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设备的工具。例如，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采集设备。新工具将提供在规定的几何形状中精确蚀刻材料的关键能力，目前我们的校园和该地区的其他机构无法提供这种能力。这一新能力将使探索新的研究前沿成为可能。一系列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。新的工具自然会为本科生和研究生提供研究和培训的机会，为他们的明天做准备-S高科技产业。此外，新工具将被安置在科罗拉多州纳米制造实验室(CNL)，为当地工业和研究社区服务。它还将用于一门新修订的课程-微米和纳米结构实验室，为本科生和研究生提供实践经验。此外，该工具将用于包括任职人数不足的学生的外联活动。获得的感应耦合等离子体(ICP)干法刻蚀系统可以处理各种气体，包括氯基化合物。该系统将为各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对许多关键技术的进步起到了重要作用，包括集成电路、固态光源和探测器、能量收集和柔性电子产品。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钟、具有光子I/O的超高速微处理器、采用纳米材料的高效太阳能电池，以及用于生物传感应用的灵活的电子-光子器件。该刻蚀器将提供的关键能力是具有高各向异性的干法刻蚀能力、精确控制的刻蚀速率和高质量的刻蚀表面。电感耦合等离子体刻蚀机代表了我们在材料类型和刻蚀质量方面的能力的显著扩展。蚀刻机将引发广泛的无机、有机和混合功能材料和设备的研究，潜在地改变校园内的材料研究，并影响该地区和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.