US-Germany Cooperative Research: Development of Silicon-on-Diamond Wafer Technology

该奖项支持Zlatko Sitar和来自北卡罗莱纳州立大学的学生与德国乌尔姆大学电子器件和电路系的Erhard Kohn合作。目标是建立对金刚石上硅技术的合作研究。乌尔姆大学专门为宽带隙半导体建立的微加工设施（电子和微电子和磁系统）将极大地有利于北卡罗来纳州目前开发的硅-金刚石技术，而美国集团的表征和材料加工设施将极大地帮助德国集团在金刚石与硅电子集成方面的努力。金刚石上硅技术通过先进的热管理，将硅基电子器件的极限扩展到更高的功率和频率，同时实现了仅在硅上无法实现的垂直集成方案。这是通过直接在有源硅器件层下掺入高质量的金刚石层来实现的，其导热性比单独的硅晶圆高一个数量级。此次合作将制造一系列电子器件，使研究金刚石上硅晶圆的热扩散能力、硅器件层的电学性能以及硅-金刚石界面对器件性能的影响成为可能。该分析将进一步优化金刚石上硅的制造工艺和金刚石上硅晶圆的结构。硅基功率器件和集成电路中的热管理对于超越目前的限制至关重要。提出的金刚石上硅晶圆技术放宽了硅电子器件的热处理限制，使未来硅基功率器件、高密度集成电路和三维集成的发展成为可能。通过这种方式，标准硅技术将扩展为自然界中最好的导热体，同时能够限制电流流向器件层。该技术具有将高频硅基电力电子与数字逻辑完全集成在一个三维芯片上的潜力。

0340662SitarThis award supports Zlatko Sitar and students from North Carolina State University in a collaboration with Erhard Kohn of the Department of Electron Devices and Circuits at the University of Ulm, Germany. The objective is to establish collaborative research on Silicon-on-Diamond technology. Microfabrication facilities (electronics and micro-electrical and -magnetic systems) at the University of Ulm established especially for wide band gap semiconductors would greatly benefit the Silicon-on-Diamond technology currently developed at North Carolina State, while the characterization and materials processing facilities of the US group would greatly aid the German group's effort on the integration of diamond with silicon electronics. Silicon-on-Diamond technology extends the limits of silicon-based electronics to much higher powers and frequencies through advanced thermal management and, at the same time, enables vertical integration schemes that are not possible on the silicon alone. This is achieved by the incorporation of a high quality diamond layer immediately under the active silicon device layer, which has more than an order of magnitude higher thermal conductivity than silicon wafers alone. The collaboration will fabricate a range of electronic devices, making it possible to study the heat-spreading ability of the Silicon-on-Diamond wafers, the electrical properties of the silicon device layer, and the influence of the silicon-diamond interface on device performance. The analysis will allow further optimization of the Silicon-on-Diamond fabrication process and the structure of Silicon-on-Diamond wafers. Thermal management in the silicon-based power devices and integrated circuits is crucial for surpassing present limitations. The proposed Silicon-on-Diamond wafer technology relaxes thermal handling limitations in silicon electronics and enables development of future silicon-based power devices, high-density integrated circuits, and three-dimensional integration. In this way, standard silicon technology will be expanded with the best heat conductor in nature that at the same time enables the confinement of the current flow to the device layer. This technology has a potential to fully integrate high frequency silicon-based power electronics with digital logic on one three-dimensional chip.