US-Ireland R&D Partnership: Ga2O3: Understanding Growth, Interfaces and Defects to enable next generation Electronics (GUIDE)

这个NSF项目旨在继续与北爱尔兰和爱尔兰共和国的十多年合作伙伴关系，研究一种被称为氧化镓的相对较新的半导体，以改变电力电子系统和应用，远远超出这些功率晶体管目前的技术水平，这些功率晶体管也可以在极端环境中工作。这将通过评估如何将这种半导体引入主流芯片制造，同时实现氧化镓的预期性能来确定。该项目的智力优势包括评估氧化镓与绝缘或磁性材料的结合，以尝试实现这种相对较新的半导体材料在功率晶体管和极端环境存储器中的应用。此外，拟议的研究将探索当这些材料结合在一起时会发生什么。材料之间形成的界面对于实现理论上预测的设备性能至关重要，因为该界面被认为是理想的。因此，非理想的接口会对最终的芯片性能产生不利影响。因此，这个三方研究团队将从根本上研究这些材料和界面，以确定性能，如果预期的性能没有达到，则解释设备性能不佳的原因。然后，团队可以解决导致性能下降的原因，或者提供预测模型，可以预测何时设备性能下降到足以使设备出现故障的程度。该项目的这些发现的意义将使清洁能源、无线通信、光电子学、电网和国防领域的广泛技术进步成为可能，使当前主流功率晶体管无法实现的技术成为可能。此外，推进对如何恰当地将这些拟议材料结合在一起的理解，将有助于执行一项两党计划，通过悬而未决的立法，重新激活美国的计算机芯片制造业，以确保全球竞争优势，并进一步加强国家安全。此外，三个地点之间的学生参与计划用于科学和文化交流，以及未被充分代表的群体，女性和第一代学生参与追求研究生教育和研究事业。技术摘要本指南计划将继续富有成效的美国国家科学基金会与爱尔兰的合作伙伴关系，该伙伴关系在达拉斯大学（UTD）、廷德尔国家研究所（TNI）和贝尔法斯特女王大学（QUB）之间持续了十多年。此次合作将为电介质和铁电材料在氧化镓（Ga2O3）上的沉积和表征提供基本的理解，用于功率晶体管和存储器应用。本提案的目标是对影响ga2o3基电子器件行为的界面和材料性质进行系统的探索和基本的理解。我们将结合建模和仿真来指导实验，并提供材料和电子特性之间的理解和相关性。加入高k氧化物增加了晶体管的击穿场强，并改善了垂直晶体管的沟道区域调制。此外，在Ga2O3上使用铁电材料将使极端环境，非易失性存储器能够承受高温（宽带隙）和辐射暴露（基于铁电而不是介电电荷的存储器开关）。此外，探索具有高k氧化物的低温沉积Ga2O3将详细说明三维单片集成的关键信息，这可能需要后端线，低温制造。对本体介电介质和相关界面特性的基本器件理解对于实现比现有功率晶体管更快的开关频率、更好的效率以及更高的温度和电场工作能力的功率晶体管至关重要。提供一种有效评估器件体系结构中的电活性缺陷的方法，将使该领域的工作人员能够开发方法并预测性能和可靠性。此外，推进对如何恰当地将这些拟议材料结合在一起的理解，将有助于执行一项两党计划，通过悬而未决的立法，重新激活美国的计算机芯片制造业，以确保全球竞争优势，并进一步加强国家安全。此外，三个地点之间的学生参与计划用于科学和文化交流，以及未被充分代表的群体，女性和第一代学生参与追求研究生教育和研究事业。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical AbstractThis NSF project aims to continue over a decade of partnerships with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is to investigate a relatively new semiconductor known as gallium oxide to transform power electronics for systems and applications that go far beyond current state of the art for these power transistors that can also function in extreme environments. This will be determined by evaluating how this semiconductor can be introduced into mainstream chip manufacturing while achieving gallium oxide’s expected performance. The intellectual merits of this project include evaluation of gallium oxide combined with insultating or magnetic materials to attempt to realize the promise if this relatively new semiconducting material for applications in power transistors and extreme environment memory. In addition, the proposed research will explore what is happening when these materials join together. The interface that forms between the materials is critical to achieving the theoretically predicted device performance since this interface is assumed to be ideal. Therefore, non-ideal interfaces can have adverse effects that impede eventual chip performance. Therefore, this tri-lateral research team will fundamentally investigate these materials and interfaces to determine performance, and should the expected performance not be met, provide an explanation for why devices are underperforming. Then, the team can either solve what is causing the performance degradation or provide predictive models that can project when the device degradation becomes sufficient enough to render the device as having failed. The implications of these findings from the project will enable a broad range of technological advances in clean energy, wireless communications, optoelectronics, power grids, and defense by enabling technologies inaccessible to current, mainstream power transistors. Furthermore, advancing the understanding how to properly bring these proposed materials together will help enable execution of a bipartisan plan through pending legislation to reenergize computer chip manufacturing here in the United States to ensure a global competitive advantage and further enhance national security. In addition, student engagement between the 3 locations is planned for scientific and cultural exchanges along with underrepresented groups, women, and first generation student engagement on pursuing graduate education and research careers.Technical AbstractThis proposed GUIDE program will continue a productive NSF US-Ireland partnership that has lasted more than a decade between UT-Dallas (UTD), the Tyndall National Institute (TNI), and Queen’s Univ. Belfast (QUB). The partnership will provide fundamental understanding in the deposition and characterization of dielectric and ferroelectric materials on gallium oxide (Ga2O3) for use in power transistors and memory applications. The goal of this proposal is the methodical exploration and fundamental understanding of interface and material properties that influence the behavior of Ga2O3-based electron devices. We will incorporate modeling and simulation to steer experimentation and to provide understanding and correlation between material and electronic properties. Incorporating high-k oxides increases the breakdown field strength of the transistor and improves channel region modulation in vertical transistors. In addition, having a ferroelectric material on Ga2O3 will enable extreme environment, non-volatile memory that can withstand high temperatures (wide bandgap) and radiation exposure (memory switching based on ferroelectricity rather dielectric charges). Furthermore, exploring low-temperature deposited Ga2O3 with high-k oxides will detail critical information for three-dimensional monolithic integration that may require backend-of-line, low temperature fabrication. Fundamental device understanding of the bulk dielectric and associated interface properties is critical to realizing power transistors with faster switching frequencies, better efficiency, and high temperature and electric field operation than current power transistors. Providing an approach to effectively evaluate electrically active defects within the device architecture will enable methodology development and forecast performance and reliability for those working in this field. Furthermore, advancing the understanding how to properly bring these proposed materials together will help enable execution of a bipartisan plan through pending legislation to reenergize computer chip manufacturing here in the United States to ensure a global competitive advantage and further enhance national security. In addition, student engagement between the 3 locations is planned for scientific and cultural exchanges along with underrepresented groups, women, and first-generation student engagement on pursuing graduate education and research careers.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.