Silicon photonics is an emerging competitive solution for next-generation scalable data communications in different application areas as high-speed data communication is constrained by electrical interconnects. Optical interconnects based on silicon photonics can be used in intra/inter-chip interconnects, board-to-board interconnects, short-reach communications in datacenters, supercomputers and long-haul optical transmissions. In this paper, we present an overview of recent progress in silicon optoelectronic devices and optoelectronic integrated circuits(OEICs) based on a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible process, and focus on our research contributions. The silicon optoelectronic devices and OEICs show good characteristics, which are expected to benefit several application domains, including communication, sensing, computing and nonlinear systems.

The continuous progress in thin film materials and devices has greatly promoted the development in the field of flexible electronics. As one of the most common thin film devices, thin film transistors (TFTs) are significant building blocks for flexible platforms. Flexible oxide-based TFTs are well compatible with flexible electronic systems due to low process temperature, high carrier mobility, and good uniformity. The present article is a review of the recent progress and major trends in the field of flexible oxide-based thin film transistors. First, an introduction of flexible electronics and flexible oxide-based thin film transistors is given. Next, we introduce oxide semiconductor materials and various flexible oxide-based TFTs classified by substrate materials including polymer plastics, paper sheets, metal foils, and flexible thin glass. Afterwards, applications of flexible oxide-based TFTs including bendable sensors, memories, circuits, and displays are presented. Finally, we give conclusions and a prospect for possible development trends.

Although perovskite solar cells containing methylamine cation can show high power conversion efficiency, stability is a concern. Here, methylamine-free perovskite material Cs_xFA_1–xPbI₃ was synthesized by a one-step method. In addition, we incorporated smaller cadmium ions into mixed perovskite lattice to partially replace Pb ions to address the excessive internal strain in perovskite structure. We have found that the introduction of Cd can improve the crystallinity and the charge carrier lifetime of perovskite films. Consequently, a power conversion efficiency as high as 20.59% was achieved. More importantly, the devices retained 94% of their initial efficiency under 1200 h of continuous illumination.

In a recent article, Chen et al. [Electrochimica Acta, 2014, 130: 279] presented their fabrication and characterization results on a graphene/n-Si solar cell where the Au nanoparticles were inserted in graphene to increase its optical and electrical properties. The higher efficiency of the device was attributed to increased conductivity of graphene after doping with Au nanoparticles. However, the knowledge in the field of Schottky diode solar cells relates this to increased band bending at the junction. Also, to explain the instability behaviour, they concluded that the growth of silicon oxide on the Si surface or oxygen adsorption on the window layer resulted in the device performance increasing initially and decreasing in the end. However, this instability seems to be due to variation in series resistance reduced at the beginning because of slightly lowered Fermi level and increased at the end by the self-compensation by deep in-diffusion of Au nanoparticles into n-Si layer. We also propose that inserting a very thin p-type layer at the junction will enhance the carrier collection and performance of this device.

The AC-electronic and dielectric properties of different phthalocyanine films (ZnPc, CuPc, FePc, and H₂Pc) were investigated over a wide range of temperature. Both real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant (ε=ε₁-iε₂) were found to be influenced by temperature and frequency. Qualitatively the behavior was the same for those compounds; however, the central atom, film thickness, and the electrode type play an important role in the variation of their values.The relaxation time, τ, was strongly frequency-dependent at all temperatures and low frequencies, while a weak dependency is observed at higher frequencies. The relaxation activation energy was derived from the slopes of the fitted lines of ln τ and the reciprocal of the temperature (1/T). The values of the activation energy were accounted for the hopping process at low temperatures, while a thermally activated conduction process was dominant at higher temperatures.The maximum barrier height, W_m, was found to be temperature and frequency dependent for all phthalocyanine compounds. The value W_m depends greatly on the nature of the central atom and electrode material type. The correlated barrier hopping model was found to be the appropriate mechanism to describe the charge carrier's transport in phthalocyanine films.

Resistive random-access memory (RRAM), also known as memristors, having a very simple device structure with two terminals, fulfill almost all of the fundamental requirements of volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, and neuromorphic characteristics. Its memory and neuromorphic behaviors are currently being explored in relation to a range of materials, such as biological materials, perovskites, 2D materials, and transition metal oxides. In this review, we discuss the different electrical behaviors exhibited by RRAM devices based on these materials by briefly explaining their corresponding switching mechanisms. We then discuss emergent memory technologies using memristors, together with its potential neuromorphic applications, by elucidating the different material engineering techniques used during device fabrication to improve the memory and neuromorphic performance of devices, in areas such as I_ON/I_OFF ratio, endurance, spike time-dependent plasticity (STDP), and paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), among others. The emulation of essential biological synaptic functions realized in various switching materials, including inorganic metal oxides and new organic materials, as well as diverse device structures such as single-layer and multilayer hetero-structured devices, and crossbar arrays, is analyzed in detail. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future prospects for the development of inorganic and new materials-based memristors.

