Pilot Manufacturing with Ultrafast Laser Plasma Implantation (ULPI)

超快激光等离子体注入(ULPI)设备将为原子和微观尺度之间的先进功能材料和表面提供中试级别的研究和制造能力。对于这项利兹专利技术，我们使用脉冲持续时间在飞秒范围内的激光，它能够产生高密度和高动能等离子体，用于注入到基片中，与生产表面涂层的方法相反。通过利兹正在进行的研究，利用最初为飞秒脉冲激光沉积涂层设计的设备(由RCUK资助(EP/D048672/1))，对试点ULPI设备的概念、IP和规格进行了演示。这项战略设备提案旨在为ULPI创造世界上第一个小规模制造能力，超过许多传统的表面改性技术，如离子交换。此外，ULPI可以在先进材料制造中打开新的大门，这是以前没有选择的领域，例如具有主动和被动功能的玻璃上的集成光子电路。ULPI使飞秒激光产生的等离子体物种能够从定制的离子/等离子源材料注入到各种玻璃、半导体、金属和陶瓷表面。这些层可以在10‘S纳米到几微米深之间形成，与衬底之间有明确的尖锐界面。该设备将使多功能异质外延材料工程成为可能，这不仅将支持集成光子学，而且将支持光电子学和电子电路制造。我们正在与剑桥大学、约克大学、谢菲尔德大学、谢菲尔德III-V中心、DSTL和10个行业合作，以实现这些目标。目前，实现复杂的多功能器件和芯片上的电路，还没有与CMOS电路制作等效的光子器件，这是光子集成领域的主要限制。我们在硅/二氧化硅衬底上制备无机玻璃的背景研究，通过结合多目标飞秒激光烧蚀诱导等离子体，为基于ULPI的材料和器件的研究创造了新的机会，这消除了对单独加工室的需要，并为结合标准电子元件制造PIC提供了一条新的制造工艺，这是与SeaMatics(EP/M015165/1)相关联的研究项目(EP/M015165/1)的主要目标。Pilot-ULPI设施的另一个目标是通过适当的工艺监测和诊断工具来扩大多功能材料的制造，以确保对光子、光电和电子功能的现场良好控制。虽然该设备用于对低TRL制造项目的更高级研究，但它也对即将商业化的其他更成熟技术的最后阶段TRL具有价值。

The Ultrafast Laser Plasma Implantation (ULPI) equipment will provide a pilot level research and manufacturing capability for advanced functional materials and surfaces, between the atomic and microscopic scales, . For this Leeds patented technique, we use lasers with a pulse duration in the femtosecond range which is capable of producing high density and high kinetic energy plasma for implantation into a substrate, as opposed to methods to produce surface coatings. The demonstration of concepts, IP and specifications for the pilot ULPI equipment have been developed through ongoing research at Leeds, using equipment originally designed for coatings via femtosecond pulsed laser deposition (fs-PLD), which was RCUK funded (EP/D048672/1). The strategic equipment proposal is aimed at creating a world first small-scale manufacturing capability for ULPI, surpassing many conventional surface modification techniques such as ion-exchange. Furthermore, ULPI can open new doors in the manufacture of advanced materials, where previously no options were available, for example with integrated photonic circuits on glass with active and passive functionalities. ULPI enables implantation of fs-laser generated plasma species into a variety of glass, semiconductor, metal and ceramic surfaces from custom ion/plasma source materials. These layers can be formed between 10's of nanometres to several micrometres in depth with well-defined sharp interfaces with substrates. This equipment will enable multi-functional hetero-epitaxial materials engineering, which will support not only integrated photonics, but also optoelectronics and electronic circuit fabrication. We are partnering with the Universities of Cambridge, York, Sheffield, Sheffield III-V centre, DSTL and 10 industries to achieve these aims. At present there is no photonic equivalent to CMOS circuit fabrication for enabling complex multi-functional devices and circuits on a chip, which is the field of photonic integration's main limitation. Our background research in ULPI of inorganic glasses into Silicon/Silica substrates has created a new opportunity for research on ULPI based materials and device fabrication by incorporating multi-target fs-laser ablation induced plasma, which eliminates the need for individual processing chambers and offers a new route to novel manufacturing procedures for the fabrication of PICs combined with standard electronic components which is the main aim of the linked research project SeaMatics (EP/M015165/1).A further aim of the pilot-ULPI facility is to scale up the fabrication for multi-functional materials with appropriate process monitoring and diagnostic tools to ensure excellent control over photonic, optoelectronic and electronic functions in-situ. While this equipment is for more advanced research into low TRL manufacturing projects, it is also valuable for the final stage TRLs of other more mature technologies which are on the verge of commercialisation.