I-Corps: Low-energy manufacturing-scalable complex oxide thin film technology

该团队已经为高性能材料开发了一种新的薄膜沉积技术，这种技术能耗低、可扩展，而且可能成本较低。他们最近通过出版报道了在SiO_2/Si上形成了单晶异质外延形式的复合氧化物钙钛矿，特别是以相纯多晶形式的BiFeO_3。这一点很重要，因为新技术能够生产出简单的钙钛矿型无铅单晶功能复合氧化物薄膜，其结晶质量、纳米级控制和物理性能可与使用更昂贵的工具和工艺获得的薄膜相媲美。这项技术也可以是高度可行的，因为它利用原子层沉积，从而允许在单位体积结构的高表面积上共形生长，因此可以实现三维结构。在这些薄膜结构中用铋取代铅可以产生具有更大单位面积电荷的铁电极化，潜在地能够增强器件性能(例如，非易失性存储器、无线通信和用于储能的电容器)。目前，由于锆钛酸铅(PZT)中的不均一性导致纳米尺度的共形涂层3D结构，从而导致性能/性能的不可接受的变化，因此路线图受到使用锆钛酸铅(PZT)的MOCVD(和ALD)的限制。因此，使用简单的钙钛矿材料的工艺可以解决这个问题，特别是如果它的性能可以超过PZT的话。客户的需求还涉及能够减少铅和铅基前体的使用和废物处置的技术，通过创新薄膜沉积和工艺技术来减少前体废物来降低制造成本，以及通过具有更高FE极化(从而感应电荷)的替代材料和真正兼容更精细的3D纳米级架构以支持扩展到未来节点的工艺技术来提高现有技术的性能的机会。

The team has developed a new thin-film deposition technology for high-performance materials that is low energy, scalable, and potentially low cost. They recently reported via publication the formation of complex oxide perovskites in single crystalline hetero-epitaxial form and also specifically BiFeO3 in phase-pure polycrystalline form on SiO2/Si. This is important because the new technology enables production of a simple perovskite Pb-free single-crystal functional complex oxide films with crystalline quality, nanoscale control, and physical properties comparable to those obtained using much more expensive tools and processes. This technology could also be highly enabling in that it utilizes atomic layer deposition, thereby permitting conformal growth on high surface area per unit volume structures, and therefore a three- dimensional architecture may be realized. Replacement of Pb with Bi in these film structures gives a ferroelectric polarization with a larger charge per unit area, potentially enabling enhancements in device performance (e.g. non-volatile memory, wireless communications, and capacitors for energy storage). Scaling and the roadmap is currently limited by MOCVD (and ALD) using lead zirconate titanate (PZT) because of inhomogeneities in Zr and Ti that result in nanoscale conformally-coated 3D structures that result in unacceptable variations in properties/performance. Thus, a process that uses a simple perovskite material would address this issue, particularly if it can outperform PZT. The customer need also relates to a technology that can deliver reduction in the use and waste disposal of Pb and Pb-based precursors, reduction in manufacturing cost through innovations in thin film deposition and process technology to reduce precursor waste, and an opportunity to increase the performance of existing technologies through a replacement material that has higher FE polarization (and therefore induced charge) and a process technology that is truly compatible with finer 3D nanoscale architectures to support scaling to future nodes.