Hybrid organic semiconductor/gallium nitride/CMOS smart pixel arrays
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Inst of Photonics
Abstract
Organic semiconductors are a very exciting category of optoelectronic materials, in the development of which, over the past 10-15 years, the UK has played a vital and widely acknowledged role. These materials offer efficient light emission across the visible spectrum whilst being amenable to a wide range of simple and scalable processing methods such as ink-jet printing. These attractive properties have led to the rapid development of efficient, electrically-driven light emitting diodes (LED's) at red, green and blue wavelengths, that are already having significant commercial impact in areas such as mobile phones and large area flat-panel displays. Laboratories around the world have shown that high-performance laser action and optical amplfication is also possible in these materials, opening up an entirely new approach to visible-wavelength lasers - a region of the spectrum that has proven difficult to cover fully with more established solid-state laser technology. This opens up many new applications in areas as diverse as optical communications, instrumentation, metrology, spectroscopy and bio- and chemical-sensing. However these devices currently require separate lasers for pumping and are not available in compact, integrated form. Here, we propose a novel approach to the development of integrated organic semiconductor lasers, utilising a gallium nitride inorganic semiconductor optoelectronic interface to produce compact formats of organic device under electronic control. The gallium nitride devices, as proposed, produce blue-violet pump light for the organic lasers when driven by silicon CMOS electronics. These technologies can all be made planar and integrated one above the other, thus bringing the performance of the organic lasers under computer control for the first time.This offers the prospects of a very versatile optical interconnect technology that can either couple in-plane organic elements together in novel planar lightwave circuits taking true advantage of the versatile processing potential of the organics or relay the pattern-programmable output to other applications interfaces such as bio-instrumentation. In addition, the CMOS design offers highly-sensitive on-chip photodetection in the wavelength range, down to the single-photon level, of both the gallium nitride and the organics, thus opening up novel methods of active feedback, modulation and control. These attributes offer potential linkages in emerging areas of computation and communications including quantum information processing and bio-computing.Accomplishing these ambitious goals, which draw together a range of hitherto largely disparate technologies, requires a substantial and co-ordinated programme. We have assembled a partnership of leading researchers with the complementary skills and experience required, who also have an established track record of working together successfully on interdisciplinary research.
Organisations
Publications
Guilhabert B
(2010)
Amplified spontaneous emission in free-standing membranes incorporating star-shaped monodisperse p-conjugated truxene oligomers
in Journal of Optics
Herrnsdorf J
(2010)
Flexible blue-emitting encapsulated organic semiconductor DFB laser.
in Optics express
Afonina I
(2010)
Synthesis and characterisation of new diindenodithienothiophene (DITT) based materials
in J. Mater. Chem.
Wang Y
(2011)
Ultra-portable explosives sensor based on a CMOS fluorescence lifetime analysis micro-system
in AIP Advances
Parbrook P
(2011)
Light Emitting and Laser Diodes in the Ultraviolet
in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
Zheng Gong (Co-Author)
(2011)
Electrical, spectral and optical performance of yellow-green and amber micro-pixelated InGaN light-emitting diodes
in semiconductor science and technology
Wang Y
(2011)
Laser chemosensor with rapid responsivity and inherent memory based on a polymer of intrinsic microporosity.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Chen Y
(2011)
Laser action in a surface-structured free-standing membrane based on a p-conjugated polymer-composite
in Organic Electronics
Gong Z
(2011)
InGaN micro-pixellated light-emitting diodes with nano-textured surfaces and modified emission profiles
in Applied Physics A
Montgomery NA
(2011)
Optical excitations in star-shaped fluorene molecules.
in The journal of physical chemistry. A
Description | Organic semiconductor lasers (so-called 'plastic lasers') are attractive optical sources covering the full visible spectrum, but have proven impossible to excite so far by direct electrical means. This programme showed that indirect electrical pumping via a GaN/CMOS smart optoelectronic interface is possible as a viable alternative, and it explored new materials and approaches to integrating these systems. It also initiated investigations of CMOS/nitride smart pixels for visible light communications, as successfully continued under the UP-VLC Programme Grant with some of the same partners, and again led from the University of Strathclyde. |
Exploitation Route | A review article summarising the organic laser pumping results was published a resource for the community, and this also gave a topical survey of the organic laser field more widely. We widely disseminated on organic laser and visible light communications results, through conventional publication, a focussed project open day at Imperial College, and discussions with academic and industrial colleagues. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Description | The findings of this programme have provided background information to the development of visible light communications and hybrid GaN/polymer technologies in the UK, through such companies as DesignLED, Pure LiFi and mLED Ltd. and multi-nationals including BAE Systems. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
Description | EPSRC |
Amount | £4,595,366 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K00042X/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2012 |
End | 02/2017 |