MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of an Atomic-Layer Deposition System with Remote Plasma Activation of Surface Processes

这项重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持购买定制的等离子体增强原子层沉积(PE-ALD)系统，该系统将安装在伊利诺伊大学香槟分校(UIUC)的一个共享设施中。该仪器将为地区和国家提供其独特的能力，即在较低的加工温度下沉积具有原子精确厚度的各种高质量薄膜材料。调查人员将利用它来开发对美国经济发展和国家安全至关重要的多种技术，包括微电子、5G/6G无线通信、量子信息科学、生物技术和能源存储。此外，该PE-ALD系统将用于UIUC电子材料和工艺的四个本科课程，为下一代科学家和工程师提供实践培训，成为美国半导体制造业的未来劳动力。它还将为UIUC的工程开放日为K-12学生开发一个关于ALD技术的学习模块，并为来自少数群体的当地高中生开发与体育-ALD相关的暑期研究项目。这些外展活动将有助于维持STEM多样化的人才渠道。推动下一代半导体和纳米技术制造领域全国重要创新的核心能力是先进的纳米级薄膜沉积能力。ALD是一种独特而强大的气相沉积技术，它通过在衬底表面重复两个连续执行的涉及自限化学反应的半周期来逐个亚单层地合成超薄薄膜，即典型的纳米级薄膜。通过在单个系统中集成远程等离子体源、直通式蒸汽输送模块、原位椭圆偏振测量仪以及与手套箱的负载锁定连接，这一定制的ALD系统提供了共形沉积致密、无针孔的各种材料薄膜的能力，包括金属、氮化物和氧化物。这可以在有限的热预算内使用定制合成的前驱体，在具有复杂表面拓扑的传统和空气敏感衬底上实现，并在晶格尺度上精确控制材料的化学计量比和厚度。研究人员将利用这些能力沉积功能薄膜材料，作为高性能逻辑和功率晶体管、铁电存储器、光波导、量子光子器件、量子隧道结、拓扑量子比特、电池、热伪装设备、生物传感器和生物医学植入物的核心组件。这一仪器将使研究成为可能，这些研究将导致微电子、量子科学和生物医学工程领域的变革性技术。该项目由重大仪器研究计划(MRI)和土木、机械和制造创新(CMMI)部门的先进制造计划(AM)联合资助。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。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a customized plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) system, which will be housed in a shared facility at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This instrument will provide regional and national access to its unique capability of depositing various high-quality thin-film materials with atomic precise thickness at low processing temperatures. It will be used by investigators to develop multiple technologies critical for U.S. economic development and national security, including microelectronics, 5G/6G wireless communications, quantum information science, biotechnologies, and energy storage. In addition, this PE-ALD system will be used in four undergraduate courses in electronic materials and processing at UIUC, providing hands-on training of the next-generation of scientists and engineers as future workforce for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing industry. It will also enable the development of a learning module about the ALD technique for K-12 students for UIUC's Engineering Open House, and PE-ALD related summer research projects for local high-school students from minority groups. These outreach events will contribute to sustaining the diverse STEM talent pipeline. A core capability driving nationally important innovations in next-generation semiconductor and nanotechnology manufacturing is advanced nanoscale thin-film deposition capabilities. ALD is a unique and powerful vapor-phase deposition technique in which ultrathin, i.e., typically nanometer scale, films are synthesized sub-monolayer by sub-monolayer by repeating two sequentially executed half cycles involving self-limiting chemical reactions on a substrate surface. By integrating a remote plasma source, flow-through vapor delivery module, in situ ellipsometry, and load-lock connection with a glove box in a single system, this custom-built ALD system provides the capability to conformally deposit dense, pin-hole-free thin films of a wide spectrum of materials, including metals, nitrides, and oxides. This can be done using custom-synthesized precursors within a limited thermal budget, on both conventional and air-sensitive substrates featuring complex surface topologies, with precisely controlled material stoichiometry and thickness on the lattice scale. The investigators will utilize these capabilities to deposit functional thin film materials as the core component in high performance logic and power transistors, ferroelectric memory, optical wave guide, quantum photonic devices, quantum tunnel junctions, topological qubits, battery, thermal camouflage devices, biosensors, and biomedical implants. This instrument will enable research which will lead to transformative technologies in microelectronics, quantum sciences, and biomedical engineering. It will also accelerate development of new ALD precursors and the optimization of their deposition processes.This project is jointly funded by the Major Instrumentation Research Program (MRI) and the Advanced Manufacturing Program (AM) in the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).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.