Epitaxial Film Growth and Characterization of Stable and Metastable Gallium-Aluminum-Oxide Polymorphs

稳定和亚稳定镓铝氧化物多晶型物的外延膜生长和表征

• 批准号: 2324375
• 负责人: Lisa Porter
• 金额: $ 48.86万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 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: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324375&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Epitaxial; Film; Growth; Characterization; Stable

Nontechnical description:Ubiquitous in every-day life, semiconductors are critical components in industrial manufacturing, communications, transportation, energy conversion and transmission, and many other applications. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, which provides more than $50 billion to increase domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors, further highlights the critical importance of semiconductor research to U.S. national security and the economy. This research project creates scientific knowledge to produce a novel semiconductor alloy system and forms a platform for the development and manufacturing of future semiconductor devices that can operate in extreme environments. The capability for semiconductor devices to operate at higher temperatures and higher powers translates to substantial energy savings and more efficient and robust renewable energy technologies, such as long-range electric vehicles. As part of the future workforce, graduate and undergraduate students gain a broad set of skills in new processing methods and advanced characterization tools that are needed in the semiconductor industry. Outreach activities also educate middle/high-school students about semiconductors and related materials to inspire them to consider careers in STEM. The materials and growth recipes resulting from this research advance semiconductor R&D activities: external research groups can produce or acquire semiconductor films through training on the equipment located in Carnegie Mellon University’s clean room user facility, requesting fee-for-service films from clean room staff, or through an established research collaboration with the principal investigator.Technical description:This project is a research investigation on the growth and characterization of different phases, or polymorphs, of gallium-aluminum-oxide (AGO) epitaxial films, which have enormous potential for high-efficiency power-electronic devices that can operate in extreme conditions. The ability to alloy gallium oxide with Al to form different polymorphs of AGO with unique properties and tunable, ultra-wide bandgaps that depend on Al content presents a vast materials system with potential to form a platform for both established and novel semiconductor devices. As such, an ultimate goal of this project is to achieve unprecedented control over the phase content and microstructure of AGO semiconductor epitaxial films. However, the understanding of how to control the growth of one phase versus another in this material system is very limited. Using chemical vapor deposition to produce the films, this research contributes to the understanding of how thermodynamic and kinetic variables can be used to control the growth of stable and metastable polymorphs of AGO as a function of Al content. Prior experimental and theoretical studies serve as points of reference and inform the experimental approach. Advanced materials characterization tools are employed to identify the micro-/ nano-structure, phase content and composition in the films and reveal such phenomena as interdiffusion and phase transitions within the film and at the film/substrate interface, which determine the nature of the resulting film growth. Electrical measurements of films showing optimum structural characteristics uncover properties that are relevant for future electronic devices based on these materials.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.

非技术描述：半导体在日常生活中无处不在，是工业制造、通信、运输、能源转换和传输以及许多其他应用中的关键部件。美国芯片和科学法案提供了500多亿美元，用于增加国内半导体的研究和制造，进一步突显了半导体研究对美国国家安全和经济的关键重要性。这一研究项目创造了科学知识来生产一种新型的半导体合金系统，并为开发和制造可以在极端环境中运行的未来半导体器件提供了一个平台。半导体设备在更高的温度和更高的功率下运行的能力转化为大量的能源节约和更高效和更强大的可再生能源技术，如远程电动汽车。作为未来劳动力的一部分，研究生和本科生在半导体行业所需的新工艺方法和先进的表征工具方面获得广泛的技能。外展活动还教育初中生和高中生有关半导体和相关材料的知识，以激励他们考虑进入STEM工作。这项研究产生的材料和生长配方促进了半导体研发活动：外部研究小组可以通过在卡内基梅隆大学洁净室用户设施的设备上进行培训，向洁净室工作人员索取服务费薄膜，或通过与首席研究人员建立的研究合作，来生产或获得半导体薄膜。技术描述：该项目是对镓-铝氧化物(AGO)外延薄膜不同相或晶型的生长和表征的研究调查，这种外延薄膜具有巨大的潜力，可以在极端条件下运行的高效电力电子器件。将氧化镓和铝合金化形成不同晶型的氧化镓，具有独特的性质和依赖于铝含量的可调超宽带隙，为现有的和新型的半导体器件提供了一个巨大的材料体系，具有形成平台的潜力。因此，该项目的最终目标是实现对AgO半导体外延薄膜的相含量和微结构的前所未有的控制。然而，对于如何控制这种材料体系中一种相相对于另一种相的生长，人们的理解是非常有限的。利用化学气相沉积的方法制备薄膜，这项研究有助于理解如何利用热力学和动力学变量来控制AgO稳定和亚稳态晶型的生长随Al含量的变化。先前的实验和理论研究可作为参考，并为实验方法提供参考。先进的材料表征工具被用来确定薄膜中的微纳米结构、相含量和成分，并揭示了薄膜内部和薄膜/衬底界面上的互扩散和相变等现象，这些现象决定了所产生的薄膜生长的性质。对显示最佳结构特征的薄膜进行电学测量，发现了与基于这些材料的未来电子设备相关的特性。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。