Manufacturing technologies and functionalization of band-gap photonic materials.

The NePhoS group develops technologies of electrochemical attack for the manufacturing of two types of band-gap photonic materials: 1D photonic crystals over porous silicon and 2D photonic crystals over macroporous silicon and porous alumina. The functionalization activities include the use of band gap photonic materials as membranes for the infiltration of different active compounds like polymer metals or liquid crystals. The functionalization techniques are electrochemical deposition, humidification, or vacuum infiltration.

Modelization and characterization of band gap photonic materials

The modelization of band gap photonic materials is based in the application of numerical methods to determine the optical properties of the different structures. The numerical methods used are: Plane Wave Expansion, Transfer Matrix, and Finite-Difference Time-Domain, with the appropriate adjustments for the specific needs of the research carried out at NePhoS. The optic characterization is done principally using the spectroscopic techniques: angular-dependence reflectance spectroscopy, luminescence spectroscopy and transmission and reflection spectroscopy. The physical characterization is performed through X-rays diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

Development of physical models for advanced electronic devices

These include thin-film transistors, MOSFETs of nanometric scale, heterounion devices based on silicon. The growing demand by the microelectronics industry requires the miniaturization of devices towards nanometric proportions. This causes the emergence of effects related to the quantum nature of electrons and thus cannot be modeled using classical approximations. The NePhoS group develops numerical algorithms for the modeling of these new physical effects and translates them into compact models appropriate for electronic software design.

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