Manufacturing scalable semiconductor quantum light sources

通过晶体管、二极管激光器、集成电路和传感器的发明，半导体已经彻底改变了我们周围的世界。新一波半导体量子技术正在超安全通信、增强成像、传感，甚至可能是计算和模拟方面找到商业应用。在所有这些情况下，“量子优势”在理论上和实验上都得到了证明，但迫切需要一种可扩展的、实用的、高效的量子光源。在室温下，被称为“色心”的自然点状光源在金刚石、碳化硅、氮化硼和氮化镓（GaN）等宽带隙半导体中充当量子光源。在商业上，氮化镓现在主导着固态照明市场，因为它是一种高效且可制造的材料，导致每个LED的成本不到一美元。然而，氮化镓也是一种很有前途的量子光源材料，因为它内部的色中心可以从紫外线发射到近红外线。这个宽范围意味着发射与光纤（1310和1550纳米）的吸收曲线的最小值重叠，在最好的原子量子存储器（近800纳米）中的跃迁和蓝色的低损耗自由空间通信。此外，通过在半导体内设计异质结构，可以电驱动发射极，快速切换器件并设计提高效率的结构。该奖学金将应用在化合物半导体制造领域广泛使用的制造技术，如大面积外延和晶圆级加工，以提供基于GaN的明亮室温量子发光二极管。我将使用激光光刻，标准化包装和质量控制，以确保最终设备的生产方式能够扩大到大规模生产，并在英国拥有完整的供应链。与英国半导体行业合作，促进设备的增长和封装，并使用安装在卡迪夫大学的加工设施，将促进工业界和学术界之间的双向知识交流。我在Imperial-Agilent和Toshiba-Cambridge的这种合作经验使我非常有资格管理这种互动。通过资助我在未来5年投入大量时间进行研究，该项目将提供高影响力的研究，并为英国未来的繁荣和技术知识建立一个平台。

Semiconductors have already revolutionised the world around us through the inventions of the transistor, diode lasers, integrated circuits and sensors. A new wave of semiconductor quantum technologies are finding commercial applications in ultra-secure communications, enhanced imaging, sensing, and possibly even computing and simulations. In all these cases the "quantum advantage" is theoretically proven and experimentally demonstrated, but there is a strong need for a scalable, practical and efficient source of quantum light. Naturally occurring point-like light sources called "colour centres" act as quantum light sources in wide bandgap semiconductors such as diamond, Silicon Carbide, Boron Nitride and Gallium Nitride (GaN) at room temperature. Commercially, GaN now dominates the market for solid state lighting, because it is an efficient and manufacturable material, leading to costs of less than one dollar per LED. However, Gallium-Nitride is also a promising material for quantum light sources as the colour centres within it emit from the ultra-violet to the near infra-red. This wide range means the emission overlaps with minima in the absorption curves of optical fibres (1310 and 1550 nm), transitions in the best atomic quantum memories (near 800nm) and low loss free-space communications in the blue. Furthermore, by engineering heterostructures within the semiconductor it is possible to electrically drive the emitter, rapidly switch the device and design efficiency-enhancing structures. This fellowship will apply manufacturing techniques widespread in the compound semiconductor manufacturing field, such as large area epitaxy and wafer scale processing, to deliver a bright and room temperature quantum light-emitting diode based on GaN. I will use laser lithography, standardised packaging and quality control to ensure the end device is produced in a manner that enables scale up to mass-production, with the full supply chain within the UK. Collaboration with the UK semiconductor industry for growth and packaging of devices, and use of processing facilities installed at Cardiff University, will foster two-way knowledge exchange between industry and academia. My experience of this type of collaboration at Imperial-Agilent and at Toshiba-Cambridge, makes me uniquely well-qualified to manage this interaction. By funding me to devote a significant amount of my time to research for the next 5 years this project will deliver high impact research and build a platform for future UK prosperity and technological know-how.