INSPIRE Track 1: Manufacture and Characterization of Nanocrystalline/Amorphous Silicon for Particle Detection

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Elementary Particle Physics Program in the Division of Physics in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the Accelerator Physics and Physics Instrumentation Program in the Division of Physics in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the Electronic and Photonic Materials Program in the Division of Materials Research in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the NanoManufacturing Program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation in the Directorate for Engineering.

This is an INSPIRE Track 1 Award to the University of Minnesota for the manufacture and characterization of nanocrystalline/amorphous silicon for particle detection. In alignment with INSPIRE program objectives, this is a high risk, multidisciplinary effort including particle physics, R. Rusack, condensed matter physics, J. Kakalios and materials engineering, U. Kortshagen. The program objectives include: the identification, fabrication and testing of at least one suitable amorphous/nanocrystalline Si material with excellent performance characteristics for charge mobility, recombination rate and robustness to radiation damage; the development of processing conditions for these identified material(s) that allow production of a reasonable detector size and thickness on a practical timescale per device; and technology transfer to industry to produce the materials at scale suitable for detector applications.

In the first phase of the program, the group will utilize an existing dual reactor co-deposition system to produce and study a number of amorphous/nanocrystal silicon films to determine the nanocrystal size and density that will optimize mobility and recombination lifetime. Irradiation studies will factor into this optimization. In parallel with these studies, a new, replacement reactor system with a translatable substrate stage will be designed and fabricated. In the final phase and with the new reactor system, the group's objective is to demonstrate a functioning new co-deposition system for mixed phase growth over a reasonable area, from which larger scale industrial processing could be based.

Development of such scalable nano-manufacturing technologies could enable mixed-phase amorphous/nanocrystalline materials to find a broad range of applications. In addition to the development of innovative new particle detector materials and technologies, novel mixed-phase materials might lead to other important applications, for example potential advances in high efficiency photovoltaic devices, non-volatile memories, materials for medical x-ray imaging, thermo-electrics and electroluminescent devices.