Plasma-dynamics in Nano/Micro-Structures for RF to THz Applications

用于射频至太赫兹应用的纳米/微米结构中的等离子体动力学

• 批准号: 1202095
• 负责人: Dimitrios Peroulis
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-05-15 至 2015-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1202095&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Plasma; dynamics; Nano; Micro; Structures

Objective: The objective is to theoretically and experimentally investigate and quantify plasma-dynamics effects, including performance degradation and long-term failure modes, for micro- and nano-structures with RF fields in the MHz to 100s GHz. Intellectual Merit: Micro/nano-gaps are common in a wide variety of RF MEMS such as tunable filters, varactors, and resonators. High RF fields may induce gas breakdown and ionization leading to performance degradation and/or failure in many of these devices. Moreover, conditions encountered in many MEMS lead to an entirely new type of plasmas with dynamic transition between several field-emission driven discharge regimes: electron tunneling, ion enhancement and electron avalanche. As a result, we plan to 1) Develop the fundamental understanding of the key physical phenomena that govern plasmadynamics; 2) Quantify potential long-term effects/failure modes of microplasma in micro/nano-gaps and the induced failure modes in MEMS/NEMS; and 3) Create comprehensive, multiple-domain physics modeling and simulation framework that captures the underlying microplasma effects in a compact and efficient manner. Broader Impact: This research is expected to have a transformative impact on the design and understanding of failure modes of a wide variety of N/MEMS devices. Furthermore, besides integrating our research into curricula activities, we plan to make extensive use of the memsHUB web portal to disseminate results from this study to the MEMS community through online simulation tools. This is expected to be critical in bridging the gap between fundamental plasma science and microsystems engineers. We also plan to support undergraduate students efforts and attract/retain U.S. minority students.

目的：从理论和实验上研究和量化微纳米结构在MHz~100s GHz频段内的等离子体动力学效应，包括性能退化和长期失效模式。智能优点：微/纳米间隙在各种RFMEMS中很常见，例如可调谐滤波器、变容二极管和谐振器。高射频场可能会导致气体击穿和电离，导致其中许多器件的性能下降和/或失效。此外，在许多MEMS中遇到的条件导致了一种全新的等离子体类型，它在几种场发射驱动的放电模式之间动态转变：电子隧穿、离子增强和电子雪崩。因此，我们计划1)建立对支配等离子体动力学的关键物理现象的基本了解；2)量化微/纳米间隙中微等离子体的潜在长期影响/故障模式以及MEMS/NEMS中的诱发故障模式；以及3)创建全面的、多领域的物理建模和仿真框架，以紧凑和高效的方式捕捉潜在的微等离子体效应。更广泛的影响：这项研究预计将对各种N/MEMS器件的设计和故障模式的理解产生革命性的影响。此外，除了将我们的研究整合到课程活动中，我们还计划广泛利用MemsHUB门户网站，通过在线模拟工具向MEMS社区传播这项研究的结果。预计这将是弥合基础等离子体科学和微系统工程师之间差距的关键。我们还计划支持本科生的努力，吸引/留住美国少数族裔学生。