Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Hybrid Inorganic Photonic Integrated Circuits (HIPICs)

工程研究中心规划奖助金竞赛是作为ERC计划的试点征集活动进行的。计划拨款并不是整个ERC竞赛的一部分，而是为了在团队之间建立能力，以计划集中的、中央规模的工程研究。光子集成电路技术对国家安全至关重要。这项技术在电信、生命科学、运输、精密制造、计算和能源等广泛应用中提供了低成本、高速和节能的设备平台。激光和关键的光纤通信系统等设备都依赖于这项技术。拟建的混合无机光子集成电路工程研究中心将推动这项技术的创新和工程，并扩大其应用。规划活动讲习班将确定拟议的工程研究中心所需的研究活动、主要知识专家和利益攸关方。这一规划阶段将是最终建立一个关于这一主题的工程研究中心的基础，该中心将允许成功所需的强有力的研究和多样化的劳动力培训。拟议中的工程研究中心的成功将导致这一关键技术领域的创新。这笔为拟议的混合无机光子集成电路(HIPIC)工程研究中心提供的规划赠款将支持应对挑战和发现机遇所需的研究和教育团队建设。在过去的二十年里，大多数PIC器件工作在近红外波长。因此，该技术平台利用了专门为近红外波长范围设计的器件，包括激光器、波导和光学元件。该计划奖将使该团队能够研究基于混合半导体的光源与传统宽禁带半导体的集成，作为一种可能导致ERC的技术平台。规划活动的最终目标将是开发一种融合的方法，为未来的光子集成电路集成基于III-氮化物和混合钙钛矿的光子器件。由此产生的技术平台可以为先进的光学计算或通信实现大规模高速数据处理。这一范式转变还将提供在医疗诊断、化学传感、光学表征、加速测量和导航方面取代现有技术的潜力。在HIPIC ERC的规划期间，宽禁带半导体、混合钙钛矿和其他领域的专家将被邀请参加研讨会，目的是为这一潜在的ERC制定详细的研究、教育和纳入计划。拟议的计划将汇聚学术界的合作伙伴，包括少数群体服务机构、政府合作伙伴和行业合作伙伴，以实现这项技术。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 Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.Photonic integrated circuit technology is critical to national security. This technology provides a low-cost, high speed, and energy-efficient device platform in a broad range of applications including telecommunication, life-science, transportation, precision manufacturing, computation, and energy. Devices such as lasers and critical fiber-optic communication systems rely on this technology. The proposed Engineering Research Center for Hybrid Inorganic Photonic Integrated Circuits will drive innovation and engineering of this technology and expand their applications. The planning activity workshops will define the research activities, key knowledge experts and stakeholders necessary for the proposed Engineering Research Center. This planning stage will be fundamental for developing an eventual Engineering Research Center on this topic that will allow for the robust research and diverse work-force training needed for success. The success of the proposed Engineering Research Center will lead to innovations in this critical technology area.This planning grant for the proposed Hybrid Inorganic Photonic Integrated Circuits (HIPIC) Engineering Research Center will support the research and education team building necessary to address challenges and identify opportunities. In the last twenty years, most PIC devices operate at the near-infrared wavelengths. As such, this technology platform utilizes devices including lasers, waveguides and optical elements which are specifically designed for the NIR wavelength range. This planning award will enable the team to investigate the integration of light sources based on hybrid semiconductors with conventional wide-gap semiconductors as a technology platform that would lead to a possible ERC. The ultimate goal of the planning activities will be to develop a convergent approach to integrate photonic devices based on III-nitride and hybrid perovskites for future photonic integrated circuits. The resulting technology platform could enable massive high-speed data processing for advanced optical computing or communications. This paradigm shift will also offer the potential to replace existing technologies in medical diagnostics, chemical sensing, optical characterization, accelerometry and navigation. During this planning period for the HIPIC ERC, experts in wide bandgap semiconductors and hybrid perovskites and other fields will be invited to participate in workshops with the objective of generating a detailed research, education, and inclusion plan for this potential ERC. The proposed program will converge partners from academia including minority-serving institutions, government partners and industry partners to realize this technology.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.