CMOS-Compatible Electronic-Plasmonic Transducers Based on Plasmonic Tunnel Junctions and Schottky Diodes

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• On-chip electronic-plasmonic transduction requires CMOS-compatible methods for generating, manipulating, and detecting plasmonic signals.
• Existing methods for electronic-plasmonic transduction have limitations in efficiency and compatibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate CMOS-compatible electronic-plasmonic transducers for efficient signal conversion.
• To establish a new platform for on-chip electronic-plasmonic signal processing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Al-AlO_X-Cu tunnel junctions as the source for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs).
• Employed Si-Cu Schottky diodes as detectors for SPPs.
• Integrated these components with Cu plasmonic strip waveguides for signal transmission.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated electrically driven, CMOS-compatible electronic-plasmonic transducers.
• Achieved an overall transduction efficiency of 1.85 ± 0.03%.
• This efficiency is five times higher than previous metal-insulator-metal (MIM)-MIM transducers.

Conclusions:

• The developed transducers establish a new platform for converting electronic signals to plasmonic signals electrically.
• This work paves the way for the realization of CMOS-compatible plasmonic components.
• The high transduction efficiency signifies a significant advancement in the field.