This award supports Zlatko Sitar and students from North Carolina State University in a collaboration with Erhard Kohn of the Department of Electron Devices and Circuits at the University of Ulm, Germany. The objective is to establish collaborative research on Silicon-on-Diamond technology. Microfabrication facilities (electronics and micro-electrical and -magnetic systems) at the University of Ulm established especially for wide band gap semiconductors would greatly benefit the Silicon-on-Diamond technology currently developed at North Carolina State, while the characterization and materials processing facilities of the US group would greatly aid the German group's effort on the integration of diamond with silicon electronics. Silicon-on-Diamond technology extends the limits of silicon-based electronics to much higher powers and frequencies through advanced thermal management and, at the same time, enables vertical integration schemes that are not possible on the silicon alone. This is achieved by the incorporation of a high quality diamond layer immediately under the active silicon device layer, which has more than an order of magnitude higher thermal conductivity than silicon wafers alone. The collaboration will fabricate a range of electronic devices, making it possible to study the heat-spreading ability of the Silicon-on-Diamond wafers, the electrical properties of the silicon device layer, and the influence of the silicon-diamond interface on device performance. The analysis will allow further optimization of the Silicon-on-Diamond fabrication process and the structure of Silicon-on-Diamond wafers.
Thermal management in the silicon-based power devices and integrated circuits is crucial for surpassing present limitations. The proposed Silicon-on-Diamond wafer technology relaxes thermal handling limitations in silicon electronics and enables development of future silicon-based power devices, high-density integrated circuits, and three-dimensional integration. In this way, standard silicon technology will be expanded with the best heat conductor in nature that at the same time enables the confinement of the current flow to the device layer. This technology has a potential to fully integrate high frequency silicon-based power electronics with digital logic on one three-dimensional chip.