Based on the measured capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves and current-voltage (I-V) curves for the prepared differently-sized AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs), the I-V characteristics of the AlN/GaN HFETs were simulated using the quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) model. By analyzing the variation in the electron mobility for the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with the channel electric field, it is found that the different polarization charge distribution generated by the different channel electric field distribution can result in different polarization Coulomb field (PCF) scattering. The 2DEG electron mobility difference is mostly caused by the PCF scattering which can reach up to 899.6 cm²/(V·s) (sample a), 1307.4 cm²/(V·s) (sample b), 1561.7 cm²/(V·s) (sample c) and 678.1 cm²/(V·s) (sample d), respectively. When the 2DEG sheet density is modulated by the drain-source bias, the electron mobility for samples a, b and c appear to peak with the variation of the 2DEG sheet density, but for sample d, no peak appears and the electron mobility rises with the increase in the 2DEG sheet density.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with unique properties have received a great deal of attention in recent years. This family of materials has rapidly established themselves as intriguing building blocks for versatile nanoelectronic devices that offer promising potential for use in next generation optoelectronics, such as photodetectors. Furthermore, their optoelectronic performance can be adjusted by varying the number of layers. They have demonstrated excellent light absorption, enabling ultrafast and ultrasensitive detection of light in photodetectors, especially in their single-layer structure. Moreover, due to their atomic thickness, outstanding mechanical flexibility, and large breaking strength, these materials have been of great interest for use in flexible devices and strain engineering. Toward that end, several kinds of photodetectors based on 2D materials have been reported. Here, we present a review of the state-of-the-art in photodetectors based on graphene and other 2D materials, such as the graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and so on.

A brief introduction of semiconductor self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) applied in single-photon sources is given. Single QDs in confined quantum optical microcavity systems are reviewed along with their optical properties and coupling characteristics. Subsequently, the recent progresses in In(Ga)As QDs systems are summarized including the preparation of quantum light sources, multiple methods for embedding single QDs into different microcavities and the scalability of single-photon emitting wavelength. Particularly, several In(Ga)As QD single-photon devices are surveyed including In(Ga)As QDs coupling with nanowires, InAs QDs coupling with distributed Bragg reflection microcavity and the In(Ga)As QDs coupling with micropillar microcavities. Furthermore, applications in the field of single QDs technology are illustrated, such as the entangled photon emission by spontaneous parametric down conversion, the single-photon quantum storage, the chip preparation of single-photon sources as well as the single-photon resonance-fluorescence measurements.

A comprehensive study of high efficiency In_0.46Ga_0.54N/Si tandem solar cell is presented. A tunnel junction (TJ) was needed to interconnect the top and bottom sub-cells. Two TJ designs, integrated within this tandem: GaAs (n⁺)/GaAs (p⁺) and In_0.5Ga_0.5N (n⁺)/Si (p⁺) were considered. Simulations of GaAs (n⁺)/GaAs (p⁺) and In_0.5Ga_0.5N (n⁺)/Si (p⁺) TJ I-V characteristics were studied for integration into the proposed tandem solar cell. A comparison of the simulated solar cell I-V characteristics under 1 sun AM1.5 spectrum was discussed in terms of short circuit current density (J_sc), open circuit voltage (V_OC), fill factor (FF) and efficiency (η) for both tunnel junction designs. Using GaAs (n⁺)/GaAs (p⁺) tunnel junction, the obtained values of J_sc=21.74 mA/cm², V_OC=1.81 V, FF=0.87 and η=34.28%, whereas the solar cell with the In_0.5Ga_0.5N/Si tunnel junction reported values of J_sc=21.92 mA/cm², V_OC=1.81 V, FF=0.88 and η=35.01%. The results found that required thicknesses for GaAs (n⁺)/GaAs (p⁺) and In_0.5Ga_0.5N (n⁺)/Si (p⁺) tunnel junctions are around 20 nm, the total thickness of the top InGaN can be very small due to its high optical absorption coefficient and the use of a relatively thick bottom cell is necessary to increase the conversion efficiency.