High resolution X-ray Diffractometer for MBE-grown novel quantum device research

目前正在进行的技术革命带来了个人电脑、快速互联网、数码相机和平板显示器--仅提到大宗商品行业--其根源可以直接追溯到人造材料非常薄的薄膜的工程技术进步，以及随后将其加工成功能受控良好的越来越小的设备。最高性能的电子设备，如用于PC、智能手机或卫星的晶体管，以及正在沿着万维网的光纤以令人难以置信的速度推动数字信息的光子设备，都是基于高度完美的半导体材料的结晶多层膜，这些材料以所谓的外延工艺沉积在适当选择的晶体衬底上。这些设备的性能关键取决于各个子层的确切厚度和组成，有些只有几个纳米厚。能够达到这种精度的外延技术的发展、相关的校准和持续的工艺监控都需要能够常规使用、非破坏性且满足严格的分辨率和精度要求的计量工具。对于半导体工业和依赖于外延结构的研发来说，只有一种这样的工具-高分辨率X射线衍射仪(HR-X射线衍射仪)，这是目前拨款申请的主题。这一工具对于分子束外延(MBE)实验室的研究项目的成功至关重要，该实验室目前正在滑铁卢大学新的量子纳米中心建立，预计将于2013年第二季度全面投入使用。该实验室的重点将是基于(In，Al，Ga)(As，Sb)半导体材料的先进量子器件的外延生长，用于光子学、纳米电子学、自旋电子学和量子计算方面的突破性研究项目，以应对加拿大高科技部门在环境监测、替代清洁能源、健康、安全和ICT方面的短期和长期挑战。

The roots of the currently unfolding technological revolution which brought about personal computers, fast internet, digital cameras and flat panel displays-to mention just the commodity sector-can be traced directly to the advances in engineering of very thin films of artificial materials and their subsequent processing into ever smaller devices with well controlled functionalities. The highest performance electronic devices, such as transistors used in PCs, smartphones or satellites and the photonic devices such as semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and detectors which are pushing digital information with incredible rates along the optical fibers of the world wide web, are all based on highly perfect crystalline multilayers of semiconductor materials which are deposited in the so-called epitaxial process on suitably chosen crystalline substrates. The performance of these devices depends critically on the exact thicknesses and compositions of the individual sub-layers, some just a few nanometers thick. Development of the epitaxial techniques capable of such precision, related calibrations and ongoing process monitoring all require metrology tools which can be used routinely, be non-destructive and meet the strict requirements of resolution and accuracy. For the semiconductor industry and R&D which relies on epitaxial structures there is only one such tool - the High Resolution X-ray Diffractometer (HR-XRD), the subject of the present grant application. This tool is crucial to the success of the research programs hosted in and supported by the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) laboratory which is being presently set up in the new Quantum Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo and is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of 2013. The focus of the lab will be on the epitaxial growth of advanced quantum devices based on (In, Al, Ga)(As, Sb) semiconductor materials for ground-breaking research programs in photonics, nanoelectronics, spintronics and quantum computing that address both short and long term challenges of Canadian high-tech sectors in environmental monitoring, alternative clean energy sources, health, security and ICT.