MRI: Acquisition of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Dry Etching System for Highly Controlled Etching of Chalcogenides and Related Compounds

该项目的目标是获得一种能够制造高质量电子和光子器件的工具。例子包括光源、高性能传感器、最先进的精密时钟、信息处理和通信组件以及太阳能收集设备。新工具将提供精确蚀刻材料的关键能力，在规定的几何形状，目前没有在我们的校园和其他机构在该地区。这种新的能力将使探索新的研究领域成为可能。不同的领域将受到影响，包括计算、通信、频率计量、传感、能源和医学。这个新工具自然会为本科生和研究生提供研究和培训的机会，为他们的未来做好准备。美国的高科技产业。此外，新工具将被安置在科罗拉多纳米制造实验室（CNL），为当地工业和研究界服务。它还将用于新修订的课程，微纳米结构实验室，为本科生和研究生提供实践经验。此外，该工具将用于包括代表性不足的学生的外展活动。所获得的电感耦合等离子体（ICP）干式蚀刻系统可以处理多种气体，包括氯基化合物。该系统将为多种材料提供新的蚀刻能力，包括化合物半导体、氧化物和金属。它还将显著扩大硅的加工能力。制造高质量电子和光子器件的能力在集成电路、固态光源和探测器、能量收集和柔性电子等许多关键技术进步中发挥了重要作用。在未来，进一步的进步将导致使用芯片级光学频率梳的微型光学时钟，具有光子I/O的超高速微处理器，具有纳米图案超材料的高效太阳能电池，以及用于生物传感应用的柔性电子-光子器件。该蚀刻机将提供高各向异性、精确控制蚀刻速率和高质量蚀刻表面的干式蚀刻能力。ICP蚀刻机代表了我们在材料类型和蚀刻质量方面的能力的重大扩展。该蚀刻机将引发广泛的无机、有机和混合功能材料和器件研究，有可能改变校园材料研究，并影响该地区乃至其他地区的许多研究活动。

The objective of this project is to acquire a tool that enables fabrication of high quality electronic and photonic devices. Examples include light sources, high performance sensors, state-of-the-art precision clocks, information processing and communication components, and solar energy harvesting devices. The new tool will provide the critical capability of precisely etching materials in a prescribed geometry, currently not available on our campus and other institutions in the region. This new capability will enable explorations of new research frontiers. A diverse set of fields will be impacted including computing, communications, frequency metrology, sensing, energy, and medicine. The new tool will naturally provide research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, preparing them for tomorrow?s high tech industry. Furthermore, the new tool will be housed in the Colorado Nanofabrication Laboratory (CNL) serving the local industry as well as the research community. It will also be used in a newly revamped course, the Micro- and Nano-Structures Laboratory, providing hands-on experience to both undergraduate and graduate students. Additionally, the tool will be utilized in outreach activities that include under-represented students. The acquired inductively coupled plasma (ICP) dry etching system can handle a variety of gases, including chlorine-based compounds. The system will provide new etching capability for a variety of materials, including compound semiconductors, oxides and metals. It will also significantly expand the processing capability for silicon. The ability to fabricate high quality electronic and photonic devices has been instrumental in a number of key technology advancements including integrated circuits, solid-state light sources and detectors, energy harvesting, and flexible electronics. In the future, further advancements will lead to miniature optical clocks using chip-scale optical frequency combs, ultra high-speed microprocessors with photonic I/O, high efficiency solar cells with nanopatterned metamaterials, and flexible electronic-photonic devices for biosensing applications. The key capability that the etcher will provide is the ability for dry etching with high anisotropy, precisely controlled etch rate and high quality etch surface. The ICP etcher represents a significant expansion of our capabilities in both material types and etch quality. The etcher will spark a wide array of inorganic, organic and hybrid functional materials and devices research, potentially transforming the materials research on campus as well as impacting many research activities in the region and beyond.