SBIR Phase II: Rapid-scanning Ultrafast Imaging Microscope for Material Inspection

这个小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目将解决提高化合物半导体器件生产良率的广泛行业挑战。具有宽带隙的化合物半导体需要用于电动汽车（EV）中的高功率器件、5G电子产品中的高频元件和节能显示器。化合物半导体市场在2022年的价值为360多亿美元，最近随着消费者对电动汽车需求的增长而增长。 碳化硅（SiC）半导体是最重要的器件，其年增长率估计超过20%。尽管在一个期望制造接近完美的行业中这些元件的大规模生产，但电力电子元件的当前成品率低于50%。良率差主要是由于不能充分检查用于电力电子的衬底和外延晶片。相反，该行业目前依赖于缺陷选择性差的检查工具或只能提供关于晶片批次中缺陷的统计信息的破坏性方法。为了提高晶圆产量，该团队将开发一种新型的光学检测工具，用于选择性地测量每个晶圆中的缺陷。如果成功的话，这种新的检测技术将使该行业能够帮助降低成本，提高节能电力电子设备的性能。该项目的智力价值在于，将为基础科学开发的技术应用于快速半导体检测的新方法。所提出的方法称为超快成像，利用超快激光诱导的半导体的非线性光学响应来隔离可测量地影响半导体电子结构的缺陷。虽然半导体行业通常专注于测量形态以发现缺陷，但化合物半导体的测量需要对电子结构敏感的工具。该项目将通过对行业标准的基准测试来验证超快成像，并开发一种易于使用的设备，以便将这项技术交给制造商。合作伙伴制造和检测公司将提供检测数据和相应的晶圆，允许超快成像缺陷测量与其他行业工具提供的数据相关联。此外，该团队还将为用户设施和工业研发设施开发和演示易于使用的商业产品，这是开发高通量检测工具的另一个重要步骤。这款台式产品不仅将改进当前的半导体技术，而且还将有助于科学家表征下一代半导体。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will address the widespread industry challenge of improving yield in compound semiconductor device production. Compound semiconductors with a wide bandgap are needed for high power devices in electric vehicles (EVs), high frequency components in 5G electronics, and energy-efficient displays. The compound semiconductor market, valued at $36+ billion in 2022, has increased recently with growing consumer demand for EVs. The annual growth rate of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, the most prominent devices, is estimated at over 20%. Despite the wide-scale production of these components in an industry that expects near perfection in manufacturing, the current yield of power electronic components is less than 50%. Poor yield results largely from an inability to adequately inspect substrates and epitaxial wafers used for power electronics. Instead, the industry currently relies on inspection tools with poor defect selectivity or destructive methods that can only provide statistical information about the defects in a wafer batch. To increase wafer yield, the team will develop a new type of optical inspection tool for selectively measuring defects in every wafer. If successful, this novel inspection technology will enable the industry to help drive down costs and increase performance of energy-efficient power electronics.The intellectual merit of this project is the novel way in which technology developed for use in fundamental science is being applied to rapid semiconductor inspection. The proposed method, called ultrafast imaging, uses the nonlinear optical response of a semiconductor induced by an ultrafast laser to isolate defects that measurably impact the electronic structure of the semiconductor. Though the semiconductor industry has typically focused on measuring morphology to find defects, measurement of compound semiconductors requires a tool that is sensitive to the electronic structure. This project will validate ultrafast imaging through benchmark testing against industry standards and develop an easy-to-use device for getting this technology into the hands of manufacturers. Partner manufacturing and inspection companies will provide inspection data and corresponding wafers, allowing correlation of ultrafast imaging defect measurements with data provided by other industry tools. Additionally, the team will develop and demonstrate an easy-to-use commercial product for user facilities and industrial research and development facilities, another essential step in the development of a high-throughput inspection tool. This benchtop product will not only improve current semiconductor technologies but will also be useful for scientists to characterize the next generation of semiconductors.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.