Multimaterial rectifying device fibers

Electronic and optoelectronic device processing is commonly thought to be incompatible with much simpler thermal drawing techniques used in optical fiber production. The incorporation of metals, polymer insulators, and chalcogenide semiconductors into structured fibers has reversed this paradigm and made it possible to realize optoelectronic device functionalities at fiber optic length scales and cost. In spite of the surprising robustness of this processing technique, the electronic performance and complexity of these optoelectronic fiber devices has been constrained by the small set of materials compatible with the fabrication method and the disordered nature of the semiconductor. Specifically, the high density of defects inherent to the amorphous chalcogenide semiconductors precludes the ability to create spatially extended internal electric fields necessary to create more sophisticated devices such as diodes and transistors. In this work, the design, fabrication, and characterization of the first fiber-integrated diode is described. The relevant optical, thermal, and electronic properties of candidate materials compatible with the thermal fiber drawing process are described and measured. Phase changing semiconductors are incorporated into the fiber having both amorphous properties amenable to thermal drawing and crystalline properties ideal for electronic devices. Combinations of metals and semiconductors that form both blocking and non-blocking contacts are identified and combined to form the first diode device that is compatible with the thermal drawing process. Techniques are developed to reduce the dimensions of the resulting devices by an order-of- magnitude compared to all previous multimaterial device fibers.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Orf, Nicholas D

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yoel Fink.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53250

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/53250