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Funding on the wing
POLICY NEWS
STREAM of memories CHARACTERIZATION A new EU-funded project will analyze the mechanical stresses that build-up in the layers and substrate of memory devices. The STREAM (STREss minimization and Application to Memories) project aims to develop an experimental methodology using the convergent beam diffraction technique of transmission electron microscopy (TEM/CBED) to measure lattice strain in silicon, down to a spatial resolution of 1 nm. A second objective is to refine stress simulation models, through experiment, to achieve the accuracy required by sub-micron CMOS technologies. Ultimately, the TEM/CBED methodology will be applied to test structures with linewidths down to 0.15 µm. The development of a software package for routine ‘CBED pattern-to-strain’, which could cut strain evaluation times from days to hours, would be of great value to the microelectronics industry. The project brings together CNRLAMEL and CNR-IESS in Italy, German company Soft Imaging System, STMicroelectronics, ISEN in France, IMEC in Belgium, and the Universities of Sheffield and Perugia.
Funding on the wing AEROSPACE The UK department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is putting up $4 million to fund the development of new technologies for civil aircraft wings. The Civil Aircraft Structural Composites Applications Development and Exploitation (CASCADE) project will be led by Airbus UK, from its Bristol center, with partners QinetiQ, the INBIS Group, the Advanced Composite Group, and W&J Tod.
Investigating the interface MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS
The question of how wires can be connected to organic transistors is to be investigated as part of a $1.6 million project at Cornell University. Led by James R. Engstrom, the project into inorganic-organic interfaces will receive $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $300 000 from the Semiconductor Research Corporation, a consortium of microelectronics manufacturers, over the next four years. Despite the promising characteristics of organic transistors – cheap manufacture via wet chemistry and flexible properties – making connections, particularly at reduced dimensions, is proving difficult. Metals from the connecting wires tend to diffuse into the organic materials, interfering with the contact behavior. “Currently you evaporate the metal onto the organic and cross your fingers,” says Engstrom. What’s needed, he says, is a ‘molecular solder’. The project will focus on the chemical bond that forms when metals are deposited on metals and insulators – and vice versa. The researchers will try a ‘self-assembly’ approach, patterning a metal or insulator substrate with a mask and then depositing organic material onto the unmasked areas. The effect of a second contact layer will also be studied. Various metals and metal nitrides will be tried out, and even a molecule containing both metal and organic parts will be trialed as a ‘prefabricated’ interface. The goal, says Engstrom, is to develop test devices with useful, demonstrable properties. In this task he will be assisted by Peter T. Wolczanski on the ‘designer’ chemistry side; Paulette Clancy will provide computer simulations; George G. Malliaras will test the devices; and Ronald R. Kline will assess the ethics of the research.
DARPA senses bioagents SENSORS The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is founding a consortium to develop detection methods for bioagents such as anthrax. The Consortium consists of four universities, Kansas State, Brown, Cornell, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, as well as several companies. Under the guidance of Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin, Kansas State University is to receive $1.4 million over four years to develop semiconductor ultraviolet (UV) light sources, including lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes for detection systems. “We are making better materials and finding the optimal structure to make this UV source,” explains Lin. “The other team members are trying to find out how to identify the fluorescence of threatening biological systems.” Although there are UV sources that can detect these bioagents, they are not suitable for use in portable devices. The key, according to the researchers, is to develop chip-scale and remote detecting devices using, for example, miniature UV LEDs. “UV LEDs are important,” says Jiang, “not just for detecting anthrax, but also for the medical field. In the future, invasive methods could be replaced with light detection.”
Convergence on research US INVESTMENT A new report from Technical Insights by Inside R&D reveals that research and development spending by US companies went up 16.2% to $124 billion in 2001. The pharmaceutical, automotive, and telecommunications sectors made the largest investments. ‘Convergence’ is the buzzword, with Technical Insights promising that, individually or combined, nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology, and cognitive science will be used to develop ‘smart’ manufacturing systems able to adjust design features without stopping production or retooling. It’s all good news, apparently, since “new generations of convergent technologies will create much more efficient manufacturing, sales, and distributions systems with better margins and profits”. The key to exploiting these opportunities is, says Technical Insights, forging joint ventures, research links with universities, and investing in production facilities. For further information: www.technical-insights.frost.com
LEDs in reverse PHOTOVOLTAICS Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) is getting over $470 000 from the UK Department of Trade and Industry to develop plastic solar cells. The solar cells have a similar device architecture to CDT’s light emitting polymer displays, but the process is reversed so that light generates electricity. They have the potential, says CDT’s Karl Heeks, to help address energy issues, as well as paving the way for flexible solar cells to be used in applications where it has been too expensive or technically unfeasible.
