MRI: Acquisition of a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) Tool with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)

加州大学戴维斯分校(UC Davis)计划收购一种薄膜沉积仪器，作为一种共享资源，用于在广泛的重要应用中进行材料、工艺和器件的基础研究。该仪器能够在低于200摄氏度的温度下，在纳米到宏观结构上制备高质量、高度共形的薄膜(如钻石或二氧化硅)，并控制厚度和材料性能。这种低温薄膜沉积的能力可以覆盖传统基材，如组装半导体、金属和陶瓷，以及柔性基材，包括塑料和聚合物。该仪器还将在生物兼容材料上沉积薄膜，用于药物输送、传感、成像和印刷电子设备。由这种新设备开发的技术，无论是直接还是间接的，都可能在广泛的应用领域对我们的生活质量产生革命性的影响，包括通信、交通和信息技术的超可靠系统、基于辐射探测的安全反应、可持续的能源收集、传感和生物工程系统。加州大学戴维斯分校、北加州高中和社区大学的大量学生，包括许多来自少数族裔和代表性不足的社区的学生，以及博士后研究人员，将有机会在围绕这一工具的身临其境的跨学科环境中接受教育，为他们解决重要问题并在当今竞争激烈的学术或工业环境中取得成功做好独特的准备。利用电感耦合等离子体等离子体增强化学气相沉积设备(ICPECVD)能够制备高质量、高共形的二氧化硅、氮化硅、氮氧化硅、碳化硅、非晶硅和类金刚石薄膜。该工具将使加州大学戴维斯分校的研究人员能够在薄膜中使用严格控制的成分和厚度，在20-200摄氏度的温度范围内控制掺杂和可调折射率，沉积在各种表面和一系列结构上。该工具可以研究原本无法制造的纳米和微结构。利用ICP-PECVD工具进行的研究的主要目标包括：(1)在晶格匹配和不匹配的衬底以及用于光电子学、能量转换、生物传感和MEMS/NEMS的集成器件上制备纳米和微米级结构；(2)为了提高效率和可靠性，对器件和系统进行无缺陷共形钝化和封装；(3)用于光电子和能量转换器件的透射层和反射膜；(4)用于生物兼容和其他温度敏感材料的低温涂层，用于药物输送、传感、成像和印刷电子设备；以及(5)用于超可靠系统的新型半导体材料，如III-氮化物。PECVD与ICP相结合的独特特性将允许在低温下运行，显著加强一些正在进行的跨学科研究计划，并在其整个生命周期内支持更多的研究活动。该工具将在专业运行的环境中运行，以促进两个相辅相成的研究维度的工作：(I)基于探究的维度，定义了未来技术的基础工程科学，包括新材料平台的元素、零部件和器件创新、电路和系统设计，以及新工艺和制造科学；(Ii)基于技术的综合应用维度，成为加州大学戴维斯分校试验台的一部分，用于制造工作原型和系统，以测试学生和教职员工产生的新想法。

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) proposes to acquire a thin film deposition instrument to use as a shared resource for conducting fundamental research on materials, processes, and devices for a wide spectrum of important applications. The proposed instrument is capable of producing high quality,highly conformal thin films (such as diamond or silica) on nano to macroscale structures with controlled thickness and material properties at less than 200 degree centigrade temperature. Such capabilities for low-temperature thin-film deposition can enable coating of conventional substrates, such assemiconductors, metals and ceramics, as well as flexible substrates, including plastics and polymers. The instrument will also deposit thin films on biocompatible materials for application in drug delivery, sensing, imaging and printed electronics. Technologies developed as a result of this new equipment, both directly and indirectly, could have revolutionary impact on our quality of life in a wide spectrum of application areas, including ultra-reliable systems for communication, transportation and information technology, security response based on radiation detection, sustainable energy harvesting, sensing and bioengineering systems. Large numbers of students at UC Davis, Northern California high schools and community colleges, including many students from minority and underrepresented communities, as well as postdoctoral researchers, will have the opportunity to be educated in the immersive transdisciplinaryenvironment surrounding this tool, uniquely preparing them to solve important problems and succeed in today's highly competitive academic or industrial environments. A plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition instrument with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-PECVD) is capable of producing high quality, highly conformal thin films of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxy-nitride, silicon carbide, amorphous silicon, and diamond-like carbon. The tool will enable researchers at the University of California, Davis, to use tightly controlled composition and thickness in the thin film, with controlled doping and tunable index in 20-200 degree centigrade temperature ranges, deposited on a variety of surfaces and over a range of structures. The tool allows investigation of nano and microstructures that otherwise could not be fabricated. The principal objectives of research using the ICP-PECVD tool will include: (1) fabrication of nano and microscale structures on lattice matched and mismatched substrates and integrated devices for photonics, energy conversion, biosensing, and MEMS/NEMS; (2) defect-free conformal passivation and encapsulation of devices and systems for improved efficiency and reliability; (3) transmission and reflection coatings for optoelectronic and energy conversion devices; (4) low-temperature coatings for biocompatible and other temperature sensitive materials for applications in drug delivery, sensing, imaging and printed electronics; and (5) new semiconductor materials such as III-nitride for ultra-reliable systems. The unique characteristics of PECVD integrated with ICP will allow operations at low temperatures, significantly strengthen a number of ongoing interdisciplinary research programs, and enable an even greater number of research activities over itsuseful lifetime. The tool will be operated in a professionally run environment to facilitate work in two complementary research dimensions: (i) inquiry-based dimension defining the foundational engineering science for future technologies, including the elements of new materials platforms, component and device innovation, circuit and systems design, and novel process and manufacturing science; and (ii) integrative technology-based application dimension that becomes part of a test bed at UC Davis for making working prototypes and systems to test novel ideas generated by students and faculty members.