Adaptive Point-of-Use Electronics Manufacturing
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
The global supply chain for semiconductor devices is founded on highly specialised and centralised manufacturing facilities. The result is an over-dependence on a handful of companies which may be in geopolitically unstable areas, a high cost for custom designs, and large barriers for innovation. A new decentralised manufacturing paradigm is needed using novel tools to enable low-cost point-of-use microelectronics manufacturing and rapid custom electronics manufacturing. Ideally, such a paradigm will allow the unimpeded heterogeneous integration of emerging quantum and semiconductor materials from the lab directly into real world electronic systems with enhanced performance and unique functionalities, facilitating innovation and industry uptake of novel materials.
Manufacturing electronics is conventionally a top-down process where a semiconductor wafer is etched into transistor channels, and modified through the addition of dopants or dielectrics. There, the size and location of each device is defined deterministically. Nevertheless, many novel competing or complementary electronic materials, including quantum materials and novel semiconductor nanostructures, are grown bottom-up by nucleation or deposition processes that are inherently non-deterministic. While the performance of these materials can be extraordinary and enabling for applications in information and communication technologies and quantum technologies, positional accuracy is sacrificed, which is a challenge for traditional deterministic manufacturing methods. Efforts to deterministically define quantum and nanostructures are on-going, but yield remains low. An effectively perfect (100%) yield could be achieved if, instead of a top-down deterministic manufacturing approach, we used an adaptive approach that could select, address and connect the best performing randomly located elements (quantum structures, nanostructures, etc.) into functional systems.
By combining computer vision-guided automated microscopy, dynamic circuit design, and advanced optical lithography into a desktop tool, our proposed technique will be used to rapidly manufacture custom electronic and photonic circuits. It will allow the unimpeded integration of new materials from the lab directly to real-world (opto)electronic, photonic and quantum device applications with enhanced performance and unique functionalities, enhancing innovation globally.
Manufacturing electronics is conventionally a top-down process where a semiconductor wafer is etched into transistor channels, and modified through the addition of dopants or dielectrics. There, the size and location of each device is defined deterministically. Nevertheless, many novel competing or complementary electronic materials, including quantum materials and novel semiconductor nanostructures, are grown bottom-up by nucleation or deposition processes that are inherently non-deterministic. While the performance of these materials can be extraordinary and enabling for applications in information and communication technologies and quantum technologies, positional accuracy is sacrificed, which is a challenge for traditional deterministic manufacturing methods. Efforts to deterministically define quantum and nanostructures are on-going, but yield remains low. An effectively perfect (100%) yield could be achieved if, instead of a top-down deterministic manufacturing approach, we used an adaptive approach that could select, address and connect the best performing randomly located elements (quantum structures, nanostructures, etc.) into functional systems.
By combining computer vision-guided automated microscopy, dynamic circuit design, and advanced optical lithography into a desktop tool, our proposed technique will be used to rapidly manufacture custom electronic and photonic circuits. It will allow the unimpeded integration of new materials from the lab directly to real-world (opto)electronic, photonic and quantum device applications with enhanced performance and unique functionalities, enhancing innovation globally.