November 2002
17
STREAM of memories CHARACTERIZATION A new EU-funded project will analyze the mechanical stresses that build-up in the layers and substrate of memory devices. The STREAM (STREss minimization and Application to Memories) project aims to develop an experimental methodology using the convergent beam diffraction technique of transmission electron microscopy (TEM/CBED) to measure lattice strain in silicon, down to a spatial resolution of 1 nm. A second objective is to refine stress simulation models, through experiment, to achieve the accuracy required by sub-micron CMOS technologies. Ultimately, the TEM/CBED methodology will be applied to test structures with linewidths down to 0.15 µm. The development of a software package for routine ‘CBED pattern-to-strain’, which could cut strain evaluation times from days to hours, would be of great value to the microelectronics industry. The project brings together CNRLAMEL and CNR-IESS in Italy, German company Soft Imaging System, STMicroelectronics, ISEN in France, IMEC in Belgium, and the Universities of Sheffield and Perugia.
Funding on the wing AEROSPACE The UK department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is putting up $4 million to fund the development of new technologies for civil aircraft wings. The Civil Aircraft Structural Composites Applications Development and Exploitation (CASCADE) project will be led by Airbus UK, from its Bristol center, with partners QinetiQ, the INBIS Group, the Advanced Composite Group, and W&J Tod.
Investigating the interface MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS
The question of how wires can be connected to organic transistors is to be investigated as part of a $1.6 million project at Cornell University. Led by James R. Engstrom, the project into inorganic-organic interfaces will receive $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $300 000 from the Semiconductor Research Corporation, a consortium of microelectronics manufacturers, over the next four years. Despite the promising characteristics of organic transistors – cheap manufacture via wet chemistry and flexible properties – making connections, particularly at reduced dimensions, is proving difficult. Metals from the connecting wires tend to diffuse into the organic materials, interfering with the contact behavior. “Currently you evaporate the metal onto the organic and cross your fingers,” says Engstrom. What’s needed, he says, is a ‘molecular solder’. The project will focus on the chemical bond that forms when metals are deposited on metals and insulators – and vice versa. The researchers will try a ‘self-assembly’ approach, patterning a metal or insulator substrate with a mask and then depositing organic material onto the unmasked areas. The effect of a second contact layer will also be studied. Various metals and metal nitrides will be tried out, and even a molecule containing both metal and organic parts will be trialed as a ‘prefabricated’ interface. The goal, says Engstrom, is to develop test devices with useful, demonstrable properties. In this task he will be assisted by Peter T. Wolczanski on the ‘designer’ chemistry side; Paulette Clancy will provide computer simulations; George G. Malliaras will test the devices; and Ronald R. Kline will assess the ethics of the research.
DARPA senses bioagents SENSORS The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is founding a consortium to develop detection methods for bioagents such as anthrax. The Consortium consists of four universities, Kansas State, Brown, Cornell, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, as well as several companies. Under the guidance of Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin, Kansas State University is to receive $1.4 million over four years to develop semiconductor ultraviolet (UV) light sources, including lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes for detection systems. “We are making better materials and finding the optimal structure to make this UV source,” explains Lin. “The other team members are trying to find out how to identify the fluorescence of threatening biological systems.” Although there are UV sources that can detect these bioagents, they are not suitable for use in portable devices. The key, according to the researchers, is to develop chip-scale and remote detecting devices using, for example, miniature UV LEDs. “UV LEDs are important,” says Jiang, “not just for detecting anthrax, but also for the medical field. In the future, invasive methods could be replaced with light detection.”
Convergence on research US INVESTMENT A new report from Technical Insights by Inside R&D reveals that research and development spending by US companies went up 16.2% to $124 billion in 2001. The pharmaceutical, automotive, and telecommunications sectors made the largest investments. ‘Convergence’ is the buzzword, with Technical Insights promising that, individually or combined, nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology, and cognitive science will be used to develop ‘smart’ manufacturing systems able to adjust design features without stopping production or retooling. It’s all good news, apparently, since “new generations of convergent technologies will create much more efficient manufacturing, sales, and distributions systems with better margins and profits”. The key to exploiting these opportunities is, says Technical Insights, forging joint ventures, research links with universities, and investing in production facilities. For further information: www.technical-insights.frost.com
LEDs in reverse PHOTOVOLTAICS Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) is getting over $470 000 from the UK Department of Trade and Industry to develop plastic solar cells. The solar cells have a similar device architecture to CDT’s light emitting polymer displays, but the process is reversed so that light generates electricity. They have the potential, says CDT’s Karl Heeks, to help address energy issues, as well as paving the way for flexible solar cells to be used in applications where it has been too expensive or technically unfeasible.
November 2002
17