Objective
Objectives and content
Due to a greater awareness of the environmental and
health risks from greenhouse gases, there is an
increasing demand world-wide for an easily implemented
method for monitoring and control of these gases and
pollutants in the atmosphere or in human blood and
tissue. A number d these chemicals, such as CH4 and CO2
show strong absorption in the mid-infrared region.
Versatile, cheap, and lightweight systems are necessary
for realisation of dense networks of atmospheric gas
detection stations. Moreover the same systems can be
used to monitor exhaust gas from combustion engines to
help control the fuel burning process in order to
minimise air pollution. Finally, systems fulfilling
these criteria can also be used for medical applications,
such as for non-invasive analysis of human blood and
tissue.
Efficient light sources - lasers and detectors that
operate at room temperature - are the key components for
such systems. Recent breakthroughs indicate that group
III-antimonide semiconductors are the most promising
materials for the application. The proposing consortium
intends to produce laser prototypes by developing
precursors for MOVPE growth, the growth process
parameters, and ultrapure gas handling systems for MOVPE
equipment. The main limitations to be overcome are nonradiative auger-transitions limiting the room-temperature
performance of such laser devices. A secondary project
goal is to use group III antimonide layers to also
fabricate magnetoresistive sensors. Close contact to
end-users will ensure the eventual industrial production
of components for the mid-infrared, utilising optimum
material, processes, equipment, and new laser structure
designs.
The main novelty of this project is the intended
fabrication MOVPE, for the first time in the world, of
room temperature semiconductor laser diodes emitting
above 3 mm.
The well-balanced consortium comprises five partners with
complementary skills from four countries, thereby
ensuring a complete European infrastructure for this
study and eventual exploitation. It is led by a major
precursor manufacturing SME (Epichem) who will be
responsible for defining and optimising precursors for
MOVPE growth of antimonide layers An SME equipment
manufacturer (AIXTRON) will developed and implement
advanced gas purification systems and MOVPE equipment
components at the site of a leading university group
specialising in MOVPE growth (RWTH Aachen), who will be
responsible for growth of laser and sensor layers.
Another university expert in MBE and laser technology
(UM2) will fabricate laser devices from these layers. A
research institute with an extensive background in the
study of laser devices (IP-AVCR) will support these
efforts with state-of-the-art characterisation
techniques.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
You need to log in or register to use this function
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
L62 3QF Wirral
United Kingdom