Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0238960
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$940,000.00
Summary
High Performance Semiconductor Micromachining Facility. The purpose of this project is to make available to the Australian semiconductor research community a facility to undertake specialist deposition and etching tasks needed for fabrication of next generation solar cells, microelectronics, optronics, and micro-electromechanical systems. The facility will have the flexibility to allow independent control of major process parameters, allowing development of new fabrication technologies which wi ....High Performance Semiconductor Micromachining Facility. The purpose of this project is to make available to the Australian semiconductor research community a facility to undertake specialist deposition and etching tasks needed for fabrication of next generation solar cells, microelectronics, optronics, and micro-electromechanical systems. The facility will have the flexibility to allow independent control of major process parameters, allowing development of new fabrication technologies which will be generic to a wide range of semiconductor materials. In particular, the facility will be unique in its ability to perform processes at low temperatures, and under conditions that allow optimisation of the deposition and etching processes, without compromising the performance of delicate devices or exceeding the maximum process temperature limitations found in many mainstream semiconductor materials technologies.Read moreRead less
ADVANCED PHYSICS AND CHARACTERISATION OF SILICON MATERIALS AND DEVICES. Silicon, the semiconductor material that has revolutionised modern society through Microelectronics, is also at the centre of Photovoltaics, the technology that permits harvesting the energy from the sun to improve the quality of life and sustain it beyond the limitations of fossil fuel resources. By improving our understanding of the fundamental properties of silicon and advancing the solar cell devices made from it, this p ....ADVANCED PHYSICS AND CHARACTERISATION OF SILICON MATERIALS AND DEVICES. Silicon, the semiconductor material that has revolutionised modern society through Microelectronics, is also at the centre of Photovoltaics, the technology that permits harvesting the energy from the sun to improve the quality of life and sustain it beyond the limitations of fossil fuel resources. By improving our understanding of the fundamental properties of silicon and advancing the solar cell devices made from it, this project aims to increase Australia's presence in the vast field of Microlectronics and maintain its leading position in solar energy technologies.Read moreRead less
Improving silicon grain boundaries by linking electronic material quality and device manufacturing conditions. This project develops our recent findings for improving silicon grain boundaries in electronic devices such as cheap solar cells, active matrix displays, thin-film transistors, etc. The performance of such devices and their applications have been limited mainly because no simple link between manufacturing conditions and device quality has been found. However, we recently verified a phys ....Improving silicon grain boundaries by linking electronic material quality and device manufacturing conditions. This project develops our recent findings for improving silicon grain boundaries in electronic devices such as cheap solar cells, active matrix displays, thin-film transistors, etc. The performance of such devices and their applications have been limited mainly because no simple link between manufacturing conditions and device quality has been found. However, we recently verified a physical model description of grain boundaries on a broad range of devices, and this allows us to find such a link and to address prevailing problems from a new perspective. This will improve both the understanding and the manufacturing of such devices.Read moreRead less
Self-assembled semiconductor nanocrystals as functional materials for microelectronics, optoelectronics and photonics. This project will study an important new class of nanoscale materials (semiconductor nanocrystals) with the aim of understanding the processes and mechanisms responsible for their structure and properties. It will have direct application to microelectronics, optoelectronics and photonics; will provide world-class training for Australia's future scientists and engineers in mater ....Self-assembled semiconductor nanocrystals as functional materials for microelectronics, optoelectronics and photonics. This project will study an important new class of nanoscale materials (semiconductor nanocrystals) with the aim of understanding the processes and mechanisms responsible for their structure and properties. It will have direct application to microelectronics, optoelectronics and photonics; will provide world-class training for Australia's future scientists and engineers in materials science and nanotechnology; and will further strengthen international scientific collaboration in these field.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775729
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,000.00
Summary
Improved understanding of nanoscale materials - structure, composition, crystallography and defects revealed by electron imaging and analysis at high spatial resolution. Modern materials scientists and engineers are driven by world-wide competition to develop new technology and manufactured devices. The trend has for some time been towards miniaturisation and one of the main challenges lies in effectively characterising nanostructures that are produced as a key step in research and development o ....Improved understanding of nanoscale materials - structure, composition, crystallography and defects revealed by electron imaging and analysis at high spatial resolution. Modern materials scientists and engineers are driven by world-wide competition to develop new technology and manufactured devices. The trend has for some time been towards miniaturisation and one of the main challenges lies in effectively characterising nanostructures that are produced as a key step in research and development of advanced materials. The proposed electron microscope and detectors will provide a state-of-the-art analytical facility to support the cross-disciplinary materials science and nanotechnology research at the Australian National University. It will also provide an important training facility for students and early-career researchers and will be available to investigators from other Australian institutions.Read moreRead less
