BRITE Fellow: Semiconductor Evolution via Manufacturing Innovation (SEMI)

这项促进工程变革和公平进步的研究思路（BRITE）研究员资助支持与半导体制造工艺有关的新知识的研究，促进科学进步和促进国家繁荣。虽然全球半导体市场总体强劲，半导体是美国重要的出口产品，但美国在全球半导体制造业中的份额预计将继续下降。作为重建国内半导体制造的一种方法，这项研究工作的愿景是超越现有的有机或无机制造电子材料的范式，并拥抱混合半导体（包括无机和有机材料）的多功能性和功能性。向混合半导体的演变可以通过结合两种成分的不同特性来减轻任何单一材料类型存在的缺点，从而重塑美国半导体制造业。混合半导体以新方式将多功能、灵活性、透明度和可持续性集成到器件中的潜力可以实现下一代电子产品。这一努力所需的制造业创新的预期回报与国家的需求一致，即实现新的国内半导体能力和发展高技能和受过良好教育的劳动力。实现这一愿景的指导原则包括可持续性；多样性、公平和包容；支持K-12教育，以培养未来所需的人力资源。由两种或多种具有根本不同性质的材料组成的非均质系统的薄膜沉积是一个关键挑战，但这种能力可以实现新的混合半导体技术。现有的最先进的混合半导体薄膜沉积方法主要使用基于溶液的加工，如喷墨印刷。这些方法受到成分控制、实现单片异质结构以及与各种材料和衬底的兼容性的挑战。本研究旨在将基于实验室的薄膜沉积技术——共振红外基质辅助脉冲激光蒸发（RIR-MAPLE）——转化为可扩展的制造技术。在RIR-MAPLE工艺中，目标溶液或乳剂被冷冻，这样基质溶剂（包括气相）的升华就会释放出一束目标液滴到基材上。为了实现工业规模的可控、可重复和高通量的RIR-MAPLE工艺，本工作研究了将RIR-MAPLE转化为精确、可扩展方法所需的基础科学。这项工作探讨了监测和反馈通过光谱椭偏仪；将膜厚均匀性扩展到更大的区域，以获得更高的吞吐量；并确定控制薄膜沉积的最大背景压力。本研究涉及复杂材料的研究，包括杂化有机-无机钙钛矿、杂化有机纳米复合材料和金属-有机框架（MOFs）。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。

This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Fellow grant supports research that contributes new knowledge related to a semiconductor manufacturing process, promoting both the progress of science and advancing national prosperity. While the total global semiconductor market is strong and semiconductors represent an important US export, the US share of global semiconductor manufacturing is predicted to continually decline. As an approach to rebuild domestic semiconductor manufacturing, the vision of this research work is to transcend the existing paradigm of manufactured electronic materials being either organic or inorganic and to embrace the versatility and functionality of hybrid semiconductors (comprising both inorganic and organic materials). The evolution to hybrid semiconductors could mitigate disadvantages that exist for any single material type by combining the disparate characteristics of both constituents, and in so doing, reinvent US semiconductor manufacturing. The potential for hybrid semiconductors to incorporate multi-functionality, flexibility, transparency, and sustainability in devices in new ways can enable next generation electronics. Anticipated rewards of the manufacturing innovation required for this endeavor align with national needs of enabling new domestic semiconductor capabilities and developing a highly skilled and educated workforce. Guiding principles to implement this vision include sustainability; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and support of K-12 education to develop the human resources needed in the future. Thin-film deposition of heterogeneous systems comprising two or more materials with fundamentally different properties is a critical challenge, yet this capability could enable new hybrid semiconductor technologies. Existing state-of-the-art approaches to film deposition of hybrid semiconductors primarily use solution-based processing, such as inkjet printing. These approaches are subject to challenges of composition control, achieving monolithic heterostructures, and compatibility with a wide range of materials and substrates. This research is to translate lab-based discoveries of a film deposition technique, resonant infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation or RIR-MAPLE, into a scalable manufacturing technology. In the RIR-MAPLE process, target solutions or emulsions are frozen such that sublimation of a matrix solvent (involving vapor-phase) releases a plume of target droplets onto a substrate. To achieve an industrial-scale RIR-MAPLE process that is controllable, reproducible, and high-throughput, this work investigates the basic science necessary to transition RIR-MAPLE into a precise, scalable method. This work explores monitoring and feedback via spectroscopic ellipsometry; extends film thickness uniformity to larger area for higher throughput; and determines maximum background pressure for controlled film deposition. This research involves the study of complex materials, including hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, hybrid organic nanocomposites, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).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.