BRITE Fellow: Semiconductor Evolution via Manufacturing Innovation (SEMI)

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This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Fellow grant supports research that contributes new knowledge related to a semiconductor manufacturing process, promoting both the progress of science and advancing national prosperity. While the total global semiconductor market is strong and semiconductors represent an important US export, the US share of global semiconductor manufacturing is predicted to continually decline. As an approach to rebuild domestic semiconductor manufacturing, the vision of this research work is to transcend the existing paradigm of manufactured electronic materials being either organic or inorganic and to embrace the versatility and functionality of hybrid semiconductors (comprising both inorganic and organic materials). The evolution to hybrid semiconductors could mitigate disadvantages that exist for any single material type by combining the disparate characteristics of both constituents, and in so doing, reinvent US semiconductor manufacturing. The potential for hybrid semiconductors to incorporate multi-functionality, flexibility, transparency, and sustainability in devices in new ways can enable next generation electronics. Anticipated rewards of the manufacturing innovation required for this endeavor align with national needs of enabling new domestic semiconductor capabilities and developing a highly skilled and educated workforce. Guiding principles to implement this vision include sustainability; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and support of K-12 education to develop the human resources needed in the future. Thin-film deposition of heterogeneous systems comprising two or more materials with fundamentally different properties is a critical challenge, yet this capability could enable new hybrid semiconductor technologies. Existing state-of-the-art approaches to film deposition of hybrid semiconductors primarily use solution-based processing, such as inkjet printing. These approaches are subject to challenges of composition control, achieving monolithic heterostructures, and compatibility with a wide range of materials and substrates. This research is to translate lab-based discoveries of a film deposition technique, resonant infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation or RIR-MAPLE, into a scalable manufacturing technology. In the RIR-MAPLE process, target solutions or emulsions are frozen such that sublimation of a matrix solvent (involving vapor-phase) releases a plume of target droplets onto a substrate. To achieve an industrial-scale RIR-MAPLE process that is controllable, reproducible, and high-throughput, this work investigates the basic science necessary to transition RIR-MAPLE into a precise, scalable method. This work explores monitoring and feedback via spectroscopic ellipsometry; extends film thickness uniformity to larger area for higher throughput; and determines maximum background pressure for controlled film deposition. This research involves the study of complex materials, including hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, hybrid organic nanocomposites, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).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.