arXiv subjects

Austin Minnich

Publications and source records attributed to Austin Minnich.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Atomic layer etching of SiO$_2$ using sequential exposures of Al(CH$_3$)$_3$ and H$_2$/SF$_6$ plasma

On-chip photonic devices based on SiO$_2$ are of interest for applications such as microresonator gyroscopes and microwave sources. Although SiO$_2$ microdisk resonators have achieved quality factors exceeding one billion, this value remains an order of magnitude less than the intrinsic limit due to surface roughness scattering. Atomic layer etching (ALE) has potential to mitigate this scattering because of its ability to smooth surfaces to sub-nanometer length scales. While isotropic ALE processes for SiO$_2$ have been reported, they are not generally compatible with commercial reactors, and the effect on surface roughness has not been studied. Here, we report an ALE process for SiO$_2$ using sequential exposures of Al(CH$_3$)$_3$ (trimethylaluminum, TMA) and Ar/H$_2$/SF$_6$ plasma. We find that each process step is self-limiting, and that the overall process exhibits a synergy of 100%. We observe etch rates up to 0.58 \r{A} per cycle for thermally-grown SiO$_2$ and higher rates for ALD, PECVD, and sputtered SiO$_2$ up to 2.38 \r{A} per cycle. Furthermore, we observe a decrease in surface roughness by 62% on a roughened film. The residual concentration of Al and F is around 1-2%, which can be further decreased by O$_2$ plasma treatment. This process could find applications in smoothing of SiO$_2$ optical devices and thereby enabling device quality factors to approach limits set by intrinsic dissipation.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

High-field charge transport and noise in p-Si from first principles

The parameter-free computation of charge transport properties of semiconductors is now routine owing to advances in the ab-initio description of the electron-phonon interaction. Many studies focus on the low-field regime in which the carrier temperature equals the lattice temperature and the current power spectral density (PSD) is proportional to the mobility. The calculation of high-field transport and noise properties offers a stricter test of the theory as these relations no longer hold, yet few such calculations have been reported. Here, we compute the high-field mobility and PSD of hot holes in silicon from first principles at temperatures of 77 and 300 K and electric fields up to 20 kV cm$^{-1}$ along various crystallographic axes. We find that the calculations quantitatively reproduce experimental trends including the anisotropy and electric-field dependence of hole mobility and PSD. The experimentally observed rapid variation of energy relaxation time with electric field at cryogenic temperatures is also correctly predicted. However, as in low-field studies, absolute quantitative agreement is in general lacking, a discrepancy that has been attributed to inaccuracies in the calculated valence band structure. Our work highlights the use of high-field transport and noise properties as a rigorous test of the theory of electron-phonon interactions in semiconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Experimental demonstration of a generalized Fourier's Law for non-diffusive thermal transport

Phonon heat conduction over length scales comparable to their mean free paths is a topic of considerable interest for basic science and thermal management technologies. Although the failure of Fourier's law beyond the diffusive regime is well understood, debate exists over the proper physical description of thermal transport in the ballistic to diffusive crossover. Here, we derive a generalized Fourier's law that links the heat flux and temperature fields, valid from ballistic to diffusive regimes and for general geometries, using the Peierls-Boltzmann transport equation within the relaxation time approximation. This generalized Fourier's law predicts that thermal conductivity not only becomes nonlocal at length scales smaller than phonon mean free paths, but also requires the inclusion of an inhomogeneous nonlocal source term that has been previously neglected. We demonstrate the validity of this generalized Fourier's law through direct comparison with time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) measurements in the nondiffusive regime without adjustable parameters. Furthermore, we show that interpreting experimental data without this generalized Fourier's law leads to inaccurate measurement of thermal transport properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Propagating elastic vibrations dominate thermal conduction in amorphous silicon

Thermal atomic vibrations in amorphous solids can be distinguished by whether they propagate as elastic waves or do not propagate due to lack of atomic periodicity. In a-Si, prior works concluded that non-propagating waves are the dominant contributors to heat transport, while propagating waves are restricted to frequencies less than a few THz and are scattered by anharmonicity. Here, we present a lattice and molecular dynamics analysis of vibrations in a-Si that supports a qualitatively different picture in which propagating elastic waves dominate the thermal conduction and are scattered by elastic fluctuations rather than anharmonicity. We explicitly demonstrate the propagating nature of vibration with frequency approaching 10 THz using a triggered wave computational experiment. Our work suggests that most heat is carried by propagating elastic waves in a-Si and demonstrates a route to achieve extreme thermal properties in amorphous materials by manipulating elastic fluctuations.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