SBIR Phase I: Sonic Lift-Off (SLO) for Lower Cost Wide Bandgap Devices

SBIR 第一阶段：用于低成本宽带隙器件的声波剥离 (SLO)

• 批准号: 2233368
• 负责人: Arno Merkle
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: CRYSTAL SONIC, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2024-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Sonic; Lift; Off

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to accelerate the emergence of next-generation semiconductors, beyond silicon, with increased performance and efficiency across a wide range of applications, including those essential for the Nation’s future energy and communications infrastructure. By replacing the most wasteful and costly step in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the proposed research will use sound (acoustic) energy to precisely cut semiconductor materials in a way that minimizes waste and enables materials reuse. This technology will dramatically decrease manufacturing costs and, as a result, lead to the accelerated development of faster, smaller, and more efficient devices. This SBIR Phase I project will develop a new approach to lower the cost of advanced semiconductor manufacturing by using sound energy to lift off thin devices from their host substrates. The innovative approach taken in this project uses a technique to propagate a crack front at a precise depth below the device layer of a wafer with the application of acoustic pulses. This acoustic method wastes no material and, most importantly, makes it possible to reuse the substrate, which is currently wasted using standard approaches such as mechanical back grinding. As the single largest cost in manufacturing next-generation devices based on gallium nitride, the substrate material plays a key role in achieving higher performance and efficiencies compared to silicon devices. Making more efficient use of this material directly addresses a pressing need to find solutions that drive down manufacturing costs and accelerates the adoption of new semiconductor innovations ranging from power electronics to communications devices and beyond.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将是加速下一代半导体的出现，超越硅，在广泛的应用中提高性能和效率，包括对国家未来能源和通信基础设施至关重要的应用。通过取代半导体制造过程中最浪费和最昂贵的步骤，拟议的研究将使用声音（声学）能量以最大限度地减少浪费并实现材料再利用的方式精确切割半导体材料。这项技术将大大降低制造成本，从而加速开发更快、更小、更高效的设备。该SBIR第一阶段项目将开发一种新方法，通过使用声能将薄器件从其主基板上剥离，从而降低先进半导体制造的成本。该项目采用的创新方法使用了一种技术，通过应用声脉冲在晶片器件层下方的精确深度处传播裂纹前沿。这种声学方法不浪费材料，最重要的是，可以重复使用目前使用标准方法（如机械背面研磨）浪费的基板。作为制造基于氮化镓的下一代器件的最大成本，衬底材料在实现比硅器件更高的性能和效率方面发挥着关键作用。更有效地利用这种材料直接解决了迫切需要找到降低制造成本的解决方案，并加速采用新的半导体创新，从电力电子到通信设备等。该奖项反映了NSF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。