SGER: Self-Aligned Nanomanufacturing of Electronic Structures with Carbon Nanotubes

这项研究将建立一种以自对准方式生长碳纳米管的加工方法，从而为利用碳纳米管制造未来的纳米电子产品奠定基础。该项目的目标是开发一种基于激光的工艺，实现碳纳米管的自对准生长，在室温下连接金属电极，以形成纳米电子中的互连和晶体管。建议的工艺将利用金属尖端的光增强和电场对碳纳米管生长的定向控制。该研究小组将系统地研究：1)尖端电极尖端的光增强和纳米级局部加热，2)激光照射下两个金属电极之间的碳纳米管生长，3)电场控制生长方向，4)电导率实时监测和生长终点检测。该项目的成功完成将为未来纳米电子的纳米制造奠定基础。待开发的工艺将是一种适合大规模生产的自对准工艺。它还与微电子中使用的当前制造工艺兼容。因此，该工艺可用于将碳纳米管器件和互连作为使用当前半导体制造基础设施制造的集成电路中的关键部件进行集成。碳纳米管器件的集成将以最少的额外资本投资提高集成密度、电路功能、功耗和电路速度。该方法除了在电极尖端进行纳米尺度的局部加热以促进碳纳米管的生长外，不会提高衬底温度。因此，它不会降低在前面的步骤中制造的器件结构。

The proposed research will establish a processing method to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a self-aligned manner and hence lay a foundation for the nanomanufacturing of future nanoelectronics using CNTs. The objective of this project is to develop a laser-based process that will achieve self-aligned growth of CNTs to connect metallic electrodes at room temperature, for the purpose to form interconnections and transistors in nanoelectronics. The proposed process will utilize light enhancement of metallic tips and directional control of CNT growth by an electrical field. The research team will systematically investigate: 1) light enhancement and nanoscale local heating at the apex of tip-shaped electrodes, 2) CNT growth between two metallic electrodes under laser irradiation, 3) growth direction control by an electrical field, and 4) real-time monitoring of electrical conductivity and growth end-point detection.The successful completion of the proposed project will lay a foundation for the nanomanufacturing of future nanoelectronics. The process to be developed will be a self-aligned process suitable for mass production. It is also compatible to the current manufacturing processes used in microelectronics. Therefore, this process can be used to integrate CNT devices and interconnections as key components in integrated circuits fabricated using the current semiconductor manufacturing infrastructures. The integration of CNT devices will improve the integration density, circuit functionality, power consumption and circuit speed with minimum additional capital investment. The proposed method will not raise the substrate temperature besides nanoscale local heating at the electrode apexes to facilitate CNT growth. Therefore, it will not degrade the device structures fabricated in previous steps.