SBIR Phase I: Single Beam Ion Sources for Advanced Materials Processing

SBIR 第一阶段：用于先进材料加工的单束离子源

• 批准号: 1842740
• 负责人: Maheshwar Shrestha
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Scion Plasma LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2020-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1842740&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Single; Beam; Ion

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the development of a single beam ion source that enables the manufacturing of high-quality thin film materials and related products. Thin films have a significant impact on quality of life as they are used widely in semiconductor devices, displays, solar panels, tribological coatings, cell phones, optical filters, and micro-electro-mechanical systems. The annual market of these industry segments exceeds $600 billion and has been steadily increasing. Common methods to produce thin films include physical and chemical vapor depositions, which today have tradeoffs between film quality and manufacturability. A high deposition rate results in loosely packed atoms and subsequently unstable materials properties. Producing high-quality dense films today requires slow deposition at elevated temperatures leading to high manufacturing cost and other limitations, such as inability to use flexible substrates. Ion sources are plasma generation devices that enable ion beams to interact with materials at the atomic level and efficiently produce dense films. The single beam ion sources bring in multiple benefits for thin film fabrication, including superior stability, improved adhesion, low electrical resistivity, high optical transmittance, and smooth surfaces.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will validate the technical and commercial feasibilities of the single beam ion sources particularly suitable for fabricating high-quality thin films and devices. In ion beam assisted thin-film deposition, ions simultaneously interact with the atoms as they are deposited from another source. The ions transfer kinetic energies to the surface atoms so that they can move around to form densely packed films. The single beam ion sources proposed in this project can produce a highly focused beam of ions with tunable energy for optimal processing of the growing films. These unique features are enabled by an innovative design of the electromagnetic fields, which efficiently generate plasmas and extract the ions in a narrow beam. Unlike the conventional racetrack type ion sources, the single beam ion sources can accurately control the ion incident angle, which has strong effects on the surface morphology of the deposited film.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.

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发单束离子源，从而能够制造高质量的薄膜材料和相关产品。薄膜对生活质量具有显著影响，因为它们广泛用于半导体器件、显示器、太阳能电池板、摩擦涂层、手机、滤光器和微机电系统。这些行业的年市场超过6000亿美元，并一直在稳步增长。生产薄膜的常用方法包括物理和化学气相沉积，目前这些方法在薄膜质量和可制造性之间进行权衡。高沉积速率导致原子松散堆积，随后导致材料性质不稳定。如今，生产高质量的致密膜需要在高温下缓慢沉积，导致高制造成本和其他限制，例如不能使用柔性基底。离子源是等离子体产生装置，其使离子束能够在原子水平上与材料相互作用并有效地产生致密膜。单束离子源具有上级稳定性好、附着力强、电阻率低、透光率高、表面光滑等优点，是一种适用于高质量薄膜和器件制造的单束离子源。在离子束辅助薄膜沉积中，当原子从另一源沉积时，离子同时与原子相互作用。离子将动能传递给表面原子，使它们可以四处移动，形成密集的薄膜。本计画提出的单束离子源可产生高度聚焦的离子束，其能量可调，以达到最佳的薄膜制程。这些独特的功能是通过电磁场的创新设计实现的，它有效地产生等离子体并以窄束提取离子。与传统的跑道型离子源不同，单束离子源可以精确地控制离子入射角，这对沉积膜的表面形貌有很大的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。