ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN, CMOS-COMPATIBLE ACTIVE PLASMONIC COMPONENTS FOR ON-CHIP INTEGRATION

Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) possess the ability to confine light at subwavelength scales and enable high local electric field enhancements. Plasmonic circuits have great potential applications for on-chip technologies as they bridge the size mismatch between diffraction-limited photonics and nanoelectronics. Significant progress on individual plasmonic components has been made towards implementing SPP excitation, manipulation, and detection with smaller footprints and higher operating speeds. However, most plasmonic components are made of noble metals and optically driven, which hinders further integration of plasmonics, electronics, and photonics by taking advantage of the strengths of each technology. This thesis aims to develop and integrate plasmonic components of various functions on the same chip, including SPP sources, waveguides, and detectors, which are electrically driven and CMOS compatible. The implementation of CMOS-compatible plasmonic circuitry paves the way to industrial applications with the combination of the subwavelength confinement offered by plasmonics and the maturity of nanoelectronics.