I-Corps: Flexible and Bendable Electronic and Photonic Device Platform

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是显著降低用于电子、光子和能源应用的半导体器件的制造成本。例如，提出的创新将使发光二极管（LED）芯片/芯片制造的总成本降低40%，这将为节能LED成为主导照明光源提供更快的途径。这项创新还将为电动汽车和智能电网系统的电力转换和开关提供一个新的设备平台，这意味着在节能和减少温室气体排放方面有显著的好处。因此，提出的创新将促进下一代绿色器件技术的快速发展，这些技术可以很容易地应用于现实世界的系统。此外，柔性材料平台不仅可以为便携式，可穿戴和植入式系统的应用提供机械柔性设备，还可以为柔性设备以外的更多功能应用提供具有附加功能的新设备。从这个项目中产生的新的变革性技术将帮助美国半导体制造商应对全球挑战，并在竞争激烈的国际市场中获胜。因此，新平台将战略性地加强半导体技术的创新生态系统，有助于巩固美国作为技术和市场领导者的地位。这个I-Corps项目通过提供一种新的机械柔性低成本衬底，为半导体器件的单晶晶衬底提供了一个有希望的替代品。该项目的目标是提供商业上可用的低成本，高结晶质量和柔性带基板，作为光子和电子半导体器件的新平台。为了实现这一目标，该团队将通过发明的直接沉积技术开发一种由柔性金属带和单晶氮化镓（GaN）半导体薄膜组成的新衬底。这种方法还可以实现高质量半导体材料的卷对卷和大规模连续生产。开发的GaN/金属带将作为制造led的衬底，作为创新技术的初始目标，以及其他半导体器件。其结果将是具有高效率和多功能性的柔性无机led，其成本仅为当前固态照明光源的一小部分。新产品虽然是一项潜在的颠覆性技术，但尚未在各种产品和应用中部署到设备市场。因此，了解业务发展将是至关重要的。该团队将通过调查价值主张和客户发现来进行客户调查和商业模式开发。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 I-Corps project is to significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of semiconductor devices for electronic, photonic, and energy applications. For example, the proposed innovation will bring 40% total cost reduction in light-emitting diodes (LED) chip/die manufacturing, which will provide a faster route for the energy-efficient LEDs to become a dominant lighting source. The innovation will also offer a new device platform for electric power conversion and switching in electric vehicles and smart-grid systems, which means significant benefits in energy saving and greenhouse-gas emission reduction. Hence, the proposed innovation will facilitate the rapid development of next-generation green device technology that can readily be applied to the real-world systems. Furthermore, the flexible material platforms will enable not only mechanically flexible devices for the applications of portable, wearable, and implantable systems, but also new devices with additional functionality for more versatile applications beyond just flexible devices. The new transformative technologies stemming from this project will help U.S. semiconductor manufacturers cope with global challenges and win in the competitive international markets. Therefore, the new platform will contribute to consolidating the U.S. position as a technology and market leader by strategically strengthening the innovation ecosystem of the semiconductor technology.This I-Corps project proposes a promising replacement for single-crystalline wafer substrates of semiconductor devices by offering a new mechanically-flexible low-cost substrate. The objective of the project is to deliver commercially available low-cost, high-crystalline-quality, and flexible tape substrates to be employed as a new platform of photonic and electronic semiconductor devices. To accomplish the objective, the team will develop a new substrate consisting of flexible metal tape and a single-crystalline gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor thin film by an invented direct deposition technique. This method also enables the roll-to-roll and large-scale continuous production of high-quality semiconductor materials. The developed GaN/metal tape will to serve as the substrate for the fabrication of LEDs, as an initial target of the innovative technology, and other semiconductor devices. The result will be flexible inorganic LEDs with high efficiency and application versatility at a fraction of the cost of current solid-state lighting sources. The new product, while it is a potentially disruptive technology, has not been deployed in the device market with various products and applications. Therefore, understanding of business development will be critical. The team will perform customer survey and business model development via investigation of value proposition and customer discovery.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.