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

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发能够制造高质量薄膜材料和相关产品的单束离子源。薄膜广泛应用于半导体器件、显示器、太阳能电池板、摩擦学涂层、手机、滤光片和微机电系统等领域，对人们的生活质量有着重要的影响。这些行业的年市场规模超过6000亿美元，而且一直在稳步增长。生产薄膜的常用方法包括物理和化学气相沉积，目前这两种方法都在薄膜质量和可制造性之间进行了权衡。高沉积速率会导致原子堆积松散，从而导致材料性能不稳定。如今，生产高质量的致密薄膜需要在高温下缓慢沉积，这导致了高昂的制造成本和其他限制，例如无法使用柔性基板。离子源是一种等离子体产生设备，使离子束能够在原子水平上与材料相互作用，并有效地产生致密的薄膜。单束离子源具有稳定性好、附着力好、电阻率低、光学透过率高、表面光滑等多方面的优点，这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)一期项目将验证单束离子源特别适用于制造高质量薄膜和器件的技术和商业可行性。在离子束辅助的薄膜沉积中，当原子从另一个源沉积时，离子同时与原子相互作用。离子将动能传递给表面原子，这样它们就可以四处移动，形成密集堆积的薄膜。本项目中提出的单束离子源可以产生能量可调的高度聚焦的离子束，以优化生长的薄膜的处理。这些独特的功能是由电磁场的创新设计实现的，电磁场有效地产生等离子体并在狭窄的光束中提取离子。与传统的跑道型离子源不同，单束离子源可以精确控制离子入射角度，这对沉积薄膜的表面形貌有很大影响。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 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.