Templated Electro-Chemical Synthesis for Novel devices

Project Information

TECNO

Grant agreement ID: 894326

DOI

10.3030/894326

Project terminated on 31 July 2022

EC signature date 24 April 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 October 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 191 149,44

EU contribution

€ 191 149,44

Coordinated by

IBM RESEARCH GMBH
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TECNO (Templated Electro-Chemical Synthesis for Novel devices)

Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

It is predicted that the electronic product market (including devices and components) will grow from 1653.2$ billion in 2025 to 2169.6$ billion in 2030. This growth is driven by the increasing importance of electronic devices and components in our everyday life, starting from personal wireless audio and display devices and ending with highly specified futuristic applications like quantum computers. Academia and industry have recently focused on the search for alternative technologies for which performance, in the long run, could considerably surpass that of currently reaching limits silicon technology. These include compound semiconductors for sensing and high-speed electronics where high value is created. The best solution would be to combine the advantages of silicon (Si) and semiconductors made up of group-III and group-V elements. However, both economic and technological difficulties (such as high fabrication costs, multistep synthesis paths, unintentional doping, and physical property incompatibility) have prevented the integration of these foreign materials directly on a silicon platform.
The ambition of TECNO was to address the problematic monolithic integration of III-V semiconductors, especially indium antimonide (InSb), directly on silicon by introducing an environmentally friendly, water-based solution based on CMOS-compatible electrodeposition.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to pursue the ambitious goal of the TECNO project, two different integration paths were proposed based on the template-assisted selective epitaxy (TASE) growth technique where the growth of the III-V semiconductor starts from silicon seed and is guided by the silica template.

Initially, a novel electrodeposition process for compound semiconductors directly on silicon was developed as fast and economic alternative for the currently applied vapor deposition methods. Here, a prefabricated 3D silica template on silicon is immersed in a water-based solution containing indium (In) and antimony (Sb) ions (figure 1). By applying an external pulsed voltage, In and Sb ions are deposited on the silicon seed and form indium antimonide – semiconductor with many interesting properties desired for high-speed low-noise electronics. Electrodeposited InSb is polycrystalline by nature and has to be melted and recrystallized to be useful for electronic devices application. Despite the limitation encountered, InSb plating and epitaxial melt crystallization from a Si surface were demonstrated on a sub-micron scale, validating the proposed integration concept [1-4].

Using a further developed method, the deposition of the group-III element was finally combined with vapor-based group-V element saturation. This two-step hybrid approach overcame the previous limitations and resulted in a fast, and uniform template filling characteristic of the electrodeposition process, while the high-quality crystal formation resulted from vapor phase growth (figure 2) [4,5].

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

From a scientific perspective, the TECNO project was focused on providing fundaments to scalable, inexpensive and efficient InSb integration on a silicon platform. For that, several alternative chemical approaches were implemented into TASE technology. For the first time, it was shown that electrodeposition of stoichiometric InSb was possible inside templates directly starting from silicon seed. Despite the encountered hurdles, InSb plating and epitaxial melt crystallization from a Si surface were demonstrated on a sub-micron scale, validating the proposed integration concept. What is more, TECNO resulted in a more global integration platform based on electrodeposited indium subsequently saturated with the V-element of choice. Scalable, impurity-free synthesis of In directly on silicon was demonstrated for the first time. By confinement of indium inside the template high-temperature processing was allowed resulting in a truly universal platform for alloy and semiconductors formation.
From a social and socioeconomic perspective, projects like TECNO are necessary not only to ensure the realization of new concepts for faster, safer and more environmentally friendly electronic devices but also to promote new experts in the field. The existing crisis with interrupted semiconductor supply chains and disturbance in the global economy connected to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current socio-geographical situation shows how important is to invest in a new STEM-focused program, attract new talent to Europe, and build new infrastructure for the semiconductor industry ecosystem. Project TECNO not only resulted in an innovative platform for In-based-V semiconductors integration on silicon platform but also the open access publication/conference presentations and website helped spread the word about how important is for our society to encourage young students with diverse backgrounds to join STEM programs to ensure a future with a strong European lead in the semiconductor industry.

If you want to know more about conducted research please refer to:
https://www.zurich.ibm.com/st/nanoscale/tecno.html

[1] Hnida-Gut, K. E., Sousa, M., Moselund, K. E., Schmid, H. (2021). Direct Electrodeposition of InSb Devices on Silicon. In Conference Proceedings of 16th IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (IEEE NMDC 2021) (Vancouver, Canada), doi: 10.1109/NMDC50713.2021.9677527
[2] Hnida-Gut K. E., Sousa M., Hopstaken M., Reidt S., Moselund K., Schmid H. (2022). Electrodeposition as an Alternative Approach for Monolithic Integration of InSb on Silicon. Front. Chem., 20 January 2022, Sec. Electrochemistry, doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.810256
[3] Hnida-Gut, K. E., Moselund, K. E., Sousa, M., Scherrer M., Tiwari P., Schmid, H. (2022). Templated epitaxial growth and synthesis of III-V nanostructures on silicon. In the Conference Program of Nanowire Week (NWW2022) (Chamonix, France), invited talk
[4] Hnida-Gut, K. E., Sousa, M., Tiwari, P., Schmid, H. (2022), Electrodeposition approach for fabrication of In-based semiconductors on silicon. In the Conference Program of The European Materials Research Society Fall Meeting (E-MRS Fall Meeting 2022) (Warsaw, Poland), invited talk
[5] Hnida-Gut K. E., Sousa M., Tiwari P., Schmid H. Selective electrodeposition of indium microstructures on silicon and their conversion into InAs and InSb semiconductors. submitted

Process flow for InSb direct electrodeposition on Si.

Process flow for In-based semiconductor integration on Si.