I-Corps: Novel Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays for Radiofrequency Technologies

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种基于碳纳米管的新型半导体材料平台，该平台具有巨大的潜力，可以全面解决与无线射频通信和连接相关的挑战。碳纳米管长期以来一直被视为潜在的下一代半导体，为射频元件提供了巨大的性能和集成增益，特别是在接收和放大微弱射频信号的开关和设备中。这些组件被大量用于几乎所有的手机、WiFi、物联网和军事通信设备。更高的信噪比，更复杂和高效的天线技术，比现有半导体更高的工作频率和更少的信号失真，以及更好的集成度，这些都是实现更快，更节能的NextG技术所必需的。随着进一步的发展，碳纳米管将有望成为许多主流电子技术中的首选半导体材料，大大颠覆美国和全球的微电子和射频行业。这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发精确沉积和对齐半导体碳纳米管的方法，以利用其在电子应用中的特殊性能。这种碳纳米管对准技术克服了持续数十年的挑战（例如，缺乏对准、金属纳米管杂质、低纳米管堆积密度），这些因素阻碍了纳米管用于半导体射频元件和其它电子器件应用。对准是从固有的可扩展过程中实现的，该过程可以容易地落入现有的射频半导体制造设施和过程中。此外，室温对准方法是快速和面积可扩展的（已经在4英寸晶圆上演示过），为现有的器件制造方法提供了一个简单的采用路径，允许从当前材料直接过渡。碳纳米管的排列和密集阵列有望为许多不同的微电子器件提供现有材料无法实现的性能改进。最有前途的应用之一是射频设备，这将是该项目感兴趣的特定市场。排列纳米管将有更广泛的潜力，通过显着提高能源效率和速度的逻辑芯片和生物传感器的灵敏度，在其他应用中彻底改变半导体电子产品。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a new semiconductor material platform based on carbon nanotubes that has enormous potential to comprehensively address challenges related to wireless radio frequency communication and connectedness. Carbon nanotubes have long been viewed as a potential next-generation semiconductor that offers large performance and integration gains for radio frequency components, particularly in switches and devices that receive and amplify weak radio frequency signals. These components are heavily used in nearly every cell phone, WiFi, internet-of-things, and military communications device. Higher signal-to-noise, more complex and efficient antenna technologies, higher operating frequency with less signal distortion than incumbent semiconductors, and better integration are all expected, which will be essential for enabling faster and more energy efficient NextG technologies. With further development, carbon nanotubes will be poised to become the semiconducting material of choice in many mainstream electronic technologies, significantly disrupting the microelectronics and radio frequency industries in the US and worldwide. This I-Corps project is based on the development of methods for the precise deposition and alignment of semiconducting carbon nanotubes to leverage their exceptional properties for electronic applications. This carbon nanotube alignment technology overcomes persistent decades-long challenges (e.g., lack of alignment, metallic nanotube impurities, low nanotube packing densities) that have prevented the adoption of nanotubes for semiconductor radio frequency components and other electronic device applications. The alignment is achieved from an inherently scalable process that can easily be dropped into existing radio frequency semiconductor fabrication facilities and processes. Moreover, the room temperature alignment methods are fast and area-scalable (already demonstrated on 4-inch wafers), offering a simple adoption path into existing device fabrication methodologies that allows for direct transition from current materials. Aligned and dense arrays of carbon nanotubes are poised to deliver performance improvements for many different microelectronic devices that cannot be achieved by incumbent materials. One of the most promising applications is in radio frequency devices, which will be the specific market of interest in this project. Aligned nanotubes will more broadly have the potential to revolutionize semiconductor electronics by significantly improving the energy efficiency and speed of logic chips and the sensitivity of biosensors, among other applications.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.