semiconductor – Progress in Research

A new bidimensional semiconductor shows the highest nonlinear optical efficiency over nanometer thicknesses. This is the result of a new study recently published in Nature Photonics by Xinyi Xu, PhD student of Columbia University, and Chiara Trovatello, postdoctoral research scientist at the Department of Physics of Politecnico di Milano, together with Prof. Giulio Cerullo from the Department of Physics of Politecnico di Milano, Dmitri N. Basov and P. James Schuck from the Columbia University.

Optical fibers, bar code readers, light scalpels for precision surgery… the innumerable applications which have revolutionized our daily life rely exclusively on one tool: the laser. Each laser, however, emits light only at one specific wavelength and in order to generate new colors one can make use of specific crystals exploiting nonlinear optical processes. The miniaturization trend, which has dominated the world of electronics, enabling the realization of powerful consumer devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is now moving the world of lasers and their applications, which constitute the so-called field of photonics. For this reason, it is necessary to realize nonlinear processes inside thinner and thinner crystals.
Chiara Trovatello, author of the study

The typical nonlinear crystal thickness is on the order of a millimiter. In this study researchers have proven that a new nonlinear material – the 3R crystal phase of molybdenum disulfide – over a thickness of few hundreds of nanometers (1 nm = 10^-9 m) can achieve an unprecedent nonlinear optical gain. This study sets the ground for a new revolution in the field on nonlinear optics.

This new crystal opens innumerable future applications, which could be directly integrated on a micrometric optical chip, reducing the typical size of nonlinear optical devices. Among the most relevant applications: optical amplifiers, tunable lasers and quantum light generators over nanometer length scales.

On-chip nonlinear application will reinvent photonic devices through thinner and more compact designs.
Prof. Cerullo

Read the study

Politecnico di Milano and STMicroelectronics have inaugurated the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing capabilities at PoliFab, the University’s micro- and nanotechnology R&D center. A laboratory created to provide the highest technological standards for a wide range of applications and processes involving the five Key Enabling Technologies: photonics, micro and nanoelectronics, biotechnologies, advanced materials and nanotechnology.

Building on the long-standing collaboration between the two organizations, the PoliFab’s clean room – a facility where silicon wafers are made into semiconductor chips – has received state-of-the-art equipment from STMicroelectronics to boost joint R&D efforts in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and motion control, as well as in power electronics and galvanic isolation.

A physical site where exciting scientific ideas can meet state-of-the-art semiconductor technology

The enlarged clean-room infrastructure will make Politecnico di Milano even more attractive for talented researchers and students and contribute to fuel ST’s advances and development roadmap in semiconductor technologies including MEMS, where the Company is a world leader with over 15 billion devices sold to date. With the core of ST’s global MEMS R&D operations located in Lombardy, close to Milan, the cooperation with PoliFab aims at setting up a center of excellence for studies and research on advanced materials for MEMS in the region.

The ongoing collaboration also encompasses investments in staff and programs, with ST supporting scholarships and the recruitment of professors and researchers, as well as financing joint research projects.

With the new spaces inaugurated today, the total classified area of PoliFab spans 610 sq metres, plus annexed characterization laboratories, thus making it comparable to analogous facilities of the best European research institutions.

We are pioneering a new model for “fast technology transfer” based on the realization of a joint research and innovation infrastructure where top-class semiconductor equipment, the very same used in a semiconductor fab, is made available to researchers and students.
Polifab 2.0 is a physical site where exciting scientific ideas can meet state-of-the-art semiconductor technology, thus speeding-up both fundamental research and its technology transfer.
said Riccardo Bertacco, director of Polifab.

Tag: semiconductor

A new chapter for nonlinear optics

ST and PoliMi Expand Semiconductor R&D Infrastructure at PoliFab