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

摘要：非技术：半导体设备无处不在。它们代表着一个价值数万亿美元的行业。电源插座、恒温器和血压/心率监测器等普通对象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。虽然存在大量制造智能微电子产品的代工服务。对于车库发明者来说，没有便宜的(100美元/次)快速周转(1小时)选项来制作新想法的原型。最大的障碍是，传统的微制造需要一个洁净室和昂贵的(100万美元)设备。这个NSF项目寻求通过研究一种新的制造范例来使半导体制造民主化，在这种制造范例中，特定颜色的光脉冲催化电化学反应，以高分辨率将指定的电路图案掺杂、蚀刻和金属化到半导体晶片上。该项目为高中和社区大学教师提供了丰富的机会，通过教师研究体验项目参与研究，并为动手实验室开发教学模块。通过《皮？S？实验研究原理》将科研与教学融为一体。当然了。通过拟议的研究活动，研究生和本科生将接受半导体微纳制造、光子学、光学系统设计、流体力学和生物传感器方面的培训。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实习研究和9-12年级女生工程夏令营来解决。研究和教学的结果将在期刊和会议上广泛传播，以增进对光电化学处理和工程教育/推广方法的当前理解。技术：光化学蚀刻利用光产生少数载体，催化半导体湿法蚀刻。近日，皮？S团队利用投影仪实现了光化学刻蚀。使用PowerPointTM中绘制的彩色图像来控制局部蚀刻速率。在这里，该团队寻求大幅提高蚀刻分辨率和各向异性，并扩展该方法，以实现新型的光控工艺，例如图案化掺杂和金属化，以便在单个系统中制造新型非传统光子器件和多功能集成电路。在该系统中，超连续激光、可调谐滤光片和空间光调制器将产生高强度光谱工程动态图像脉冲，而同步电脉冲发生器将对化学反应进行时间门控。如果成功，这个项目可能具有变革性，因为它可能出于几个原因创造一种新的半导体制造模式。首先，可以在同一系统中顺序地执行多个处理步骤，例如掺杂、蚀刻和金属化。其次，这些工艺可以很容易地与通过传统洁净室工艺制造的特征对齐，因为照明图案可以在软件中进行调整。此外，这种动态照明能力使新设计能够快速成型。接下来，可以单独调整不同带隙材料的加工速度。最后，可以消除传统平面制造技术施加的限制，并可以制造尺寸精确控制的复杂3D设备。制造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.