Equipment for the development of nitride-based nanoscale electronic, photonic, and biosensing devices on a si platform

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Nitride compound semiconductors, including GaN, InN, AlN, and their alloys, have emerged as the materials of choice for solid state lighting, high power and high temperature electronic devices, photovoltaics, chip-level optical communications and bio-sensors. Recently, it has been proposed, and further demonstrated by the applicant and other researchers, that nearly defect-free nanoscale heterostructures, including quantum dots and nanowires, can be epitaxially grown on highly lattice mismatched Si substrates, thereby opening up the exciting possibility for realizing nitride-based nanoscale electronic, photonic, and biosensing devices on a Si platform. In this regard, a group of researchers at McGill University, consisting of experts in materials growth (Z. Mi), photovoltaics (I. Shih), optical communications (A. Kirk), genomics (R. Sladek), device design and theory (H. Guo), materials characterization and physics (G. Gervais and P. Grütter), and MEMs and CMOS electronics (V. Chodavarapu) have initiated a range of research projects centered on nitride-based nanoscale semiconductors, among which five projects are being funded by NSERC Strategic Project Grants Program. However, progress in our research has been severely limited by the lack of a suitable nitride epitaxial growth system. Mi has established a molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth infrastructure, which is perfectly suited for all of our research effort except that two critical components are missing: a high performance nitrogen plasma source and a Si effusion cell. The acquisition of these components can therefore significantly accelerate our research progress. To the best of our knowledge, it will also lead to the first nitride and silicon based MBE system in Canada, which will create a dynamic training environment for students and immediately put Canada on the map for the technologically important nitride-based materials, devices, and systems.