Ultrafast Silicon Nanomembrane Microbolometer for Long-Wavelength Infrared Light Detection.

The microbolometer is the cornerstone device for imaging in the long-wavelength infrared range (LWIR) at room temperature. The state-of-the-art commercial microbolometers usually have a large thermal time constant (TTC) of over 10 ms, limited by their substantial device heat capacity. Moreover, the minimal pixel size of state-of-the-art bolometer is around 10 μm by 10 μm to ensure sufficient power absorption per pixel.

Vapor condensation with daytime radiative cooling.

A radiative vapor condenser sheds heat in the form of infrared radiation and cools itself to below the ambient air temperature to produce liquid water from vapor. This effect has been known for centuries, and is exploited by some insects to survive in dry deserts. Humans have also been using radiative condensation for dew collection.

Origami silicon optoelectronics for hemispherical electronic eye systems.

Digital image sensors in hemispherical geometries offer unique imaging advantages over their planar counterparts, such as wide field of view and low aberrations. Deforming miniature semiconductor-based sensors with high-spatial resolution into such format is challenging. Here we report a simple origami approach for fabricating single-crystalline silicon-based focal plane arrays and artificial compound eyes that have hemisphere-like structures.

Silicon single-photon avalanche diodes with nano-structured light trapping.

Silicon single-photon avalanche detectors are becoming increasingly significant in research and in practical applications due to their high signal-to-noise ratio, complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatibility, room temperature operation, and cost-effectiveness. However, there is a trade-off in current silicon single-photon avalanche detectors, especially in the near infrared regime. Thick-junction devices have decent photon detection efficiency but poor timing jitter, while thin-junction devices have good timing jitter but poor efficiency.

Single-crystalline germanium nanomembrane photodetectors on foreign nanocavities.

Miniaturization of optoelectronic devices offers tremendous performance gain. As the volume of photoactive material decreases, optoelectronic performance improves, including the operation speed, the signal-to-noise ratio, and the internal quantum efficiency. Over the past decades, researchers have managed to reduce the volume of photoactive materials in solar cells and photodetectors by orders of magnitude.