EAGER: Enhancing plasmonic mode coupling in metal insulator metal structures

该项目旨在研究金属-绝缘体-金属(MIM)薄膜结构中的金属-绝缘体界面，并将其应用于纳米光子学、生物传感和成像领域。这项拟议的研究将对薄膜和半导体研究的更广泛领域有用。这项工作的成果将直接应用于用于成像和能量转换应用的可靠、高性能探测器和传感器的大规模生产。尽管基于MIM的传感器，也被称为等离子体传感器，有很好的应用前景，但由于缺乏对MIM堆栈的基本属性的了解，它们在现实世界中的实现被推迟了。本研究的目的是对金属氧化物和金属有机材料作为MIM结绝缘体的性能进行系统的研究。这项提案中描述的研究处于涉及材料科学、纳米制造和物理学的交叉学科的边缘。它几乎涉及到微器件开发的每一个阶段，即设计、制造、集成、特性测试和优化。该项目将努力招聘一名研究生，最好是来自代表性不足的群体，他们将接受学习、练习和发展跨界技能的培训。这种技能强烈推荐给工业界和学术界的纳米技术工作者。对这一跨学科项目的研究生的培训和指导将使他们能够成功地过渡到多样化的STEM劳动力。这些结果将发表在同行评议的期刊上，并将引起纳米技术、材料科学、电气工程和物理领域的不同受众的兴趣。拟议的研究旨在更广泛地了解绝缘材料，目前正在探索这些材料，以获得所需的MIM二极管和MIM等离子体结构特性。在过去，人们已经研究了金属-绝缘体界面；然而，随着MIIM(双层绝缘层)的新概念的出现，为了获得更好的二极管响应，有必要研究绝缘体-绝缘体界面。在这项拟议的工作中，我们将利用椭圆偏振、原子力显微镜、透射电子显微镜、二次离子质谱仪、X射线光电子能谱、X-衍射仪等先进技术进行广泛的建模和模拟，并进行实验工作和详细的材料表征，以了解带隙、点缺陷和界面层中氧传输的影响。这些实验产生的新知识将用于大规模制造高性能传感器和探测器。该提案旨在比较基于真空溅射、原子播放器沉积和常压等离子体沉积等器件制造技术，以改进制造。通过这项工作开发的知识将成功地传播到改善MIM/MIIM堆栈的质量，从而提高等离子传感器的效率。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。

The project aims to investigate the metal-insulator interfaces in thin film Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) structures for their applications in the fields of nanophotonics, biosensing, and imaging. The proposed research will be useful for the broader realms of thin film and semiconductor research. The outcome of the work will be directly applied to mass manufacturing of reliable, high-performance detectors and sensors for imaging and energy conversion applications. Although MIM-based sensors, also known as plasmonic sensors, have promising applications, their realization to real-world devices is delayed due to a lack of understanding of the fundamental properties of the MIM stack. The objective of this research is to carry out systematic studies on the properties of the metal oxide and metal-organic materials used as insulators in MIM junctions. The research described in this proposal is on the edge of interdisciplinary involving materials science, nanofabrication, and Physics. It involves almost every stage in the development of a micro-device, i.e., design, fabrication, integration, characterization testing, and optimization. The project will strive to hire a graduate student, preferably from underrepresented groups, who will be trained to learn, practice and develop boundary-spanning skills. Such skills are highly recommended for the nanotechnology workforce in the industry and academia. The training and mentoring of the graduate student on this interdisciplinary project will enable them to successfully transition to the diverse STEM workforce. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and have interest to diverse audiences in the field of nanotechnology, materials science, electrical engineering, and physics.The proposed research is designed to gain a broader understanding of insulating materials, which are currently being explored to gain desired MIM diode and MIM -plasmonic structure characteristics. In the past, metal–insulator interfaces have been studied; however, with the advent of the newer concept of MIIM (double insulating layer), to attain better response of the diode, there is a need to study insulator-insulator interfaces. In this proposed work, we will conduct extensive modeling and simulation, and experimental work along with detailed materials characterization using state of art techniques such as Ellipsometry, Atomic Force Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscope, Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy, Xray-Photoelectron Spectroscopy, X-diffractometry to understand the effect of bandgap, point defect, and oxygen transport in the interfacial layers. The new knowledge generated from these experiments will be used in mass manufacturing of high-performance sensors and detectors. The proposal aims to compare the device fabrication techniques such as vacuum-based sputtering, atomic player deposition, and ambient atmospheric pressure plasma deposition for improved fabrication. The knowledge developed from this work will be successfully disseminated in improving the quality of the MIM/ MIIM stack, thereby improving the efficiency of plasmonic sensors.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.