Advanced silicon based nanofibrous materials for Infrared (IR) Emitter Fabrication

在该项目的第一阶段，Kiani博士的团队与肯尼迪实验室合作，开发了有效且廉价的纳米纤维硅（NfSi）制造方法，该方法具有由纳米纤维或纳米颗粒组成的混合纳米结构表面，在某些情况下，两者兼而有之。此外，Kennedy Labs与其营销合作伙伴DigiKey Corporation一起沿着，成功实现了此类结构的商业化。在与当前合作者接触后，Kennedy Labs和Kiani博士的团队旨在探索将NfSi用于红光（IR）发射器的可能性。考虑到已有的知识与一系列的实验和有希望的初始发射率的结果所制造的NfSi，在这个项目的第二阶段，一种新的方法来制造NfSi基红外发射器，将开发。当与当代纳米和微米制造工艺相比，采用激光方法将大大降低制造的复杂性。此外，使用硅晶片制造IR发射器将使得能够容易地小型化，而不需要钨丝，从而导致较不复杂且更平滑的制造工艺。这种由Kiani博士的团队开发的内部开发的NfSi结构将为Kennedy Labs提供独特的优势，即拥有知识来引入新奇，降低成本，在相邻的竞争市场中成长和繁荣。此外，这一成就将使UOIT成为使用激光的纳米加工技术的领导者，吸引潜在投资者和合作者的关注。总的来说，拟议的研究将使清洁和绿色微米和纳米制造沿着与制造有效的和小型化的红外发射器在安大略和加拿大。此外，通过该研究项目开发的技术可用于生产物联网应用的商业质量传感器和检测器，包括健康监测和与光学设备的数据中心互连。

In the first phase of this project, Dr. Kiani's team, in collaboration with Kennedy Labs, developed effective and inexpensive methods for nanofibrous silicon (NfSi) fabrication with hybrid nano structured surface consisting of nanofibers or nano particles and in some cases, a combination of both. In addition, commercialization of such structures was successfully done by Kennedy Labs along with their marketing partner, DigiKey Corporation. Upon being approached by current collaborator, Kennedy Labs and Dr. Kiani's teams have aimed to explore possibilities to use NfSi for Infra-Red (IR) emitters. Considering available knowledge with series of experiments and promising initial emissivity results of the fabricated NfSi, in the second phased of this project, a novel method for fabrication of NfSi-based IR emitters, will be developed.When compared to contemporary nano and micro fabrication processes, employing a laser approach will decrease the complexity of fabrication significantly. Furthermore, fabrication of IR emitters using silicon wafer would enable easy miniaturization with no requirement of tungsten wires resulting in a less complicated and smoother fabrication process. Such in-house developed NfSi structure developed by Dr. Kiani's team, will provide unique advantage to Kennedy Labs of having knowledge to introduce novelty, reduce cost, grow and thrive in adjacent competitive market. Also, such achievement will establish UOIT as a leader in nano processing technology using laser, attracting attention from potential investors and collaborators. Overall, the proposed research will enable clean and green micro and nano manufacturing along with fabrication of effective and miniaturized IR emitters in Ontario and Canada. In addition, the technology developed through this research project can be used for production of commercial quality sensors & detectors for IoT applications including health monitoring and in data-center interconnect with optical devices.