SNM: Carbon Nanotubes Wafers

这一可伸缩纳米制造(SNM)研究项目将推进碳纳米管有序组件以及由这些组件制造的射频电子设备和系统的可扩展制造。半导体碳纳米管是迄今发现的最好的半导体之一。它们承诺显著提高各种电子设备的速度、能效和灵敏度，包括个人计算机、服务器、笔记本电脑和平板电脑的中央处理器(大脑)；为手机和通信设备发送和接收信号的电路；以及传感器，如用于筛查疾病或新药的传感器。纳米管的巨大前景是在25年前首次发现的，但该领域一直受到材料、加工和制造障碍的阻碍，特别是与排列的纳米管阵列的组织和组装有关的障碍。该团队最近发现了一种新的多相流体过程，称为切向流界面自组装，有望克服这些障碍，将在该项目中进行研究。该项目的动机是令人信服的初步结果，其中该团队将纳米管组装成排列的阵列，以创建场效应晶体管(电子学的基本构件)，其导通电导比以前的纳米管晶体管高近10倍，这也首次超过了由最先进的半导体制成的晶体管的导通电导，其中包括硅和砷化镓。除了研究生，来自主要本科院校的代表性不足的研究人员和本科生将参与研究工作。受资助的研究生将在当地的男孩和女孩俱乐部开展与科学有关的活动，并通过与外展专家的合作开发新的活动。该项目的主要目标是将半导体纳米管组装成排列成排列的阵列，这些阵列在多个长度尺度上组织，并可以通过连续的可扩展过程集成到设备和电路中。理想的阵列微结构由平行的半导体纳米管组成，这些纳米管密集堆积，但间距为5-10纳米。这种微结构需要在晶片规模上均匀地重复。我们实现这种微结构的方法将是通过多个阶段的自组装来分级控制纳米管的结构和组织。具体的研究活动将集中在：(1)设计和定制聚合物-纳米管共轭物的结构，以提高纳米、微米和毫米级有序纳米管阵列的均匀性和重复性；(2)揭示在最近发现的切向流界面自组装过程中控制纳米管组装的基本因素；(3)扩大这一过程；以及(4)将组装的纳米管阵列集成到下一代射频通信技术的复杂设备、电路和系统中。在项目结束时，PI的目标是提供：(I)连续沉积定向纳米管阵列的中试规模仪器，并精确控制微结构；(Ii)200 mm晶片规模的均匀、密集排列的半导体纳米管阵列的第一个示例--这是一个与商业化相关的规模；以及(Iii)性能优越的射频低噪声放大器和混频器，由这些阵列和晶片制造，与下一代蜂窝、WiFi和物联网技术相关。

This Scalable NanoManufacturing (SNM) research project will advance the scalable manufacturing of ordered assemblies of carbon nanotubes and of radio frequency electronic devices and systems fabricated from these assemblies. Semiconducting carbon nanotubes are among the best semiconductors that have ever been discovered. They promise to significantly improve the speed, energy efficiency, and sensitivity of a wide range of electronic devices including central processing units (the brains) of personal computers, servers, laptops, and tablets; circuits that send and receive signals for cell phones and communication devices; and sensors such as those employed when screening for diseases or new drugs. The tremendous promise of nanotubes was first discovered 25 years ago, but the field has been held back by materials, processing, and manufacturing roadblocks particularly pertaining to the organization and assembly of aligned arrays of nanotubes. A novel, multiphase fluid process recently discovered by this team called tangential flow interfacial self-assembly with promise for overcoming these roadblocks will be researched in this project. The project is motivated by compelling preliminary results, in which the team has assembled nanotubes into aligned arrays to create field effect transistors (the fundamental building block of electronics) with nearly 10 times higher on-state electrical conductance than previous nanotube transistors' that also exceed the on-state conductance of transistors fabricated from state-of-the-art semiconductors including silicon and gallium arsenide for the first time. In addition to graduate students, underrepresented researchers and undergraduate students from primarily undergraduate institutions will participate in the research effort. The supported graduate students will conduct science-related activities at a local Boys and Girls Clubs and develop new activities via collaboration with an outreach specialist. Local K-12 teachers will also be hosted for summer research experiences.The overarching goal of the project is to assemble semiconducting nanotubes into aligned arrays that are organized across multiple length-scales and that can be integrated into devices and circuits, via a continuous scalable process. The ideal array microstructure consists of parallel semiconducting nanotubes that are densely packed but individualized at a pitch of 5-10 nanometers. This microstructure needs to be uniformly repeated on the wafer-scale. Our approach for scalably realizing this microstructure will be to hierarchically control the structure and organization of nanotubes via multiple stages of self-assembly. Specific research activities will focus on: (1) designing and tailoring the structure of polymer-nanotube conjugates to improve the Nano-, micro-, and millimeter-scale uniformity and reproducibility of ordered nanotubes arrays; (2) uncovering the fundamental factors that control the assembly of nanotubes during the recently discovered tangential flow interfacial self-assembly process; (3) scaling this process; and, (4) integrating assembled nanotube arrays into complex devices, circuits, and systems for next-generation radio frequency communications technologies. At the project's conclusion, the PI aims to provide: (i) a pilot-scale instrument for the continuous deposition of aligned nanotube arrays with exquisite control over microstructure; (ii) the first example of a uniform, densely aligned array of semiconducting nanotubes on the 200 mm wafer-scale - a scale relevant for commercialization; and, (iii) performance-superior radio frequency low-noise amplifiers and mixers fabricated from these arrays and wafers, of relevance for next-generation cellular, WiFi, and Internet of Things technologies.