Award Data

THE NEXT GENERATION OF HIGH POWER, HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTRONIC DEVICE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE BASED ON WIDE BANDGAP SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS SUCH AS SIC, GAN AND DIAMOND. OF THESE, SILICON CARBIDE IS THE MOST PROMISING MATERIAL FOR NEAR TERM APPLICATIONS, SINCE ITS PROCESSING SHARES MANY COMMON FEATURES WITH WELL-ESTABLISHED SILICON PROCESSING. TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED FOR PRODUCING OHMIC AND SCHO ...

IMPROVING THE OXIDATION RESISTANCE OF CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITES IS KEY TO EXPANDING THE USE OF THIS MATERIAL SYSTEM INTO HIGHER TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS. WHILE BORON PARTICLES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THESE MATERIALS TO SEAL CRACKS IN PROTECTIVE COATINGS, OXIDATION OF THE CARBON MATRIX NEIGHBORING THE BORON PARTICLES SERIOUSLY AFFECTS COMPOSITE STRENGTH. THIS PROBLEM IS EXACERBATED BY A NATURAL SEGREGATI ...

SEVERAL METHODS, INCLUDING SPUTTERING, E-BEAM EVAPORATION, LASER ABLATION AND METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (MOCVD), HAVE SUCCEEDED IN DEPOSITING HIGH QUALITY THIN FILMS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS (HTSC) ON 1 CM2 SUBSTRATES. HOWEVER, THE GROWTH OF HIGH QUALITY THIN FILMS OVER LARGE AREAS HAS YET TO BE ACHIEVED AND PROCESS REPRODUCIBILITY IS MARGINAL. THESE TWO SHORTCOMINGS ARE TH ...

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES THAT PROVIDE RELIABLE HIGH POWER OR OPERATE AT EXTREMELY HIGH FREQUENCY IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS SUSTAINED HIGH RADIATION LEVELS ARE REQUIRED FOR ASAT APPLICATIONS. THIS NEED FOR DEVICES THAT CAN OPERATE AT INCREASED TEMPERATURES OR WITH MINIMUM RADIATIVE COOLING HAS BEEN SPAWNED BY THE SIGNIFICANT ENGINEERING PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COOLING REQUIREMENTS OF ELECTRON ...

EXPLOITATION IN MICROELECTRONICS OF THE VERY HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANTS OF FERROELECTRIC PEROVSKITES SUCH AS BATIO3 AND PZT HAS BEEN LIMITED BY MATERIALS PROCESSING AND COMPATIABILITY PROBLEMS. HIGH QUALITY FERROELECTRIC THIN FILMS HAVE NOT BEEN GROWN AT TEMPERATURES COMPATIABLE WITH STANDARD SI OR GAAS PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES. A HUGE PAYOFF AWAITS ONE WHO CAN UNLOCK THE POTENTIAL OF FERROELECTRIC ...

SINGLE CRYSTAL BATIO3 HAS ELECTRO-OPTIC AND PHOTOREFRACTIVE PROPERTIES THAT ARE AMONG THE MOST DESIRABLE OF ALL INORGANIC MEDIA. THE MATERIAL ALSO POSSESSES FERROELECTRIC PROPERTIES AND AN EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT, WHICH MAKE BATIO3 FILMS HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE FOR RADIATION HARD AND DRAM ELECTRONIC MEMORIES. USE OF BATIO3 FILMS FOR INTEGRATED ELECTRO-OPTICS WILL REQUIRE LOW OPTICAL LOSSE ...

The need for compact solid state ultraviolet light sources includes clinical light sources for a variety of surgeries, analytical instrumentation sources and communications systems based on shorter wavelengths that will be able to handle higher information densities. Such advanced optoelectric applications demand totally new materials. Of those available, silicon carbide is the most promising for ...

ORGANOMETALLIC VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY (OMVPE) IS A PROMISING TECHNIQUE FOR PRODUCING ULTRAHIGH PURITY III-V COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR. OMVPE CAN PRODUCE COMPLEX LAYERED STRUCTURES WITH THE ABRUPT INTERFACES REQUIRED FOR ADVANCED ELECTRONIC AND PHOTONIC DEVICES. UNFORTUNATELY, OMVPE CURRENTLY REQUIRES EXTREMELY TOXIC AND/OR PYROPHORIC GASES STORED UNDER PRESSURE IN LARGE VOLUMES. THESE GASES REPRESENT SE ...

METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (MOCVD) HAS BECOME A SUCCESSFUL THIN FILM GROWTH TECHNIQUE DUE TO ITS INHERENT CONTROL OVER FILM COMPOSITION, PURITY, UNIFORMITY AND DEPOSITION RATE. THIN FILM TECHNOLOGY FOR FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS SUCH AS LEAD TITANATE AND PZT IS IN GREAT DEMAND DUE TO MANY APPLICATIONS IN PEIZOELECTRIC AND OPTOELECTRIC DEVICES. THE ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF THE THIN FILM AR ...

Many key steps in semiconductor "chip" manufacture utilize gases to form thin films which are critical to both device performance and cost. Over $2 billion worth of equipment, materials and peripherals are now sold annually to the semiconductor manufacturers who use gas phase processing. As increased memory demands escalate the need for thinner films, higher quality and lower costs, ever more exac ...