Nano Terra: Creating Function at Surfaces Through the Application of Chemistry and Structure. A New Business Model for Platform Technology.
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Nano-Terra’s technology platform is centered on the precise and localized application of chemistry and structure at the nanoand micro-scales to improve or enable function at surfaces; Professor George Whitesides of Harvard developed this technology. This technology platform is unique over other competing technologies in that it has the potential to deploy over large areas, at low cost, on curved or flexible surfaces, and at high speed. In the transition from the microscale to the nanoscale, as engineering approaches reach certain limits, chemistry and its interplay with structure are critical to achieving higher function. Such a powerful portfolio cannot be commercialized through a conventional vertically integrated business model. We have developed a collaborative model that leverages our core technical strengths to develop new products and processes with partners who manufacture and market the proposed solutions. Incentives are aligned through deal structures and co-investments. We will review our business model and our core science along with examples of how we have created value for our partners.Keywords:
Microscale chemistry
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Timely technology transition with minimal risk requires an understanding of fundamental and technology limitations of material synthesis, device operation and design controllable parameters. However, this knowledge-based approach requires substantial investment of resources in the Science and Technology (ST) stage of development. For low volume niche semiconductor technologies of Department of Defense (DoD) relevance, there is little drive for industry to expend their limited resources towards basic research simply because there is no significant return on investment. As a result, technology transition from ST to product development is often delayed, expensive and carries risks. The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is addressing this problem by establishing a Center for Semiconductor Modeling of Materials and Devices (CSM) that brings together government, academia, and industry in a collaborative fashion to address research opportunities through its Open Campus initiative. This Center leverages combined core competencies of partner organizations, which include a broad knowledge base in modeling, and its validation; sharing of computational, characterization, materials growth and device processing resources; project continuity; and 'extension of the bench' via exchange of researchers between affiliated entities. A critical DoD technology is sensing in the infrared (IR) spectrum, where understanding of materials, devices and methods for sensing and processing IR information must continually improve to maintain superiority in combat. In this paper we focus on the historical evolution of IR technology and emphasize the need for understanding of material properties and device operation to accelerate innovation and shorten the cycle time, thereby ensuring timely transition of technology to product development and manufacturing. There are currently two competing IR technologies being pursued, namely the incumbent II-VI Hg1- xCdxTe technology and the III-V Type 2 Superlattices (SLs) technology. A goal of the CSM is to develop physics based models for Type 2 SLs with the capability to timely understand the knowledge gap between what is built and what is designed.
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While Sandia initially was motivated to investigate emergent microsystem technology to miniaturize existing macroscale structures, present designs embody innovative approaches that directly exploit the fundamentally different material properties of a new technology at the micro- and nano-scale. Direct, hands-on experience with the emerging technology gave Sandia engineers insights that not only guided the evolution of the technology but also enabled them to address new applications that enlarged the customer base for the new technology. Sandia's early commitment to develop complex microsystems demonstrated the advantages that early adopters gain by developing an extensive design and process tool kit and a shared awareness of multiple approaches to achieve the multiple goals. As with any emergent technology, Sandia's program benefited from interactions with the larger technical community. However, custom development followed a spiral path of direct trial-and-error experience, analysis, quantification of materials properties at the micro- and nano-scale, evolution of design tools and process recipes, and an understanding of reliability factors and failure mechanisms even in extreme environments. The microsystems capability at Sandia relied on three key elements. The first was people: a mix of mechanical and semiconductor engineers, chemists, physical scientists, designers, and numerical analysts. The second was a unique facility that enabled the development of custom technologies without contaminating mainline product deliveries. The third was the arrival of specialized equipment as part of a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) enabled by the National Competitiveness Technology Transfer Act of 1989. Underpinning all these, the program was guided and sustained through the research and development phases by accomplishing intermediate milestones addressing direct mission needs.
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Materials engineering, the ability to manipulate materials with atomic control on an industrial scale is the foundation for semiconductor technology innovations. It spans materials creation, modification, removal and analysis. Materials engineering is now being combined with integrated processing, co-optimization, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based actionable insight to accelerate new breakthroughs in semiconductor technology. Integrated process and co-optimization can augment unit process technology to provide new and unprecedented capabilities and significantly speed up process development and time to market. Big data and AI can be leveraged to improve process margin and repeatability, tool performance matching and uptime, and fabrication yield, while reducing variability. For VLSI semiconductor manufacturing, a Materials-to-Systems™ strategy can encompass concurrent innovations in materials, structures, architectures, and advanced packaging coupled with integrated process solutions, actionable insight acceleration and More-than-Moore technologies to drive improvements in PPACt™ (performance, power, area-cost and time-to-market) through the entire VLSI ecosystem. Materials engineering coupled with a Materials-to-Systems™ strategy is also key to addressing multiple global inflections in markets as diverse as Life Sciences, Pharma, Sustainable Energy, Optics and Displays.
Semiconductor device fabrication
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Breakthroughs in fundamental research now allow unprecedented control of materials at the molecular level, enabling a wide range of exquisite 3D structures to be assembled through a bottom-up approach. Simultaneously, developments in 3D fabrication technologies are heralding completely new and disruptive ways to control the 3D form of a rapidly growing range of materials, from hard metals, to transparent polymers, and soft biopolymers and gels, and at feature sizes from nano through micro and meso scale. Bringing this dynamically expanding knowledge base together thus will allow us, for the first time, to build devices and platforms whose form we can control over this tremendous diversity of scale. I believe this has profound implications for science and society, leading to, for example, completely new chem/bio-sensing concepts that could revolutionise how we monitor personal health, the quality of water and air, biopharma manufacturing processes, and food production.
