SBIR Phase I: Carbon Nanotubes FET Platform for Electronic & Sensors Applications

这一小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目涉及制造纳米电子设备研究模块或工具包，供教育机构和私营部门研究人员使用。纳米电子器件将被用作化学、生物和光子传感器的换能器组件。该套件将包括三个组件：1)基于封装的纳米管基场效应晶体管(NTFET)；2)用于测试设备的功能化测试板(FTB)；以及3)数据采集系统，用户通过该系统控制FTB。NTFET的开发将需要改进在4英寸硅片上生产可重复使用的纳米管阵列器件的工艺。拟议的工作涉及将半导体制造扩展到生产1纳米物体，同时伴随着成像、测量和工艺控制方面的挑战。该项目将优化对单壁碳纳米管阵列的均匀生长至关重要的主要变量，这些单壁碳纳米管阵列具有传感器转换所需的电子性能。这项工作将探索FET的几何结构，并将开发用于表征纳米管器件的工具和软件。该项目的商业应用是电子市场的研究工具。拟议工作的影响在于它对价值3000亿美元的电子行业的潜在长期贡献。硅芯片上特征尺寸的减小推动了硅电子学的进步。为了扩大摩尔定律的适用范围，纳米管提供了最佳途径。通过将碳纳米管引入到基于硅衬底的混合结构中，将促进从硅电子到分子电子的过渡。NTFET试剂盒的商用将使许多零部件制造商能够研究分子电子相互作用，并为基于NTFET的传感器开发专有配方。此外，学术界将获得进入门槛非常高的技术的廉价机会。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project involves the fabrication of a nanoelectronic device research module or kit for use by educational institutions and private sector researchers. The nanoelectronic devices will be used as transducer components in chemical, biological and photonic sensors. The kit will have three components: 1) packaged nanotube based field effect transistors (NTFETs); 2) a functionalization test board (FTB) for testing the devices; and, 3) a data acquisition system by which the users control the FTB. The NTFET development will require refinement of the production of reproducible nanotube array devices on 4" silicon wafers. The proposed work involves extending semiconductor manufacturing to produce 1 nm objects with the attendant challenges of imaging, measurement and process control. The project will optimize the major variables important to the uniform growth of arrays of single-wall carbon nanotubes with the electronic properties necessary for sensor transduction. The work will explore FET geometries and will develop tools and software for nanotube device characterization.The commercial application of this project is a research tool for the electronics market. The impact of the proposed work lies in its potential long-term contribution to the $300 billion electronics industry. Advances in silicon electronics have been driven by reductions in the feature size on the silicon chips. To extend the reach of Moore's Law, nanotubes offer the best path. The transition from silicon electronics to molecular electronics will be facilitated by the introduction of carbon nanotubes into hybrid architectures based on silicon substrates. Commercial availability of the NTFET kit would allow many component makers to study molecular electronic interactions and develop proprietary formulations for NTFET-based sensors. In addition, the academic community will be provided with inexpensive access to a technology with a very high barrier to entry.