Research

Please visit the above links to have a more detailed look at our research projects. Below is a list of Centers that we are leading or affiliated with.

NSF MBM at UIUC - Miniature Brain Machinery

NSF STC EBICS at MIT/GT/UIUC - Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems

NSF IGERT at UIUC - Cellular and Molecular Mechanics and Bionanotechnology
(download brochure)

NIH Training Grant at UIUC - Midwestern Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center
(download brochure)

NSF CiiT (I/UCRC) at UIUC - Center for Innovative Instrumentation Technology

NSF NSEC at OSU - Center for Affordable Nanoengineering for Polymeric Micro and Nanodevices

 

Research:

Silicon-On-Insulator-On-Vacuum Compliant Substrates for the Ultra Thin SOI and Growth of Lattice Mismatched Materials:

S. Bourland, J. P. Denton, R. Bashir
(Partially funded by Darpa, Funding currently being pursued)

There has been much research into ways to fabricate Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) devices, with a recent thrust towards ultra-thin SOI devices. These SOI devices show improved performance and reduced degradation to hot carrier immunity, among other advantages. A complementary research direction being pursued is also the use of low K dielectric for reduced capacitances at appropriate locations in the device. A variety of SOI approaches have been described in literature including SIMOX, bonded etched back SOI, Selective Epitaxial Growth, etc. Many of these schemes do not directly lend themselves to form ultra thin SOI layer (< 10nm in thickness). We propose the use of controlled low temperature dual sided oxidations of SOI layers to form ultra-thin SOI layers. This approach is compatible with other SOI approaches with the addition of a Selective Epitaxial Growth of Silicon, which is needed to ‘anchor’ the SOI layers to the substrate. The purpose of this paper is to present initial experimental results to demonstrate the formation of these membranes, and also the controlled reduction of their thickness.

The research proposed here describes the possibility of realizing relaxed, defect-free, high germanium content films on silicon, with the potential of pure germanium growth on silicon, on truly compliant Silicon-on-Insulator-on-Vacuum Substrates. The process will use Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth, Chemical Mechanical Polishing, and sacrificial oxidation steps to form thin silicon diaphragms of any size and dimension on the underlying oxide. The oxide will then be selectively removed, leaving the thin silicon diaphragms on air, anchored to the substrate at predefined locations. Chemical vapor deposition can be used to deposit Si1-xGex on the thin silicon diaphragms. The fact that the silicon diaphragms are ‘free’ to flex and equalize the stress induced by grown Si1-xGex, makes them truly compliant substrates for the growth of material with mismatch in lattice constants. Potentially, pure Germanium can be grown on these silicon compliant substrates. The grown films can then also be transferred to other substrates by bonding the films and removing the initial substrate.

1- Z. Ren, S. Bourland, S. Lee, M.S. Lundstrom, and R. Bashir, "Ultra-Thin Body SOI by Controlled Oxidation of Thin Si Membranes", Silicon Nanoelectronics Workshop, June 10th-11th, 2000, Honalulu, Hawaii.
2- S. Bourland, S. Lee, R. Bashir, J. P. Denton, M. S. Lundstrom, and G. W. Neudeck, "Use of Dual Sided Controlled Oxidation to Produce Ultra Thin Silicon on Insulator or Silicon on Air Membranes Formed by Epitaxy Techniques", 42nd Annual Electronic Materials Conference, June 21st–23rd , 2000, Boulder, CO.