Los Angeles hosted the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC 2011)
Collaborating on next generation optoelectronic technologies
“Our work will impact on policy makers, stakeholders, research councils and government – providing clear measurable results that demonstrate the value of investment in UK-led research.” The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded a 1.48 million pound research grant to the ORC, a key partner in collaboration with the Universities of Surrey and Cambridge for the pioneering research project, ‘Amorphous Chalcogenidebased optoelectronic platform for next generation optoelectronic technologies’. The project forms an important component of the EPSRC’s Grand Challenge in Microelectronics and draws together scientists and technologists from the Advance Technology Institute (Surrey), the Department of Chemistry (Cambridge) along with VSEA (Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates) to focus on developing new functionality of materials based on amorphous chalcogenides. Chalcogenide glasses are already in use for thin-film and fibre waveguides, switching, light emission and amplification while electronic applications, such as phase-change memory, are emerging in microelectronics. Professor Dan Hewak, ORC project leader, said: “We expect this project to generate considerable attention in both research and industrial communities. This research will stimulate interest in further electrical and optical applications of chalcogenides on a local and international scale, particularly as we move towards commercial realisation. Many of the device goals, such as LEDs, photodiodes, photovoltaic cells, optical amplifiers, switches, logic gates and
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Light Times | issue 2 2011
memory cells will be of great interest to large electronics companies.” The project’s investigators have established links with leading international companies and this clear industrial interest is reinforced by the involvement of a leading international expert in the field of applications of ionimplantation, Dr Jonathan England (Senior Technologist, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates - VSEA). Jonathan is undertaking the role of project mentor, with VSEA sponsoring his time to the project. His extensive international experience in hightechnology development and industrial end-user interaction will be a significant asset to the programme - enhancing its industrial impact. Dr Richard Curry, University of Surrey project leader, explained: “Our work will impact on policy makers, stakeholders, research councils and government - providing clear measurable results that demonstrate the value of investment in UK-led research. Ultimately, the development of new technologies to assist commerce, healthcare and improved device energy efficiencies will provide long-term benefits to the economy and society as a whole.” The grant is initially awarded over two years during which the number and range of collaborations and industrial interest is expected to grow in the new chalcogenidebased optoelectronic platform.
Post deadline session paper presented at OFC 2011
Group paper featured in IET forum
March: Los Angeles hosted the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC 2011) at which the ORC presented a paper at the prestigious Post Deadline session. This special session is highly regarded within the optical communications industry as a showcase for the most important latest developments in the field.
Dr Kevin Huang, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton’s ORC has had his group’s paper, ‘Electrical phase-change of CVD-grown Ge-Sb-Te thin-film device’ selected as the feature letter in the IET’s Electronics Letters in March. IET Electronics letters is a forum for the very latest results and ideas in the advancement of electronic or electrical engineering technology.
The paper, ‘Field trial of an all-optical PSK (Phase Shift Keying) regenerator in a 40 Gbit/s, 38 channel DWDM (Dense Wave-length Division Multiplexing) transmission experiment,’ reports the first field trial of a phase and amplitude regenerator highlighting the practicality of the technology. Dr Periklis Petropoulos explained: “Acceptance of our paper at the OFC Post Deadline session demonstrates the great value of this research. The trial shows that our system is capable of processing signals that have undergone transmission on installed fibre links. By using all-optical processing, the requirement for power-hungry fast electronics is negated, potentially offering benefits both in terms of speed and energy consumption of our communication networks.” The research is part of a collaboration led by the ORC as part of the EU-funded PHASORS project. For more information, turn to our feature on page 12.
Dr Kevin Huang examines his CVD-grown Ge-Sb-Te The paper describes research and prototype thin-film device testing conducted under the supervision of Professor Dan Hewak on a new CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) grown Ge-Sb-Te thin-film phase-change memory device. CVD-grown thin-film technology is attracting considerable interest as a prime candidate for the next generation of nonvolatile devices to meet future data storage needs. CVD uses unique chemistry developed by Dr Huang to deposit high-purity, highperformance solid materials in production of thin-film PCRAM devices. PCRAM (PhaseChange Random Access Memory) provides higher density storage and operation speed over existing flash technology; critical to meeting the continually growing demand for rewritable storage. The research, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Photonics, continues to show promising results for CVDgrown materials for both thin-film and optical fibre applications .
Acknowledgements go to authors of the paper: Professor D Hewak, B Gholipour, J Y Ou and K Knight.
Light Times | issue 2 2011
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