Collaborative Research: Scalable Nanomanufacturing Platform for Area-Selective Atomic Layer Deposition of Components for Ultra-Efficient Functional Devices

预计到2040年，光电器件的总能耗将超过全球能源产量，除非光电器件的设计和制造发生根本性的变化，并大幅提高其性能。该基金支持的研究有助于缓解这一挑战，通过开拓创新的制造方法，实现新颖高效的三维芯片设计，而不依赖于传统芯片架构的不可持续的小型化。这样的三维结构只有通过新的自下而上的制造工艺才能实现，这种制造工艺通过原子精确和自对齐的设备组件定位，以增材方式构建和组装设备。目前自上而下的制造既没有利用节能的化学过程，也没有利用自发的分子和原子自组织现象，可以减少芯片组件的尺寸。本研究的目标是开发一个连续的、节能的制造平台，用于自下而上的沉积和光电器件组件的高分辨率图像化。该项目影响了广泛的研究领域，包括电子、传感、催化和光学技术，以及未来制造业劳动力的培训。这项研究的结果对美国经济和社会产生了积极的影响，带来了巨大的价值和增长潜力。实现原子精确、自下而上制造超高效电子、光子和量子器件的关键技术依赖于原子层沉积和原子层蚀刻的区域选择方法。本研究解决了阻碍这些技术广泛实施的主要挑战，将通用抗蚀剂材料、原位抗蚀剂再生和通用光致抗蚀剂图像化集成到一个单一的连续制造过程中，该过程与各种基材和化学物质兼容，而无需进行重大优化。当前的区域选择性原子层沉积依赖于高度依赖于衬底的抗蚀剂材料和图像化方法。假设原子层沉积试剂和抗蚀剂之间的相互作用基本上可以独立于衬底结构和化学性质。这种模式从根本上改变了技术方法，通过使用通用的小分子亚稳定物质，如碳烯和亚硝基烯，而不是目前使用的特定基质的抗蚀剂来产生抗蚀剂。这些物种的高反应性克服了抗蚀剂沉积和再生的扩散问题，适用于各种材料，在广泛的条件下有用，并且易于复制，因为化学过程是可量化和可扩展的。此外，这种小分子抗蚀剂适用于可以原位进行的普遍的光启动图案化步骤。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。

The total energy consumption by opto-electronic devices is predicted to surpass the global energy production by the year 2040 unless radical changes are made in their design and manufacturing and large improvements in their performance. This grant supports research that helps to alleviate this challenge by pioneering an innovative manufacturing approach that enables novel and highly efficient three-dimensional chip designs that do not rely on unsustainable miniaturization of the traditional chip architectures. Such three-dimensional architectures are only accessible via new bottom-up manufacturing processes that build and assemble devices in an additive manner via atomically precise and self-aligned positioning of the device components. Current top-down manufacturing does not leverage energy-efficient chemical processes that can significantly reduce manufacturing energy requirements, nor does it benefit from spontaneous molecular and atomic self-organization phenomena that can reduce the size of the chip components. The goal of this research is to develop a continuous, energy-efficient manufacturing platform for bottom-up deposition and high-resolution patterning of opto-electronic device components. The project impacts a broad range of research fields, including electronics, sensing, catalysis, and optical technology as well as training of the future manufacturing workforce. The results of this research positively impact the U.S. economy and society, delivering significant value and growth potential.The key technologies for enabling atomically precise, bottom-up manufacturing of ultra-efficient electronic, photonic and quantum devices depend on area-selective methods for atomic layer deposition and atomic layer etching. This research addresses the main challenges that preclude widespread implementation of these techniques by integrating universal resist materials, in-situ resist regeneration, and universal photo-initiated resist patterning into a single and continuous manufacturing process that is compatible with a variety of substrates and chemistries without significant optimization. Current area-selective atomic layer deposition relies on resist materials and patterning methods that are highly substrate dependent. The hypothesis is that interactions between atomic layer deposition reagents and resists can essentially be independent from the substrate structure and chemistry. This paradigm fundamentally changes the technological approach by generating the resists using universal small-molecule meta-stable species, such as carbenes and nitrenes, instead of substrate-specific resists that are currently being used. The high reactivity of these species overcomes the diffusion problems with resist deposition and regeneration, is applicable to a variety of materials, is useful within a wide range of conditions, and is easily reproduced, as the chemical processes are quantifiable and scalable. Moreover, such small molecule resists are amenable to universal photo-initiated patterning steps that can be performed in-situ.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.