Spectrally and Temporally Engineered Processing using PhotoElectroChemistry (STEP-PEC)

摘要：非技术：半导体器件无处不在。它们代表着一个价值数万亿美元的产业。插座、恒温器和血压/心率监测器等普通物体正在嵌入越来越复杂的控制电子设备、传感器和网络连接，以实现更大的功能、价值和服务。尽管存在为智能电子产品大批量生产的代工服务。对于车库发明者来说，没有廉价（100美元/次）的快速周转（1小时）选择来制作新想法的原型。最大的障碍是传统的微加工需要洁净室和昂贵的设备（100万美元）。这个NSF项目旨在通过研究一种新的制造范式来实现半导体制造的民主化，在这种范式中，特定颜色的光脉冲催化电化学反应，将指定的电路图案涂覆、蚀刻和金属化到高分辨率的半导体晶圆上。该项目为高中和社区大学教师提供了丰富的机会，通过教师研究经验项目参与研究和开发动手实验室的教学模块。研究和教学将通过PI整合？年代?实验研究原理？课程。研究生和本科生将通过拟议的研究活动在半导体微纳米制造，光子学，光学系统设计，流体力学和生物传感器方面进行培训。来自代表性不足群体的学生的招募、保留和参与将通过本科生研究经验实习和面向9 -12年级女生的工程夏令营来解决。研究和教学的结果将在期刊和会议上广泛传播，以提高目前对光电化学处理和工程教育/推广方法的理解。技术：光化学蚀刻利用光产生少数载流子，催化半导体湿法蚀刻。最近，PI？S团队使用投影仪实现光化学蚀刻。利用PowerPointTM中绘制的彩色图像控制局部蚀刻速率。在这里，该团队寻求大幅提高蚀刻分辨率和各向异性，并扩展方法以实现新型光控工艺，例如图案掺杂和金属化，从而可以在单个系统中制造新型非常规光子器件和多功能集成电路。在该系统中，超连续介质激光器、可调谐滤波器和空间光调制器将产生高强度的光谱工程动态图像脉冲，同步电脉冲发生器将对化学反应进行临时门控。如果成功，这个项目将具有潜在的变革性，因为它可以创造一种新的半导体制造范式。首先，多个加工步骤，例如掺杂、蚀刻和金属化可以在同一系统中依次进行。其次，由于照明模式可以在软件中调整，因此这些过程可以很容易地与通过传统洁净室处理产生的特征对齐。此外，这种动态照明能力使新设计能够快速原型化。其次，不同带隙材料的加工速率可以单独调整。最后，可以消除传统平面制造技术所施加的限制，并可以制造具有精确控制尺寸的复杂三维器件。本课题的总体研究目标是：1。了解光谱和时间门控如何影响蚀刻的分辨率、各向异性、光诱导选择性（例如开与关）和材料选择性（例如GaAs与AlGaAs）；发展光致电镀和掺杂技术；说谎。制造具有复杂地形的非常规器件。

Abstract: Non-Technical: Semiconductor devices are ubiquitous. They represent a multi-trillion dollar industry. Ordinary objects such as electrical outlets, thermostats, and blood pressure/heart rate monitors, are being embedded with increasingly complex control electronics, sensors, and network connectivity to enable greater functionality, value, and service. Although foundry services exist for large volume manufacturing of microelectronics for ?smart? objects, there are no cheap ($100/run) rapid turnaround (1hr) options for garage inventors to prototype new ideas. The biggest hurdles are that conventional microfabrication requires a cleanroom and expensive ($1M) equipment. This NSF project seeks to democratize semiconductor manufacturing by investigating a new fabrication paradigm in which pulses of light of specific colors catalyze electrochemical reactions that dope, etch, and metallize designated circuit patterns onto a semiconductor wafer with high resolution. The project offers rich opportunities for high school and community college teachers to participate in research and develop teaching modules for hands-on labs through Research Experiences for Teachers projects. Research and teaching will be integrated through the PI?s ?Principles of Experimental Research? course. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in semiconductor micro- and nano-fabrication, photonics, optical system design, fluid mechanics, and bio-sensors through the proposed research activities. Recruitment, retention, and participation of students from underrepresented groups will be addressed through Research Experiences for Undergraduates internships and engineering summer camps for 9th-12th grade girls. Results from both research and teaching will be widely disseminated in journals and conferences to enhance the current understanding of photoelectrochemical processing and of engineering education/outreach methodologies.Technical: Photochemical etching uses light to generate minority carriers that catalyze semiconductor wet etching. Recently, the PI?s team implemented photochemical etching using a projector. The local etch rate was controlled using color images drawn in PowerPointTM. Here, the team seeks to drastically improve the etch resolution and anisotropy and expand the method to enable new types of light controlled processes, e.g. patterned doping and metallization, so that new classes of unconventional photonic devices and multifunctional integrated circuits can be fabricated in a single system. In the proposed system, a super-continuum laser, tunable filter, and spatial light modulator will generate high intensity spectrally engineered dynamic image pulses and a synchronized electrical pulse generator will temporally gate the chemical reactions. If successful, this project is potentially transformative because it could create a new semiconductor fabrication paradigm for several reasons. First, multiple processing steps, e.g. doping, etching, and metallization can be performed sequentially in the same system. Second, these processes can be easily aligned to features made through conventional cleanroom processing since the illumination pattern can be adjusted in software. Moreover, this dynamic illumination capability enables new designs to be rapidly prototyped. Next, the processing rate for different bandgap materials can be individually adjusted. Finally, the limitations imposed by conventional planar fabrication technology can be removed and complex 3D devices can be fabricated with precisely controlled dimensions. The overall research goals of this project are to:1. Understand how spectral and temporal gating affects the resolution, anisotropy, photo-induced selectivity (e.g. light on vs. off), and material selectivity (e.g. GaAs vs. AlGaAs) of the etch;2. Develop photo-induced electroplating and doping techniques; and3. Fabricate unconventional devices with complex topography.