Equipment for the development of nitride-based nanoscale electronic, photonic, and biosensing devices on a si platform

氮化物化合物半导体，包括GaN、InN、AlN及其合金，已成为固态照明、大功率高温电子器件、光伏、芯片级光通信和生物传感器的首选材料。最近，申请人和其他研究人员提出并进一步证明，可以在高度晶格失配的硅衬底上外延生长包括量子点和纳米线在内的几乎无缺陷的纳米级异质结构，从而为在硅平台上实现氮化物基纳米级电子、光子和生物传感器件开辟了令人兴奋的可能性。在这方面，麦吉尔大学的一群研究人员，包括材料生长(Z.Mi)、光伏(I.Shih)、光通信(A.Kirk)、基因组学(R.Sladek)、器件设计和理论(H.Guo)、材料表征和物理(G.Gervais和P.Grütter)以及MEMS和CMOS电子学(V.Chodavarapu)的专家，已经启动了一系列以氮化物为基础的纳米半导体的研究项目，其中五个项目由NSERC战略项目补助金计划资助。然而，由于缺乏合适的氮化物外延生长系统，我们的研究进展受到了严重的限制。MI已经建立了分子束外延(MBE)生长基础设施，该基础设施非常适合我们的所有研究工作，但缺少两个关键组件：高性能氮等离子体源和硅渗出室。因此，获得这些部件可以显著加快我们的研究进度。据我们所知，这也将导致加拿大第一个氮化物和硅基MBE系统，这将为学生创造一个动态的培训环境，并立即使加拿大在具有重要技术意义的氮化物材料、器件和系统方面名列前茅。

Nitride compound semiconductors, including GaN, InN, AlN, and their alloys, have emerged as the materials of choice for solid state lighting, high power and high temperature electronic devices, photovoltaics, chip-level optical communications and bio-sensors. Recently, it has been proposed, and further demonstrated by the applicant and other researchers, that nearly defect-free nanoscale heterostructures, including quantum dots and nanowires, can be epitaxially grown on highly lattice mismatched Si substrates, thereby opening up the exciting possibility for realizing nitride-based nanoscale electronic, photonic, and biosensing devices on a Si platform. In this regard, a group of researchers at McGill University, consisting of experts in materials growth (Z. Mi), photovoltaics (I. Shih), optical communications (A. Kirk), genomics (R. Sladek), device design and theory (H. Guo), materials characterization and physics (G. Gervais and P. Grütter), and MEMs and CMOS electronics (V. Chodavarapu) have initiated a range of research projects centered on nitride-based nanoscale semiconductors, among which five projects are being funded by NSERC Strategic Project Grants Program. However, progress in our research has been severely limited by the lack of a suitable nitride epitaxial growth system. Mi has established a molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth infrastructure, which is perfectly suited for all of our research effort except that two critical components are missing: a high performance nitrogen plasma source and a Si effusion cell. The acquisition of these components can therefore significantly accelerate our research progress. To the best of our knowledge, it will also lead to the first nitride and silicon based MBE system in Canada, which will create a dynamic training environment for students and immediately put Canada on the map for the technologically important nitride-based materials, devices, and systems.