MRI: Acquisition of a III-V Molecular Beam Epitaxy System for a new Materials Growth User Facility

高质量半导体材料薄膜的生长对于从基础物理到理解包括晶体管、激光、光电探测器和先进太阳能电池在内的电子器件的研究至关重要。有了重大研究仪器项目的这一奖项，特拉华大学将获得一种分子束外延(MBE)系统，以允许生长用于这些和其他应用的高质量材料。该系统将作为用户设施的核心，允许来自全国各地的研究人员种植材料，以支持他们在物理、电气工程、材料科学和工程、化学和其他领域的研究计划，为此次收购提供地区和国家影响。这项来自重大研究仪器计划的奖项支持收购用于生长III-V半导体的分子束外延(MBE)系统。该系统将有几个独特的特点：它将包含一个用于低温衬底清洗的原子氢源，铋和稀土渗流电池，一个高通量硅电池，以及一个带边测温系统，以便在较低的生长温度下进行可靠的温度测量。它还将在真空下连接到现有的拓扑绝缘体MBE系统。这一设置将使各种新材料和异质结构的发展成为可能，目前特拉华大学内外的用户都无法获得这些材料和异质结构。该系统将在一个更大的纳米级创新研究所的背景下，形成一个专注于材料增长的新用户设施的骨干，该研究所包括其他几个协同用户设施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The growth of high quality thin films of semiconductor materials is critical to research ranging from fundamental physics to the understanding of electronic devices including transistors, lasers, photodetectors, and advanced solar cells. With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation program, the University of Delaware will acquire a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system to permit the growth of high-quality materials for these and other applications. This system will serve as the centerpiece of a user facility to allow researchers from around the country to grow materials to support their research programs in physics, electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, chemistry, and other fields, providing a regional and national impact to this acquisition. This award from the Major Research Instrumentation program supports the acquisition of a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system for the growth of III-V semiconductors. This system will have several unique characteristics: it will contain an atomic hydrogen source for low-temperature substrate cleaning, bismuth and rare-earth effusion cells, a high-flux silicon cell, and a band-edge thermometry system to permit reliable temperature measurement at low growth temperatures. It will also be connected under vacuum to an existing topological insulator MBE system. This setup will enable the growth of a variety of new materials and heterostructures that are currently unavailable to users within and outside of the University of Delaware. This system will form the backbone of a new user facility focused on materials growth within the context of a larger Institute for Nanoscale Innovation, which contains several other synergistic user facilities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.