SBIR Phase I: Universal Crystal Growth Capsule and Novel Wafer Dicing Tool for In-Space Manufacturing

SBIR 第一阶段：用于太空制造的通用晶体生长舱和新型晶圆切割工具

• 批准号: 2419346
• 负责人: Partha Dutta
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: United Semiconductors, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419346&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Universal; Crystal; Growth

The broader impact and commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is in advanced semiconductor technologies that are of critical need for emerging autonomous systems, networked sensing technologies, artificial intelligence enabled systems, aerospace, and defense surveillance systems. In-Space manufacturing under microgravity conditions enable unique materials characteristics and advanced semiconductor device designs with significantly higher performances, thus providing the most appropriate platform for meeting the technological and market demands. A novel class of semiconductor based composite materials with unique characteristics for numerous large scale emerging applications including, magnetic sensing, thermoelectrics, photovoltaic power generation, quantum computing devices, etc. will be developed. The proposed manufacturing plans will benefit the US national defense and civilian industry. The In-Space manufacturing platform will boost the yield and reliability for high performance device technologies, meeting the demand of the multi-billion US$ market. Lessons learnt from this project will accelerate the space materials production with potentially higher profit margins for sold goods and attract private sector investments in space manufacturing business. This will help the US domestic industry to gain and/or maintain leadership in many critical technology sectors. There is a need for higher throughput, higher iteration in-space R&D and manufacturing to drive to meaningful advantages, and this project will enable an acceleration of such translational R&D in semiconductors and other key sectors. Additionally, Workforce Development (WFD) for training engineers and technicians in Space based manufacturing are in perfect alignment with the priorities of the “CHIPS for America” Workforce Development plans.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to create innovative component design and manufacturing approaches for developing two critical hardware necessary for In-space manufacturing and application of high purity semiconductor grade bulk crystals. A universal crystal growth capsule design will be designed and fabricated for leveraging microgravity conditions during crystal growth and providing high throughput of space grown materials. For processing high cost, low defect content premium space grown crystals, a novel wafer dicing tool for damage-free thin film fabrication directly from ingots will be developed. The universal capsule design will incorporate advanced high temperature fluid dynamics components that are necessary for maximizing the beneficial effects of microgravity on crystal growth. The innovative wafer dicing tool architecture leverages advanced optics fabrication technologies for creating the dicing tool. The Phase 1 project will demonstrate crystal growth of single-phase alloy and multi-phase composites of semiconductor-based materials. Fabrication of micron-scale thick wafers with millimeter scale cross-section for discrete semiconductor device from bulk crystals will be demonstrated.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.

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响和商业潜力在于先进的半导体技术，这些技术是新兴自主系统、网络传感技术、人工智能支持系统、航空航天和国防监控系统的关键需求。微重力条件下的空间制造使独特的材料特性和先进的半导体器件设计具有显著更高的性能，从而为满足技术和市场需求提供了最合适的平台。一类具有独特特性的新型半导体基复合材料将被开发出来，用于许多大规模的新兴应用，包括磁传感、热电、光伏发电、量子计算设备等。拟议的制造计划将使美国国防和民用工业受益。空间制造平台将提高高性能器件技术的成品率和可靠性，满足数十亿美元市场的需求。从该项目中吸取的经验教训将加快空间材料的生产，提高销售商品的利润率，并吸引私营部门对空间制造业务的投资。这将有助于美国国内行业在许多关键技术领域获得和/或保持领先地位。需要更高的生产能力、更高的空间研发和制造迭代，以推动取得有意义的优势，该项目将加速半导体和其他关键行业的此类转换性研发。此外，用于培训太空制造工程师和技术人员的劳动力发展(WFD)与“美国芯片”劳动力发展计划的优先事项完全一致。这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议创建创新的元件设计和制造方法，以开发空间制造和高纯度半导体级块状晶体应用所需的两个关键硬件。将设计和制造一种通用的晶体生长胶囊，以利用晶体生长过程中的微重力条件，并提供空间生长材料的高吞吐量。为了加工高成本、低缺陷含量的优质空间生长晶体，将开发一种新的晶片切割工具，用于直接从钢锭制备无损伤薄膜。通用胶囊设计将包含先进的高温流体动力学组件，这些组件对于最大限度地发挥微重力对晶体生长的有益影响是必要的。创新的晶片切割工具架构利用先进的光学制造技术来创建切割工具。第一阶段项目将展示单相合金和半导体材料的多相复合材料的晶体生长。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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，被认为是值得支持的。