Semiconductor Materials for Future Device Applications: Materials Issues and Device Implications

半导体是存在于电子器件中的有源电子材料。通过对这些器件中使用的半导体的基本材料特性的理解，电子学取得了很大的进步。提出的研究旨在加深我们对这类材料的理解，并探索可能的器件应用。具体来说，我小组的研究人员将进行的研究将：(1)丰富一个模拟工具，在这个工具中可以进行电子传递的蒙特卡罗模拟，(2)使用这个工具来获得与当前感兴趣的许多半导体相对应的电子传递结果。然后将探讨这些结果对设备的影响。这些研究努力的总体目标是促进我们对半导体的理解，为该领域的研究人员提供分析这些材料的工具，并为电子领域的新兴领域提供设备设计和优化的工程方法。开发分析这些材料的新技术，并将这些技术用于设备优化，是支撑这些研究努力的共同主题。所审查的半导体材料将包括但绝不限于III-V型氮化物半导体、氮化镓、氮化铟和氮化硼，以及II-VI型半导体、氧化锌及其氧化镁合金。其他新型半导体，如氧化镓，也将被考虑。传统的半导体材料，如硅和砷化镓，将被考虑，尽管是为了基准目的；Si和GaAs是成熟的材料，为我们的电子输运研究提供了一个参考点。

Semiconductors are the active electronic materials that are present within electron devices. A great deal of progress in electronics has been achieved through an understanding of the basic material properties of the semiconductors used within such devices. The proposed research aims to deepen our understanding of this class of materials and to explore the possible device applications. Specifically, the research to be performed by the researchers within my group will: (1) enrich a simulation tool within which Monte Carlo simulations of the electron transport may be pursued, and (2) use this tool in order to obtain electron transport results corresponding to a number of semiconductors of current interest. The device implications of these results will then be explored. The overall goal of these research endeavors is to advance our understanding of semiconductors, to provide researchers in the field with tools for the analysis of these materials, and to equip emerging areas of the electronics field with engineering methodologies for device design and optimization. The development of novel techniques for the analysis of these materials, and the use of these techniques for the purposes of device optimization, is the common theme underpinning these research endeavors. The semiconductor materials to be examined will include, but are by no means limited to, the III-V nitride semiconductors, gallium nitride, indium nitride, and boron nitride, and the II-VI semiconductor, zinc oxide, and its alloy with magnesium oxide. Other novel semiconductors, such as gallium oxide, will also be considered. Traditional semiconductor materials, such as silicon and gallium arsenide, will be considered, albeit for benchmarking purposes; Si and GaAs are mature materials, and thus, provide a point of reference for our electron transport studies. The proposed research program offers abundant opportunities for advancements in the basic fundamental science underlying semiconductor materials and in exploring the possible novel device applications that are thereby engendered. The training programs that are being supported through this research program will help supply the Canadian workforce with highly qualified personnel who can work in a variety of research and development capacities. The research that is to be performed, and the graduates who emerge from the group, will help nurture the growth and development of the electronics industry here in Canada, an industry that has been estimated by some to have the potential to exceed $1.7 Trillion in sales worldwide (per annum) by the year 2017.