DMREF: Collaborative Research: Extreme Bandgap Semiconductors

DMREF：协作研究：极端带隙半导体非技术描述：过去二十年见证了电子和光子学的革命性进步，从~1电子伏特半导体(硅、砷化镓)到~3电子伏特氮化镓和碳化硅。这使得节能发光二极管能够取代白炽灯，取代高压晶体管，减少每一种电气设备和机械中的浪费能量，并显著扩展了我们对半导体材料科学的基础知识。类似的重大进展有望通过瞄准具有几乎两倍于宽带隙半导体的能隙的极端带隙半导体来实现。除了这门新的科学，这种材料还将通过制造深紫外光发光二极管和激光，以及通过显著提高半导体用于电能转换的效率和能力，来推动医疗保健和监测方面的进步。技术描述：禁带宽度为5-6电子伏特的极端带隙半导体材料的研究具有广阔的应用前景，同时也促进了基础材料科学和材料物理学的发展。这项建议的目标是发展极端带隙半导体材料科学：氮化硼、氮化铝、它们的合金及其异质结构，并研究它们在未来电力电子、深紫外光发射器等方面的应用性能。在严格的数学和第一性原理理论和模型的指导下，4名研究人员组成的团队将探索关于外延生长、极化诱导电导率控制、高度不匹配材料中的能带反交叉、同位素工程对电子和热传输的影响等基本问题。拟议的研究项目在材料基因组计划的框架下，有可能在材料科学和凝聚态物理领域产生革命性的影响，因为研究重点将发展：这些材料的电子、光学和热学性质的第一原理预测理论，这些新半导体、同位素合金和异质结构的外延，控制导电性的新方法，了解和控制相互竞争的三维和二维晶体相的相互作用，了解超高场光学、电子、热现象，以及阳离子带防腐蚀物理，光电、固态量子位、库珀对和热电性质的同位素(中子)工程的新范例。拟议的项目将导致培训研究生，在一个迷人的新兴领域的极端带隙半导体材料科学，其许多基本的电子，光学和热电性质。除了扩大现有的外展方案外，还提出了新的活动，通过教师研究实验方案和直接访问课堂演示，特别关注高中生和代表性不足的群体。该团队分布在密歇根州康奈尔和斯坦福大学之间，具有互补的专业知识，将通过定期交换研究生进行实验以及理论和建模工作来培养项目中真正的合作心态。通过期刊出版物、在会议上的发言、将其纳入发明者讲授的课程以及在线(例如，NanHub)传播研究成果，将确保将拟议的研究成果推广到尽可能广泛的受众。

DMREF: Collaborative Research: Extreme Bandgap SemiconductorsNon-technical Description: The last two decades witnessed revolutionary advances in electronics and photonics by moving from ~1 electron Volt gap semiconductors (Silicon, Gallium Arsenide) to ~3 electron Volt Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide. This enabled energy-efficient light emitting diodes as replacement of incandescent bulbs, of high-voltage transistors that are cutting down wasted energy in every electrical device and machinery, and significantly expanded our fundamental knowledge of the materials science of semiconductors. Similar major advances are expected by aiming at extreme-bandgap semiconductors with energy gaps almost twice that of the wide-bandgap semiconductors. In addition to the new science, such materials will enable advances in healthcare and monitoring by creating deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes and lasers, and by significantly improving the efficiency and capability of semiconductors for electrical power conversion. Technical Description: Investigation of extreme-bandgap semiconductor materials with gaps of ~5-6 electron Volts has the potential to seed vast application arenas, and simultaneously advance fundamental material science and the physics of materials. The goal of this proposal is to develop the materials science of extreme bandgap semiconductors: Boron Nitride, Aluminum Nitride, their alloys and their heterostructures, and to investigate their properties for future applications in power electronics, deep-ultraviolet emitters, and more. Guided by rigorous mathematical and first-principles theory and modeling, the 4-investigator team will explore fundamental questions regarding epitaxial growth, polarization-induced conductivity control, band anti-crossing in highly mismatched materials, effects of isotope engineering on electronic and thermal transport. The proposed research project has the potential to be transformative in the field of material science and condensed matter physics under the umbrella of the Materials Genome Initiative because the research thrusts will develop: first principles predictive theory of electronic, optical, and thermal properties of these materials, epitaxy of these new semiconductors, isotope alloys and heterostructures, novel methods for controlling conductivity, understanding and control of the interplay of competing 3-dimensional vs 2-dimensional crystal phases, understanding of ultra high-field optical, electronic, thermal phenomena, of cation band-anticrossing physics, novel paradigms of isotope (neutron) engineering of optoelectronic, solid-state qubit, Cooper pairs, and thermoelectric properties. The proposed project will result in the training of graduate students in a fascinating emerging field of extreme bandgap semiconductor material science, with their many fundamental electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties. In addition to expanding existing outreach programs, new activities with a special focus on the high-school students and underrepresented groups via Research Experiment for Teachers programs and direct visits for in-class demonstrations are proposed. That the team is distributed between Cornell, Michigan, and Stanford with complementary expertise will be exploited by regular exchange of graduate students for experiments, as well as theory and modeling work, to foster a truly collaborative mindset in the project. The dissemination of research by journal publications, presentations at conferences, its inclusion in courses taught by the invsetigators, and online (e.g. nanoHub) will ensure the outreach of the research proposed to the widest possible audience.