Kurt Lesker PVD 75 System for Screening and Prototyping Long Carrier Lifetime Infrared Semiconductors
Abstract
Infrared (IR) semiconductor photodetectors are central to many DoD-related applications, such asnight-vision, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), optical remote sensing, and optical targeting systems. These semiconductors need to absorb infrared light as well as separate and transportoptically excited charges in a fast and efficient way. This requires high absorption coefficient, longcarrier lifetime, and high carrier mobility. HgCdTe (MCT) and InAs-based hetero-structures are the most commonly used IR semiconductors nowadays. They however have shown limits in termsof scalable processing and performances. Currently the PI and Co-PI at Dartmouth College arebeing supported by AFOSR EPSCoR project to identify novel IR semiconductors using firstprinciples computational materials modeling, which are then further screened and verifiedexperimentally ( Computationally-driven search for new infra-red absorbing semiconductors with long carrier lifetime. , Grant Number- FA9550-22-1-0355). Materials properties of interestare being computed for thousands of known semiconductors. This data is utilized to identify newIR absorber candidates with long carrier lifetime, high IR absorption, and high carrier mobility.These candidate materials will then be synthesized and screened experimentally to verify and refine the theoretical modeling. This aterials genome approach is entirely novel to the field ofIR detectors, offering an accelerated path to materials discovery towards new generations of high efficiency, high speed IR photodetectors and image sensors.High-throughput experimental synthesis and screening of the theoretically predicted new IRsemiconductors is a key factor to the success of this AFOSR EPSCoR project. While molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are mainstream synthesis tools for mature IR semiconductors, they lack the capability for efficiently screening and prototyping newones due to several limitations- (1) high cost and low throughput of MBE; (2) lack of gas precursorsfor CVD process for novel materials; and (3) cross-contamination concerns in developing newmaterials for both MBE and CVD, typically requiring expensive and dedicated new tools that costmillions of dollars. The requested Kurt J. Lesker Company PRO Line PVD 75 electron-beam(e-beam) evaporation system directly addresses this challenge in new material synthesis and screening. It is the next generation thin film deposition system platform specially designed forprototyping photovoltaics and semiconductor devices. It is also an ideal and flexible tool forefficient IR semiconductor thin film deposition, optoelectronic property screening and prototyping.The tool offers high vacuum, automated electron beam deposition control and substrate heating capability up to 800ºC to achieve high crystallinity IR semiconductor thin films. It also offers sixelectron gun pockets to test multiple candidate materials in the same
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310521
Entities
People
- Jifeng Liu
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College
- United States Air Force