show that increasing Ge coverage gradually destroys the long-range ordering of 3D nanocrystals along the 〈1 3 0〉 directions and the 3D nanocrystal shape anisotropy that are observed in the dewetting and agglomeration of...

We present a numerical tool that searches an optimal cross-section geometry of silicon-on-insulator waveguides given a target dispersion profile. The approach is a gradient-based multidimensional method whose efficiency resides on the simultaneous calculation of the propagation constant derivatives with respect to all geometrical parameters of the structure by using the waveguide mode distribut...

In this article we give an overview over the physical mechanisms involved in the electronic transport in ultrathinbody SOI Schottky-barrier MOSFETs. A strong impact of the SOI and gate oxide thickness on the transistor characteristics is found and explained using experimental as well as simulated data. We elaborate on the influence of scattering in the channel and show that for a significant ba...

We describe the use of spectroscopic ellipsometry and other characterization techniques for gate oxide process metrology in manufacturing of CMOS transistors for the 130 nm node and beyond. Specifically, we describe the difficulties associated with the introduction of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, alternative gate dielectrics (silicon oxynitride or metal oxides), and strained Si channe...

In this paper we present a tilting micro mirror with a large mirror surface of up to 2.5 mm x 1.0 mm and a large rotation angle of +/10° as needed for optical projection displays. The mirror is driven by vertical comb-drive actuators which are realized by a combination of deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and a buried mask to provide selfalignment of the stator and rotor fingers in a silicon on ...

A 3-D test circuit examining power grid noise in a 3-D integrated stack has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Fabrication and vertical bonding were performed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory for a 150 nm, three metal layer SOI process. Three wafers are vertically bonded to form a 3-D stack. Noise analysis of a power delivery topology is described. The effect of the through silicon via (TSV) densi...

Spintronics attracts at present much interest because of the potential to build novel spin-based devices which are superior to nowadays charge-based microelectronic elements. Utilizing spin properties of electrons opens great opportunities to reduce device power consumption in future electronic circuits. Silicon, the main element of microelectronics, is promising for spin-driven applications. U...