EAGER: Enhancing plasmonic mode coupling in metal insulator metal structures

本项目旨在研究金属-绝缘体-金属（MIM）薄膜结构中金属-绝缘体界面在纳米光子学、生物传感和成像等领域的应用。所提出的研究将有助于更广泛的薄膜和半导体研究领域。这项工作的成果将直接应用于可靠、高性能的探测器和传感器的大规模制造，用于成像和能量转换应用。尽管基于MIM的传感器（也称为等离子体传感器）具有很好的应用前景，但由于缺乏对MIM堆栈基本特性的理解，它们在现实设备中的实现被推迟了。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。本提案中描述的研究处于跨学科的边缘，涉及材料科学、纳米制造和物理学。它涉及微型器件开发的几乎每个阶段，即设计，制造，集成，表征测试和优化。该项目将努力雇用一名研究生，最好是来自代表性不足的群体，他们将接受培训，学习、实践和发展跨界技能。这些技能被强烈推荐给工业界和学术界的纳米技术工作人员。对这个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。研究结果将发表在同行评议的期刊上，并引起纳米技术、材料科学、电气工程和物理领域不同受众的兴趣。提出的研究旨在获得对绝缘材料的更广泛的理解，目前正在探索获得所需的MIM二极管和MIM -等离子体结构特性。过去，对金属-绝缘体界面进行了研究；然而，随着双绝缘层（MIIM）概念的出现，为了获得更好的二极管响应，有必要研究绝缘子-绝缘子界面。在这项工作中，我们将进行广泛的建模和模拟，实验工作以及详细的材料表征，使用最先进的技术，如椭偏仪，原子力显微镜，透射电子显微镜，二次离子质谱，x射线光电子能谱，x衍射来了解带隙，点缺陷和界面层中氧传输的影响。从这些实验中产生的新知识将用于大规模制造高性能传感器和探测器。该提案旨在比较真空溅射、原子播放器沉积和环境大气压等离子沉积等器件制造技术，以改进制造工艺。本研究成果将成功推广到提高MIM/ MIIM叠加的质量，从而提高等离子体传感器的效率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.