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Title: Cycling excitation process: An ultra efficient and quiet signal amplification mechanism in semiconductor

Abstract

Signal amplification, performed by transistor amplifiers with its merit rated by the efficiency and noise characteristics, is ubiquitous in all electronic systems. Because of transistor thermal noise, an intrinsic signal amplification mechanism, impact ionization was sought after to complement the limits of transistor amplifiers. However, due to the high operation voltage (30-200 V typically), low power efficiency, limited scalability, and, above all, rapidly increasing excess noise with amplification factor, impact ionization has been out of favor for most electronic systems except for a few applications such as avalanche photodetectors and single-photon Geiger detectors. Here, we report an internal signal amplification mechanism based on the principle of the phonon-assisted cycling excitation process (CEP). Si devices using this concept show ultrahigh gain, low operation voltage, CMOS compatibility, and, above all, quantum limit noise performance that is 30 times lower than devices using impact ionization. Established on a unique physical effect of attractive properties, CEP-based devices can potentially revolutionize the fields of semiconductor electronics.

Authors:
 [1]; ; ; ; ;  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0418 (United States)
  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0409 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22489070
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 107; Journal Issue: 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ELECTRIC POTENTIAL; EXCITATION; GAIN; IONIZATION; NOISE; PERFORMANCE; PHOTODETECTORS; PHOTONS; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; SIGNALS; TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS; TRANSISTORS

Citation Formats

Liu, Yu-Hsin, Yan, Lujiang, Zhang, Alex Ce, Hall, David, Niaz, Iftikhar Ahmad, Zhou, Yuchun, Sham, L. J., Lo, Yu-Hwa, and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0409. Cycling excitation process: An ultra efficient and quiet signal amplification mechanism in semiconductor. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4928389.
Liu, Yu-Hsin, Yan, Lujiang, Zhang, Alex Ce, Hall, David, Niaz, Iftikhar Ahmad, Zhou, Yuchun, Sham, L. J., Lo, Yu-Hwa, & Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0409. Cycling excitation process: An ultra efficient and quiet signal amplification mechanism in semiconductor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928389
Liu, Yu-Hsin, Yan, Lujiang, Zhang, Alex Ce, Hall, David, Niaz, Iftikhar Ahmad, Zhou, Yuchun, Sham, L. J., Lo, Yu-Hwa, and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0409. 2015. "Cycling excitation process: An ultra efficient and quiet signal amplification mechanism in semiconductor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928389.
@article{osti_22489070,
title = {Cycling excitation process: An ultra efficient and quiet signal amplification mechanism in semiconductor},
author = {Liu, Yu-Hsin and Yan, Lujiang and Zhang, Alex Ce and Hall, David and Niaz, Iftikhar Ahmad and Zhou, Yuchun and Sham, L. J. and Lo, Yu-Hwa and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0409},
abstractNote = {Signal amplification, performed by transistor amplifiers with its merit rated by the efficiency and noise characteristics, is ubiquitous in all electronic systems. Because of transistor thermal noise, an intrinsic signal amplification mechanism, impact ionization was sought after to complement the limits of transistor amplifiers. However, due to the high operation voltage (30-200 V typically), low power efficiency, limited scalability, and, above all, rapidly increasing excess noise with amplification factor, impact ionization has been out of favor for most electronic systems except for a few applications such as avalanche photodetectors and single-photon Geiger detectors. Here, we report an internal signal amplification mechanism based on the principle of the phonon-assisted cycling excitation process (CEP). Si devices using this concept show ultrahigh gain, low operation voltage, CMOS compatibility, and, above all, quantum limit noise performance that is 30 times lower than devices using impact ionization. Established on a unique physical effect of attractive properties, CEP-based devices can potentially revolutionize the fields of semiconductor electronics.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4928389},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22489070}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 5,
volume = 107,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}