New Materials: Research Achievements High Quality Si/Ge Semiconductor Fibers And Flexible Sensors

Chen Ming, the research team of Yang Chunlei, the research group of Photonic Information and Energy Materials Research Center, Institute of Materials, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with Wei Lei, a professor of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Gao Huajian, a foreign academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhang Qichong, a researcher of Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a paper entitled "High quality" on Nature Semiconductor Fibres via Mechanical Design. This study reported a preparation technology for large-scale production of high-quality semiconductor silicon and germanium fibers based on the hot drawing process, which realized the fibrosis and flexibility of traditional brittle semiconductors such as silicon and germanium, and demonstrated the innovative application of semiconductor fibers in the field of flexible electronics by taking optoelectronic fiber pn junction as an example.  

As a new application form of inorganic semiconductor materials, one-dimensional fibers have unique advantages of being thin and flexible. It provides new possibilities for the seamless integration of flexible electronic devices and people's daily clothes, and the insensible link between flexible electronic devices and daily life. However, the rapid and long fabrication of high-quality semiconductor fibers is a challenge for the scientific community. Inspired by the traditional optical fiber preparation and hot drawing process, this research expands the hot drawing process of single material fiber to the preparation process of multiple materials, and from the perspective of solid mechanics and fluid mechanics, solves the stress mismatch and fluid instability problems of multiple materials in the hot drawing process of inorganic semiconductor fiber, The strategy of high-speed drawing Si/Ge semiconductor fibers up to hundreds of meters per minute from several meters to tens of meters has been realized. The research further adopts the convergent hot drawing method to establish a tight and stable material interface between insulator, conductor and semiconductor in a single hair fiber, and complete the assembly and packaging of devices at the same time of one-time drawing. The formed photoelectric fiber detector shows excellent stability in extreme environments, and can work stably under pressure of 3000 meters or even deeper underwater.  

This kind of flexible and stable "hair" sensor can be used alone or woven into cloth, so as to create passive clothing into functional "intelligent" wear. This research first clarified the "core cladding" mechanical interaction, proposed a universal strategy for semiconductor fiber drawing, and broke through the long-term scientific problem of crack free crystallization in the process of inorganic semiconductor fiber core drawing.  

The research work was supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangdong Province, Shenzhen City, etc.