Nanoscale nonlinear optics. Advances in nanotechnology have led to the realisation of nanoscale photonic components that enable integration within electronic chips. Now the challenge is to make these components perform computing functions themselves, thus providing ultra-high operation speeds and reducing power consumption. This project will utilize the intensity dependent interaction of light with metal-dielectric nanostructures to establish new processing functions of the photonic components. ....Nanoscale nonlinear optics. Advances in nanotechnology have led to the realisation of nanoscale photonic components that enable integration within electronic chips. Now the challenge is to make these components perform computing functions themselves, thus providing ultra-high operation speeds and reducing power consumption. This project will utilize the intensity dependent interaction of light with metal-dielectric nanostructures to establish new processing functions of the photonic components. Our research underpins integration of photonics in future generations of computers and enables novel applications in subwavelength optical imaging and sensing. This project will therefore strongly enhance the standing of Australia in the field of nanotechnology.Read moreRead less
Formation of nanocrystals (or nanocrystals with core/shell structure) and applications for photonics, floating gate and magnetic memory. Materials that contain nanometre-sized crystallites of a second material can exhibit novel optical, electrical and magnetic properties that have direct technological application. However, it is often difficult to control the size and concentration of the small crystals using conventional synthesis techniques. This project will overcome these limitations by ex ....Formation of nanocrystals (or nanocrystals with core/shell structure) and applications for photonics, floating gate and magnetic memory. Materials that contain nanometre-sized crystallites of a second material can exhibit novel optical, electrical and magnetic properties that have direct technological application. However, it is often difficult to control the size and concentration of the small crystals using conventional synthesis techniques. This project will overcome these limitations by exploiting the unique properties of pulsed-laser heating to produce the crystals. It will also investigate the optical, electrical and magnetic properties of these new materials and asses their suitability for super-dense data storage, solid-state lighting and advanced detection systems.Read moreRead less
Switching mechanisms in nonvolatile resistive memory using high-k dielectrics. Growth in the use of portable electronic devices, such as cameras, phones and MP3 players has resulted in an increased demand for low-power, high-density, non-volatile memory (NVM). One class of such memories aims to use resistance changes in thin dielectric films as a means of storing information. This project aims to develop a better understanding of these devices and to develop new and innovative processes for co ....Switching mechanisms in nonvolatile resistive memory using high-k dielectrics. Growth in the use of portable electronic devices, such as cameras, phones and MP3 players has resulted in an increased demand for low-power, high-density, non-volatile memory (NVM). One class of such memories aims to use resistance changes in thin dielectric films as a means of storing information. This project aims to develop a better understanding of these devices and to develop new and innovative processes for controlling data storage. The project is based on collaboration between researchers at the ANU and Silanna, an Australian start-up company aiming to develop and commercialise such technology.Read moreRead less
Charge transport and trapping in high-k dielectric films containing self-assembled nanocrystals. Growth in the use of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, iPods, MP3-players and personal digital assistants (PDA's) has resulted in increased demand for low-power, high-density Flash memory. However, existing memory devices are difficult to scale to smaller dimensions and lower power without severely compromising reliability. This project will investigate the synthesis and properties ....Charge transport and trapping in high-k dielectric films containing self-assembled nanocrystals. Growth in the use of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, iPods, MP3-players and personal digital assistants (PDA's) has resulted in increased demand for low-power, high-density Flash memory. However, existing memory devices are difficult to scale to smaller dimensions and lower power without severely compromising reliability. This project will investigate the synthesis and properties of a new class of materials that have the potential to overcome these limitations. Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354527
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Frontier technologies, prototypes and strategic positioning for the international radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. This Network will forge new linkages between scientists and engineers to design and enable an advanced prototype for the international next-generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The prototype will make fundamental new tests of general relativity and the physics of dark energy and test SKA imaging and signal processing systems. The Network partners ....Frontier technologies, prototypes and strategic positioning for the international radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. This Network will forge new linkages between scientists and engineers to design and enable an advanced prototype for the international next-generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The prototype will make fundamental new tests of general relativity and the physics of dark energy and test SKA imaging and signal processing systems. The Network partners will collaborate to develop low-cost technologies for ultra-wideband antennas, high-speed signal processing, software radios, mitigation of man-made interference and the handling of petabyte data sets. The aim is a leading role for Australian researchers and industry in the $2 billion SKA.Read moreRead less