Displacement Talbot Lithography: accelerating a versatile and low-cost patterning technique for precision manufacturing

在过去的50年里，社会受益于电子设备变得越来越小。制造如此小的设备的挑战意味着这些工艺的成本大幅增加，以至于最新的非常小功能的“打印机”的成本高达1亿美元。只有少数大批量产品才能承受这样的成本。然而，新的物理学可能会出现，材料可以在最小的尺度上具有新的性质-纳米尺度。因此，为了让社会更广泛地使用这些材料，我们需要开发出制造小型材料和设备的更便宜的方法。否则，它们是不可行的，对它们提供的机会的研究也将受到限制。这项提议是关于扩展最近开发的一种名为位移Talbot光刻的技术，该技术利用光的干涉来制造非常小的图案。然后，我们将把它与其他工艺相结合，例如原子层沉积，允许材料可控制地涂覆单独的原子层，以进一步减小图案尺寸。这项技术令人兴奋，因为它结合了低成本和高产量，并且可以相对容易地扩展到大范围，以进一步提高可制造性；对于大规模生产它们并在社会上广泛使用非常重要。作为一种新技术，它的潜力还相对未知。然后，我们将把这种图案化技术应用于先进材料的制造，这种材料可以将基于硅的传统电子学与光通信相结合。虽然硅是制造电子产品的一种成熟材料，但它对光线的管理很差。通过在硅上直接生长磷化铟等优良光学材料的晶体，我们将结合这两种材料的最佳性能，制造出一种工程超级材料。但这只能通过使用置换Talbot光刻可能实现的非常精细的图案来经济高效地完成。为了实现这些目标，巴斯大学和卡迪夫大学正在结合他们的专业知识并共同努力。巴斯的研究人员是大面积纳米制造方面的专家，而卡迪夫的研究人员则是用于光通信的III-V族半导体晶体生长方面的专家。我们还将与有兴趣和能力利用这一成果并拥有更广泛的行业联系以向供应链上游传递好处的英国制造业合作：Newport Wafer Fab是一家先进的半导体加工厂，目前拥有国际整流公司、摩托罗拉、三星和STM作为其客户，而务实半导体是超低成本柔性电子产品的世界领先者。

Over the past 50 years, society has benefitted from electronic devices getting smaller and smaller. The challenge of making such small devices has meant that the processes have increased dramatically in cost, to the extent that the latest 'printer' of very small features costs up to $100M. Only a small number of high-volume products can sustain such a cost. Nevertheless, new physics can occur, and materials can have novel properties at the smallest scales - the nanoscale. So, for society to use these more widely, we need to develop cheaper ways of making small materials and devices. Otherwise, they are unviable, and research into the opportunities that they provide will be limited.This proposal is about extending a recently developed technique called Displacement Talbot Lithography that uses the interference of light to make very small patterns. We will then combine it with other processes, such as atomic layer deposition that allows materials to be controllably coated with individual layers of atoms, to further decrease the pattern size. The technique is exciting because it combines low-cost with high yield and can be scaled relatively easily to large areas, to further increase manufacturability; important for them to be produced at the scale to be used in society at large. Being a new technique, its potential is still relatively unknown.We will then apply the patterning technique to the manufacture of advanced materials that can combine conventional electronics based on silicon with optical communications. Whilst silicon is a mature material for making electronics, it manages light poorly. By growing crystals of good optical materials such as indium phosphide directly on silicon we will combine the optimum properties of both materials to make an engineered super-material. But this can only be done cost-effectively by using the very fine patterning that is possible with Displacement Talbot Lithography.To achieve these goals, the University of Bath and Cardiff University are combining their expertise and working together. Researchers at Bath are experts in large area nanofabrication whilst those at Cardiff are experts in growing group III-V semiconductor crystals for use in optical communications. We will also be partnering with UK manufacturing industry who have the interest and ability to exploit the results and have the wider industry connections to pass on the benefits up the supply chain: Newport Wafer Fab is an advanced semiconductor processing facility that currently boasts International Rectifier, Motorola, Samsung, STM as its clients, whilst PragmatIC Semiconductor is a world leader in ultra-low-cost flexible electronics.