FINER: Future thermal Imaging with Nanometre Enhanced Resolution

FINER：具有纳米增强分辨率的未来热成像

• 批准号: EP/V057626/1
• 负责人: Martin Kuball
• 金额: $ 88.06万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV057626%2F1
• 关键词: FINER; Future; thermal; Imaging; Nanometre

The ever-increasing combined carbon footprint of information and communications technology (ICT) is unsustainable - more efficient devices must be developed. Thermal characterisation, which feeds into design optimisation, is one of the key steps for ensuring the efficiency and reliable operation of the new electronic devices being developed. However, accurately measuring the temperature of leading-edge electronic devices is becoming increasingly difficult or impossible because of their small size, and that is the challenge addressed in this proposal. Wide bandgap electronic devices including GaN have great proven potential for the next generation of sustainable ICT and power electronics, contributing to the needed carbon emissions reduction. Miniaturization is one of the routes to further increase the efficiency and performance of wide bandgap electronic devices, decreasing the active region size to <200 nm, similar to the technology pathway that silicon (Si) electronics has taken, using concepts such as the FinFET. Thermal management, which is the efficient extraction of waste heat from the active part of the device, is especially important for achieving efficient reliable nanoscale electronic devices; thermal resistance increases as they are "scaled" to nanometre dimensions because of a thermal conductivity reduction and heat confinement in 3-D device structures, e.g. in a fin shape. While self-heating can be mitigated reasonably easily for lower power density Si FinFETs, it is potentially a significant roadblock for "scaled" wide bandgap devices which operate at enormous power densities. However there is currently no thermal imaging technique with a sufficiently high spatial resolution (e.g. Raman thermography has a diffraction limited resolution of about 0.5 micrometer, >10x the hotspot size) to be able to accurately measure the hotspot temperature of these novel nanoscale wide bandgap electronic devices. Instead we currently rely on complex electrothermal models to estimate the temperature of nanoscale devices, with inherent uncertainties - measurement is needed.A step change is required, namely a sub diffraction limit (super resolution) thermal imaging technique, which is addressed by the Future thermal Imaging with Nanometre Enhanced Resolution (FINER) project. We will develop a transformative nano quantum dot based thermal imaging (nQTI) technique to deliver nanometre resolution thermal imaging for the first time. To demonstrate the newly developed technique our application focus is on scaled wide bandgap electronic devices supplied by our national and international partners, however this technique will be widely applicable. Quantum dots are ideal for this application: They can be deposited as a nm-thickness film on the surface of the device being tested, and the emission colour is temperature dependent, which is what we exploit for thermal imaging. Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) and Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) super-resolution techniques which were originally developed for fluorescence microscopy, but are presently unsuitable for thermal imaging, will be exploited to achieve a resolution as small as 50nm for nQTI. nQTI will enable nano-scale electrothermal models to be developed and experimentally verified. Accurate models will further our understanding of nano-scale self-heating and heat diffusion, feeding back into improved device designs and novel thermal management solutions. This work will be done at the Centre for Device Thermography and Reliability (CDTR) which has an international reputation for being at the forefront of high spatial and temporal resolution thermal imaging, pioneering Raman thermography. This expertise makes the CDTR ideally placed to deliver this project successfully. The generous industrial support for this programme demonstrates that there is a great need for this and their belief in our ability to successfully deliver it.

信息和通信技术 (ICT) 不断增加的综合碳足迹是不可持续的 - 必须开发更高效的设备。热特性分析有助于设计优化，是确保正在开发的新型电子设备高效和可靠运行的关键步骤之一。然而，由于尖端电子设备的尺寸较小，精确测量其温度变得越来越困难或不可能，这就是本提案要解决的挑战。事实证明，包括 GaN 在内的宽带隙电子器件在下一代可持续 ICT 和电力电子领域具有巨大潜力，有助于减少所需的碳排放。小型化是进一步提高宽带隙电子器件效率和性能的途径之一，将有源区域尺寸减小至 <200 nm，类似于硅 (Si) 电子器件采用 FinFET 等概念所采用的技术路径。热管理，即从设备的有源部分有效提取废热，对于实现高效可靠的纳米级电子设备尤为重要；由于热导率降低和 3-D 器件结构（例如器件）中的热限制，热阻随着它们“缩放”到纳米尺寸而增加。呈鳍状。虽然对于较低功率密度的 Si FinFET 来说，自热可以很容易地得到缓解，但对于在巨大功率密度下运行的“规模化”宽带隙器件来说，它可能是一个重大障碍。然而，目前还没有具有足够高空间分辨率的热成像技术（例如拉曼热成像的衍射极限分辨率约为0.5微米，>热点尺寸的10倍）能够精确测量这些新型纳米级宽带隙电子器件的热点温度设备。相反，我们目前依靠复杂的电热模型来估计纳米级器件的温度，具有固有的不确定性 - 需要测量。需要一个阶跃改变，即亚衍射极限（超分辨率）热成像技术，这是由未来热成像技术解决的纳米增强分辨率成像 (FINER) 项目。我们将开发一种变革性的基于纳米量子点的热成像（nQTI）技术，首次提供纳米分辨率的热成像。为了演示新开发的技术，我们的应用重点是由我们的国内和国际合作伙伴提供的按比例缩放的宽带隙电子器件，但该技术将广泛适用。量子点非常适合这种应用：它们可以作为纳米厚度的薄膜沉积在被测试设备的表面上，并且发射颜色与温度相关，这就是我们在热成像中所利用的。结构照明显微镜 (SIM) 和受激发射损耗 (STED) 超分辨率技术最初是为荧光显微镜开发的，但目前不适用于热成像，将用于为 nQTI 实现小至 50 nm 的分辨率。 nQTI 将实现纳米级电热模型的开发和实验验证。准确的模型将进一步加深我们对纳米级自加热和热扩散的理解，反馈到改进的设备设计和新颖的热管理解决方案中。这项工作将在设备热成像和可靠性中心 (CDTR) 完成，该中心因处于高空间和时间分辨率热成像领域的前沿而享有国际声誉，开创了拉曼热成像技术。这种专业知识使 CDTR 成为成功交付该项目的理想选择。工业界对该计划的慷慨支持表明了对此的巨大需求以及他们对我们成功实现该计划的能力的信心。