Sbir phase I: manufacturing of gallium nitride (GAN) membranes for efficient thermal management

The National Science Foundation Division of Industrial Innovation awarded $256,000 under the Engineering (47.041) federal grant program to Future Semiconductor Business, Inc. from February 2022 to January 2023. The Project Grant funding will support the development of gallium nitride membranes for efficient thermal management in semiconductor manufacturing.

Specifically, the awardee will utilize remote epitaxy and 2-dimensional layer transfer technologies to produce high-quality, freestanding GaN membranes integrated on heat sinks. This novel manufacturing process allows for multiple reuses of the costly GaN substrate material while maintaining quality. Integration of thin-film GaN on heat sinks is expected to solve intrinsic thermal management issues in GaN-based devices by efficiently dissipating heat. The proposed technology stands to decrease production costs for GaN-based products in sectors like healthcare, defense, 5G networks and clean energy. Feasibility will be confirmed through thermoreflectance testing of GaN-heat sink interfaces.

Abstract

The broader impact of this small business innovation research (SBIR) phase I seeks to provide gallium nitride (GAN) membranes for the production of semiconductors for numerous applications including power electronics, radio frequency devices, and optoelectronics, etc. The prooposed technology seeks to alleviate two major problems in the current GAN-based manufacturing technology: thermal management and expensive wafer material costs - by peeling off the GAN membrane from the parent wafer and integrating IT on the heat sink. Integration of thin-film GAN on a heat-sink substrate may solve the intrinsic thermal management issues of GAN-based devices by efficiently dissipating the heat. Commercialization of proposed technology could decrease production costs of GAN-based devices by reusing the expensive parent substrate multiple times while maintain the material quality. Gallium nitride-based technologies have been widely adapted in various fields including healthcare and defense, 5G networks, clean energy applications, electrical vehicles, power inverters and mobile device chargers, etc. This project proposes to manufacture the high-quality, free-standing GAN membranes integrated on heat sinks by using two unique technologies: remote epitaxy and 2-dimensional layer transfer (2DLT). Remote epitaxy and 2DLT technologies utilize 2D materials inserted between the substrate and epilayer for the growth and lift-off of GAN thin-film. Combination of remote epitaxy and 2DLT processes allow for the production of high-quality GAN membranes with multiple reuses of costly GAN substrates. Feasibility of proposed technology will be confirmed via time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) techniques by measuring the GAN and heat sink interface. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.