About Us > Faculty & Staff > Faculty > Mengbing Huang

Associate Professor of Nanoscience

Contact:

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering
University at Albany-State University of New York
Albany, New York 12203
Tel: (518) 956-7093; E-mail: mhuang@albany.edu 

Degrees:

• Ph.D., Physics, University of Western Ontario, Canada, 1997

Areas of research:

• Silicon-based optoelectronic, photonic and magnetic materials and devices
• Ion beam synthesis/modification of nanostructures and novel materials

Description of research:

Silicon-based optoelectronic and photonic materials/devices
Our primary goal is to develop advanced optoelectronic and photonic functionalities in Si-based materials for novel computing paradigms. A particular focus is on the development of Si-based light emitting devices for Silicon Photonics — a promising technology that would enable faster data transfer and high-speed computing through the construction of planar photonic circuits using standard Si CMOS techniques. We are researching several possible approaches to light emission from Si materials, including the use of erbium doped systems, the synthesis of novel Si-based materials and the engineering of Si band structures. Plasmonic and photonic crystal engineering is combined with these approaches in a hope for achieving efficient Si-based light sources and ultimately, electrically driven Si-based lasers that can be eventually deployed in Si chips. In parallel, we are investigating effective methods to fabricate plasmonic waveguide structures in Si for electrical/optical signal transmission, modulation and conversion.

Synthesis/modification of nanostructures and novel materials
The second major direction of our research is to modify the optical, electrical and magnetic properties in materials, through the use of ion beams for defect engineering and impurity doping. One activity intends to create magnetism via the formation of arrays of metal nanoparticles in Si for emerging devices based on the transport and manipulation of electron spins. Another research effort concentrates on the understanding of impurity-defect interactions in ZnO crystals with the aim of realizing p-type doping via ion implantation in this wide bandgap semiconductor. We have also demonstrated the use of ion beams to generate novel material structures, e.g. surface textures and metal nanoparticles in Si, for energy harnessing and advanced sensing applications.

We are currently working on a project supported by National Science Foundation to create optical waveguides of excellent thermal stability in single-crystal sapphire for optical sensing applications under high-temperature harsh conditions. Our innovative method based on hydrogen ion implantation has resulted in the formation of planar optical waveguides in sapphire wafers as well as optical cladding in sapphire fibers, with a record-high performance in thermal stability, i.e., the fabricated optical waveguides/fiber claddings remain thermally robust even at 1700 °C. This will open up many opportunities for deploying single-crystal sapphire fibers in harsh-condition sensing applications.

Other research activities we are involved include ion beam engineering of diamond crystals for single photon emission, ion irradiation effects on novel nuclear reactor materials, molecular understanding of heavy ion damage in biological systems, and materials characterization with ion beams and other techniques.

Recent Publications :

William T. Spratt, Mengbing Huang, Chuanlei Jia, Lei Wang, Vimal K. Kamineni, Alain C. Diebold and Hua Xia, “Formation of optical barriers with excellent thermal stability in single-crystal sapphire by hydrogen ion implantation and thermal annealing”, Applied Physics Letters 99, 111909 (2011).

Andrew P. Magyar, Jonathan C. Lee, Andi M. Limarga, Igor Aharonovich, Fabian Rol, David R. Clarke, Mengbing Huang, and Evelyn L. Hu, “Fabrication of Thin, Luminescent, Single-crystal Diamond Membranes”, Applied Physics Letters 99, 081913 (2011).

Sebastian Naczas, Perveen Akhter and Mengbing Huang, “Enhanced photoluminescence around 1540 nm from erbium doped silicon co-implanted with hydrogen and silver”, Applied Physics Letters 98, 113101 (2011).

Fengyuan Lu, Jiaming Zhang, Mengbing Huang, Fereydoon Namavar, Rodney C. Ewing, and Jie Lian, “Phase Transformation of Nanosized ZrO2 upon Thermal Annealing and Intense Radiation”, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 115, 7193 (2011).

Vasileios Nikas, Spyros Gallis, Mengbing Huang, and Alain E. Kaloyeros, “Thermal annealing effects on photoluminescence properties of carbon-doped silicon-rich oxide thin films implanted with erbium”, Journal of Applied Physics 109, 093521 (2011).

Y. Deshko, M. Huang, A.A. Gorokhovsky, “Statistical analysis of micro-luminescence maps of implanted optical centers in diamond”, Journal of Luminescence 131, 489 (2011).

L. Chow, R. R. Vanfleet, M. B. Huang, J. LaRose, E. Del Barco, M. Arcuri and H. Khallaf, “Microstructures and Magnetism of Silicon co-implanted with Manganese and Carbon ions”, Journal of Physics 281, 012030 (2011).

Spyros Gallis, Vasileios Nikas, Himani Suhag, Mengbing Huang and Alain Kaloyeros, “White Light Emission from Amorphous Silicon Oxycarbide (a-SiCxOy) Thin Films: Role of Composition and Post-Deposition Annealing”, Applied Physics Letters 97, 081905 (2010).

Nirag Kadakia, Sebastian Naczas, Hassaram Bakhru, and Mengbing Huang, “Fabrication of surface textures by ion implantation for antireflection of silicon crystals”, Applied Physics Letters 97, 191912 (2010).

Brian Butcher, Xiaoli He, Mengbing Huang, Yan Wang, Qi Liu, Hangbing Lv, Ming Liu and Wei Wang, “Proton-based total-dose irradiation effects on Cu/HfO2:Cu/Pt ReRAM devices”, Nanotechnology 21, 475206 (2010).