I-Corps: Novel Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays for Radiofrequency Technologies

I-Corps：用于射频技术的新型对齐碳纳米管阵列

• 批准号: 2313213
• 负责人: Michael Arnold
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-15 至 2024-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313213&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Novel; Aligned; Carbon; Nanotube

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a new semiconductor material platform based on carbon nanotubes that has enormous potential to comprehensively address challenges related to wireless radio frequency communication and connectedness. Carbon nanotubes have long been viewed as a potential next-generation semiconductor that offers large performance and integration gains for radio frequency components, particularly in switches and devices that receive and amplify weak radio frequency signals. These components are heavily used in nearly every cell phone, WiFi, internet-of-things, and military communications device. Higher signal-to-noise, more complex and efficient antenna technologies, higher operating frequency with less signal distortion than incumbent semiconductors, and better integration are all expected, which will be essential for enabling faster and more energy efficient NextG technologies. With further development, carbon nanotubes will be poised to become the semiconducting material of choice in many mainstream electronic technologies, significantly disrupting the microelectronics and radio frequency industries in the US and worldwide. This I-Corps project is based on the development of methods for the precise deposition and alignment of semiconducting carbon nanotubes to leverage their exceptional properties for electronic applications. This carbon nanotube alignment technology overcomes persistent decades-long challenges (e.g., lack of alignment, metallic nanotube impurities, low nanotube packing densities) that have prevented the adoption of nanotubes for semiconductor radio frequency components and other electronic device applications. The alignment is achieved from an inherently scalable process that can easily be dropped into existing radio frequency semiconductor fabrication facilities and processes. Moreover, the room temperature alignment methods are fast and area-scalable (already demonstrated on 4-inch wafers), offering a simple adoption path into existing device fabrication methodologies that allows for direct transition from current materials. Aligned and dense arrays of carbon nanotubes are poised to deliver performance improvements for many different microelectronic devices that cannot be achieved by incumbent materials. One of the most promising applications is in radio frequency devices, which will be the specific market of interest in this project. Aligned nanotubes will more broadly have the potential to revolutionize semiconductor electronics by significantly improving the energy efficiency and speed of logic chips and the sensitivity of biosensors, among other applications.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.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发基于碳纳米管的新型半导体材料平台，该平台具有全面解决与无线射频通信和连接相关的挑战的巨大潜力。碳纳米管长期以来一直被视为潜在的下一代半导体，可为射频元件提供巨大的性能和集成增益，特别是在接收和放大微弱射频信号的开关和设备中。这些组件在几乎所有手机、WiFi、物联网和军事通信设备中大量使用。更高的信噪比、更复杂和更高效的天线技术、比现有半导体更高的工作频率和更少的信号失真以及更好的集成度都是人们所期望的，这对于实现更快、更节能的 NextG 技术至关重要。随着进一步发展，碳纳米管将成为许多主流电子技术中首选的半导体材料，极大地扰乱美国和全球的微电子和射频行业。该 I-Corps 项目基于开发半导体碳纳米管的精确沉积和排列方法，以利用其卓越的性能进行电子应用。这种碳纳米管排列技术克服了长达数十年的持续挑战（例如缺乏排列、金属纳米管杂质、低纳米管堆积密度），这些挑战阻碍了纳米管在半导体射频元件和其他电子设备应用中的采用。这种调整是通过固有的可扩展工艺实现的，该工艺可以轻松地融入现有的射频半导体制造设施和工艺中。此外，室温对准方法速度快且面积可扩展（已在 4 英寸晶圆上进行了演示），为现有器件制造方法提供了简单的采用路径，允许从当前材料直接过渡。排列整齐的密集碳纳米管阵列有望为许多不同的微电子设备带来现有材料无法实现的性能改进。最有前途的应用之一是射频设备，这将是该项目感兴趣的特定市场。对齐纳米管将通过显着提高逻辑芯片的能源效率和速度以及生物传感器的灵敏度等应用，在更广泛的范围内具有彻底改变半导体电子学的潜力。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。