Compound Semiconductor Underpinning Equipment

化合物半导体（CS）材料是现代社会核心的关键使能技术。它们是5G网络、新型节能照明、智能手机、卫星通信系统、下一代电动汽车电力电子和新成像技术等发展的核心。简而言之，这些技术支持我们的互联世界，我们的健康，我们的安全和环境。这些技术的下一代只能通过CS制造的一步变化来实现，我们的目标是英国成为CS制造研究的中心。这不仅本身是一项重要的活动，而且还将支持所有这些重要领域的系统研究人员。这一步的变化将通过将硅的制造原理和方法应用于化合物半导体以及将CS与硅相结合来实现。这包括开发集成的外延生长和处理，并进行关键产量和可靠性分析;建立CS器件生产的新标准，保证每周晶圆开工数量，通过IT基础设施进行基于统计的关键工艺控制和开发;解决了在晶片尺寸放大中的科学和制造挑战，直径为150- 200 mm的GaAs基和GaN基材料的生长和制造，并将其应用于现有和开发的先进工艺;引入多项目晶圆文化（这是硅世界的标准）以分担成本，并鼓励学术界和中小企业广泛使用较大的晶圆。这种方法的关键是表征设备，其可以在线（在制造过程中）使用，并且可以在我们将使用的较大（直径高达200 mm）的CS晶片上使用。该提案是为了增加卡迪夫大学和合作伙伴在外延生长和制造基础设施和设备方面已经进行的大量投资。我们还要求设备允许高质量的绝缘层被沉积，这将使多项目晶圆方法产生世界领先的性能，为我们的英国电路和系统设计师访问。

Compound Semiconductor (CS) materials are a Key Enabling Technology at the heart of modern society. They are central to the development of, for example, the 5G network, new energy efficient lighting, smart phones, satellite communications systems, power electronics for the next generation of electric vehicles and new imaging techniques. Simply put, these technologies support our connected world, our health, our security and the environment. The next generation of these technologies can only be achieved with a step change in CS manufacturing and we aim to the UK at the centre of this CS manufacturing research. This is not only important activity in its own right but will also support systems researchers in all of these important fields. The step change will be achieved by applying the manufacturing disciplines and approaches of Silicon to Compound Semiconductors and by combining CS with Silicon. This includes developing integrated epitaxial growth and processing with critical yield and reliability analysis; establishing new standards for CS device production, with a guaranteed number of wafer starts per week for key statistical based process control and development via IT infrastructure; solving the scientific and manufacturing challenges in wafer size scale-up combining large scale, 150-200mm diameter growth and fabrication for GaAs based and GaN based materials and apply this to existing and developed advanced processes; introducing a multi-project wafer culture (as is the norm in the silicon world) to share costs and encourage the widespread use of larger wafers by academics and SMEs.Critical to this approach is the characterisation equipment, which can be used in-line (during the manufacturing process) and over the larger (up to 200mm diameter) CS wafers we will utilise. This proposal is for this characterisation equipment to add to the large investment already made by Cardiff University and partners in epitaxial growth and fabrication infrastructure and equipment. We also ask for apparatus to allow high quality insulating layers to be deposited, which will enable the multi-project wafer approach to produce world leading performance, for access by our UK based circuit and system designers.