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Over the last decades, nanotechnology had established itself as the upcoming revolution in science and technology. The ability of manipulating material at the atomic and molecular levels allowed nanotechnology to open an entirely new paradigm of devices and products. The worldwide market of products incorporating nanotechnology achieved $245 million in 2009 and estimated to reach $6 trillion by 2020. In the semiconductor industry several new nanodevices have been proposed to replace the classical CMOS devices that have been used over the last four decades. These new nanodevices have shown significant potential to overcome the fundamental limits of CMOS devices, and to advance the semiconductor industry further. However, limited educational resources and processes are available to prepare future nanotechnology engineers and scientists to integrate these promising nanodevices into the main semiconductor manufacturing streams. This paper proposes new learning structures and processes to propagate nanotechiology learning resources over the pervasive Web. The proposed approach is illustrated by a case study centered around the manufacturing of future nanodevices. We adopt standard structures and processes to organize and navigate through digital instructional contents, such as IEEE LOM and IMS LD. In doing so, we aim at streamlining the propagation of reusable repositories across the open Web to facilitate the integration of nanotechnology learning resources into the rising social trend of massively open online courses (or MOOCs)
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Author(s): Parikh, Pritesh | Advisor(s): Meng, Shirley | Abstract: Life on earth exists due to a delicate balance with nature, one that has been skewed in our favor since the industrial revolution. The growing population demands energy for homes, offices, portable devices and transportation. However, our reliance on natural gas/coal and petroleum to fulfill these requirements have led to an unprecedented increase in atmospheric CO2 levels that threaten our own existence. A paradigm shift in how we generate, store and monitor energy is needed, with green energy and sustainability paving a way forward. The advent of photovoltaics and Li-ion battery have given us the necessary tools to bring about this change, but continued research relies on a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved and materials developed for each technology. As the materials chemistry, size of particles and nature of the interfaces become more complex, the need for nanoscale analysis has never been more aptly described. 3D tomographic measurements can provide a clear picture of the materials composition and interface properties, with atom probe tomography (APT) allowing a nanoscale chemical and spatial analysis. Herein, we use APT to enhance our understanding of the device mechanisms and core material properties for photovoltaics, Li-ion batteries and state-of-the-art semiconductor fins. Our understanding can help to build better structure-property relations by tying in nanoscale analysis with bulk properties that will ultimately lead to better design and development of energy devices across a broad range of technologies.
Atom probe
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The last 40+ years of investment in improving semiconductor performance has enabled a step function change in photonics. For this change to be commercially successful, performance must be matched with the ability to manufacture in high volume with high repeatability. To address this demand, Applied Materials is focused on enabling and producing the photonics solutions of the future with a focus on materials engineering, process development, and tools utilization. The ability to deliver light guides for demanding high-performance and high-volume opportunities requires development partners with the gamut of expertise found at Applied. Collaboration across the LASAR ecosystem is a key component to support the focus on developing technical design plans that will lead the way in accelerating your AR Optical designs. This talk will focus on the typical engagement process with Applied and our alliance partners to produce your Engineered Optic design.
Component (thermodynamics)
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This paper examines the engineering challenges created by integrated surface micromachining, which is the combination of MEMS and electronics on the same silicon substrate. It then goes on to explore the future trends in this area from both the technical challenges as well as an applications and business perspective. The low level signals that are detectable and processed make dimensional changes in the nanometer range a common aspect of this technology. The mechanical engineer is faced with structures that have millimeter dimensions with deflections from 10 nanometers to subnanometer ranges. It is therefore possible to sense acceleration, magnetic forces, and acoustic energy as well as steer light in a fully intergrated system on a chip. The applications from a technical perspective seem endless however the need to develop both a process and a product make the time to market a significant consideration. The paper concludes by highlighting promising areas such as communications, displays, and sensing, for future development from both a technical and business perspective.
Nanometre
Precision engineering
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There are strong nanotechnology research programs across the world with every conceivable application in all economic sectors. Basic discoveries have progressed at an amazing pace, as evidenced by the accumulation of publications in the literature. At present, the development of practical systems and commercial products is the next big challenge. Nanoscale is not a human scale. In many cases, development of practical systems demands seamless integration of nano-micro-macro to produce scaled components and processes. While the ultimate vision in nanotechnology may be an entirely bottom-up approach to building systems, it is unrealistic to expect this to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. Only realistic possibility to achieve tangible results in a reasonable time frame, before the stakeholders run out of patience, is to use nanomaterials in a hybrid approach that involves a systematic nano-micro-macro integration. Such an approach will also allow us to utilize the existing infrastructure in the micro area (MEMS, microelectronics) from the last couple of decades, which would make economic sense. This talk will expand on this theme on product and system development using nanomaterials and nanotechnology. Examples will include a carbon nanotube (CNT) based chemical sensor that has been tested for monitoring air quality in the crew cabin in the International Space Station in 2009 and further developed for security applications; a CNT based biosensor for water quality monitoring and health monitoring; CNT-based X-ray tubes for security and other applications; supercapacitors, and several other developments we have been working on for the last 5-8 years. The author thanks all past and present NASA Ames colleagues for their contributions to the application development efforts, especially Jing Li, Yijiang Lu, Jessica Koehne, Cattien Nguyen, Jinwoo Han, Beomsok Kim, Ami Hannon and Michael Oye.
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Impact of nanotechnology
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