SBIR Phase I: Differential resistance method to profile 3D semiconductor structures

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是降低成本和加速高性能电子设备的开发。 电子行业是一个主要的增长引擎，具有巨大的影响，包括健康（例如，医疗设备）、教育（例如计算机、互联网）以及清洁能源和环境（例如，LED、光致发光器件）。半导体器件设计和制造的创新继续促进更快的处理速度和更大的存储容量。然而，在这条道路上继续需要改进的计量技术和工具，提供关于器件结构中采用的材料的深入信息，以便可以控制先进器件不断增加的开发成本。拟议的工作将展示一种新的电气表征方法，有可能降低这种成本，并加速人工智能、计算、通信、运输和能源等重要应用的半导体开发。该项目的目标是开发一种新的电特性技术和工具，用于测量三维（3D）半导体结构。许多先进的电子器件采用3D结构形状的半导体层，例如鳍状物，并且迫切需要开发度量方法来完全表征这种结构。所提出的创新将以保形方式通过3D结构生成电阻率深度剖面。我们的目标是实现至少1 nm的深度分辨率，并在这样的结构中形成掺杂剂激活的良好理解。将开发一个硬件来应用该技术的样品，包括海洋的三维功能，以证明概念和可行性的拟议processs.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to reduce cost and accelerate development of high-performance electronic devices. The electronics industry is a major growth engine with enormous impact that includes health (e.g., medical devices), education (e.g. computers, internet), and cleaner energy and environment (e.g., LEDs, photovoltaics). Innovation in semiconductor device design and fabrication continue to foster faster processing speeds and larger storage capacities. However, continuing on this path requires improved metrology techniques and tools providing in-depth information about materials employed in device structures, so that the ever increasing development cost of advanced devices can be controlled. The proposed work will demonstrate a new electrical characterization method with the potential to reduce this cost and accelerate development of semiconductors for important applications such as artificial intelligence, computing, communications, transportation and energy. The proposed project targets development of a novel electrical characterization technique and tool to make measurements on three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor structures. Many advanced electronic devices employ semiconductor layers in the shape of 3D structures, such as fins, and there is an urgent need to develop metrology approaches to fully characterize such structures. The proposed innovation will generate resistivity depth profiles through 3D structures in a conformal manner. The goal is to achieve a depth resolution of at least 1 nm and develop a good understanding of dopant activation in such structures. A piece of hardware will be developed to apply the technique to samples comprising a sea of 3D features to demonstrate the concept and feasibility of the proposed processes.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.