PFI: BIC- New Substrates Enabling Next Generation Optical Devices: Solar Cells to Lasers

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校(UW-M)的这一创新伙伴关系：建设创新能力项目，题为“支持下一代光学设备的新衬底：太阳能电池到激光”，利用威斯康星大学开发的‘虚拟’衬底形式的最新创新，在新的波长范围和太阳能电池领域提供打开光电子器件领域市场能力所需的新材料。这些材料将通过产业伙伴关系进行开发，为它们在可用于此类设备的新兴利基市场提供竞争优势。使用氢化物气相外延生长的砷化镓及相关化合物提供了创造新型衬底的能力，即“虚拟”衬底，作为新的器件，从而制造光电子器件的平台。获得的高生长速率和对成分的控制使得能够形成具有表面的半导体衬底，该表面可以具有商业上可获得的块状半导体衬底无法获得的晶格参数。这些超厚的变质缓冲层在商业衬底和具有不同晶格参数的外延表面层之间过渡。由此产生的表面晶格参数是可调的，为从太阳能电池到高性能量子级联激光器的工业合作伙伴提供了跨越光谱的新型设备。在这个项目中建立的合作伙伴关系使UW-M能够通过整合材料开发来发展新的转化研究能力，并从工业合作伙伴那里获得使用这种新材料所需的设计和材料指标方面的密切反馈。该项目的更广泛影响来自1)对有益于社会的技术的影响，创造新市场，并为光电设备领域的市场进入提供独特的材料；2)参与者获得的人力资本，特别是研究生和本科生；以及3)在一个工程和新产品的影响显而易见的环境中纳入本科生实习生。这一提议有助于推动这些产业界和学术界的互动，朝着以技术转让的新视角为基础的其他材料的谨慎发展。工业合作伙伴能够获得支持各类设备的材料，从而扩大了高性能和专门的半导体光电子器件的市场。这一合作伙伴关系将把一类“虚拟”和潜在可重复使用的基板带到一个更高的实用和开发水平，使以前无法通过使用当前商业基板实现的新型设备的广泛开发成为可能。这些新衬底的形成、制备和加工是在它们在高性能量子级联激光器、新型量子井红外固态激光器和高性能多结太阳能电池领域的最终使用的背景下进行的。UW-M和工业合作伙伴对这些材料的共同开发将展示并使光电子器件不再受商业衬底晶格匹配的限制。威斯康星大学的研究人员基于对产品开发周期和影响新市场必须解决的关键技术问题的了解来获得材料设计的知识。项目开始时的合作伙伴是威斯康星大学麦迪逊大学，通过化学和生物工程系、材料科学和工程系以及电气和计算机工程系之间的跨学科努力；以及三家小企业：Microlink Devices Inc.(独立)，Est。2000(伊利诺伊州奈尔斯)的核心业务是设计和制造用于移动电话和其他无线设备的III-V外延材料；nLight Inc.(独立)EST。2000(总部位于华盛顿州温哥华)专注于专业的高功率半导体激光器，为医疗、国防和半导体太阳能应用开发材料解决方案。Intra Band LLC(UW-M创业公司)，Est.2007年(威斯康星州麦迪逊)是一家早期创业公司，目标是将量子级联激光器(QCL)技术商业化。

This Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity project from University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), entitled, "New Substrates Enabling Next Generation Optical Devices: Solar Cells to Lasers," exploits the recent innovations in the form of 'virtual' substrates developed at the University of Wisconsin to provide new materials required for opening market capabilities in the areas of optoelectronic devices, specifically light emitters, in new wavelength ranges and solar cells. These materials will be developed through the industrial partnerships that provide them with a competitive advantage in burgeoning niche markets available for such devices. The use of the hydride vapor phase epitaxy growth of GaAs and related compounds provides the capability to create new types of substrates, 'virtual' substrates, which serve as new device, and hence, manufacturing platforms for optoelectronic devices. The high achieved growth rates and control over composition has enabled the formation of semiconductor substrates with a surface that can have a lattice parameter not accessible by commercially available bulk semiconductor substrates. These ultra-thick metamorphic buffer layers transition between a commercial substrate and an epitaxial surface layer which have differing lattice parameters. The resulting surface lattice parameter is tunable, enabling new classes of devices spanning the spectrum for the industrial partners from solar cells to high-performance quantum cascade lasers. The partnerships developed in this project allow for the development of a new capacity for translational research at UW-M through the integration of materials development, with intimate feedback from the industrial partners in terms of design and materials metrics that arerequired for the use of such new materials.The broader impacts of this project result from 1) the impact on technologies that benefit society, create new markets, and provide unique materials for market entry in the area of optoelectronic devices; 2) the human capital acquired by the participants, especially the graduate and undergraduate students; and 3) the inclusion of undergraduate interns in an environment where the impact of engineering and the generation of new products are readily apparent. This proposal serves to drive these industrial-academic interactions towards the mindful development of other materials built on a new perspective of technology transfer. Industrial partners gain access to materials enabling classes of devices resulting in the expansion of the markets for high performance and specialized semiconductor optoelectronic devices. This partnership will bring to an enhanced level of utility and development a class of 'virtual' and potentially re-usable substrates enabling the widespread development of novel classes of devices previously unachievable through the use of current commercial substrates. The formation, preparation, and processing of these new substrates is carried out in the context of their end-use in the areas of high-performance quantum cascade lasers, new quantum well infrared solid-state lasers, and high-performance multi-junction solar cells. The co-development of these materials by UW-M and the industrial partners will demonstrate and enable optoelectronic devices no longer constrained by lattice-matching to commercial substrates. The UW-M researchers gain knowledge of the design of materials based on the understanding of the product development cycle and those key technological issues which must be addressed to impact new markets.Partners at the inception of the project are the University of Wisconsin-Madison through an interdisciplinary effort between the Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering; and three small businesses: MicroLink Devices Inc. (Independent), est. 2000 (Niles, Illinois) has a core business in the design and manufacture of III-V epitaxial material used in cellular phones and other wireless devices; nLight Inc. (Independent) est. 2000 (headquartered in Vancouver, WA) focuses on specialty high-power semiconductor lasers developing material solutions for medical, defense, and semiconductor solar applications. Intraband LLC (UW-M Start-up company), est. 2007 (Madison, WI) is an early-stage startup with the objective of commercializing the quantum cascade laser (QCL) technologies.