SBIR Phase I: Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Highly Crystalline Thin Film Semiconductor Substrates for Flexible Electronics

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是进一步开发一种正在申请专利的技术，旨在生产灵活、轻便和低成本的半导体基板。这些柔性半导体薄膜代表了硅片的下一步发展，硅片是当今90%以上的电子设备的基础，包括计算机芯片、太阳能电池板、微电子以及各种传感器和类似的物联网设备。硅片目前的形式自60多年前问世以来基本上没有变化。这些晶片虽然今天更大了，但仍然厚、硬、脆，而且仅限于直径不超过450毫米(18英寸)的圆形晶片。以灵活、更耐用的格式生产大面积、高通量的这种材料的能力将真正具有颠覆性，并有助于引入下一代负担得起、灵活和普及的电子设备。加快“晶圆2.0”的商业化进程将有助于塑造美国21世纪的高科技半导体制造业。计划中的项目将专注于在模拟卷对卷原型规模上开发这项创新技术，以提高薄膜的晶体质量、重复性和电子性能，同时为集成到大规模制造中做准备。到目前为止，还没有技术可以生产适合于高通量制造的大面积、高结晶硅或其他半导体薄膜。这项拟议工作中的技术是一种新的、正在申请专利的工艺，适用于高通量卷到卷制造，并具有几个有利于高均匀结晶的技术优势。低成本、灵活的晶片状基板将为各种电子设备和完全集成的系统芯片设计打开大门，包括传感器、显示器、照明、处理器、存储器、微电子和光伏。具体的研究活动将包括通过探索操作参数来优化结晶过程；改进和改进原型室设备；评估中间薄膜层以提供理想的电子性能并促进更有利的再结晶；以及最后，在世界上最大的专注于纳米技术的研究所使用最先进的半导体工具对所产生的半导体薄膜进行表征。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to further the development of a patent pending technology aimed at producing flexible, lightweight, and low-cost semiconductor substrates. These flexible semiconductor films represent the next evolution of the silicon wafer, the foundation of over 90% of today's electronic devices, including computer chips, solar panels, microelectronics, and a wide range of sensors and similar 'internet of things' devices. The silicon wafer, in its current form, is essentially unchanged since its inception over 60 years ago. These wafers, although larger today, remain thick, rigid, fragile, and are limited to circular forms no larger than 450 millimeters (18 inches) in diameter. The ability to produce large-area, high-throughput quantities of this material, in a flexible, more durable format would be truly disruptive, and help to usher in the next generation of affordable, flexible, and pervasive electronic devices. Accelerating the commercialization of this 'wafer 2.0' will help to shape America's high-tech semiconductor manufacturing industry for the 21st century.The proposed project will focus on the development of this innovative technology at a simulated roll-to-roll prototyping scale, to enhance film crystal quality, repeatability, and electronic properties, while preparing the process for integration into large scale manufacturing. To date, no techniques exist that can produce large-area, highly crystalline silicon or other semiconductor films, that are suitable for high-throughput manufacturing. The technique in this proposed work is a novel, patent pending process, suitable for high-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing and has several technical advantages that favor high-uniformity crystallization. Low-cost, flexible, wafer-like substrates will open the door for a wide range of electronic devices and fully integrated system-on-chip designs, including sensors, displays, lighting, processors, memory, microelectronics, and photovoltaics. Specific research activities will include optimization of the crystallization process via exploration of operating parameters; improvements and refinements to the prototype chamber equipment; evaluation of intermediate thin-film layers to provide ideal electronic properties and to promote more favorable recrystallization; and, finally, characterization of the resulting semiconductor films using state of the art semiconductor tools at the world's largest nanotechnology focused institute.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.