Program:
IDEAS
Award:
$499,358
Location:
Washington, District Of Columbia
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
08/02/2017 - 11/16/2018

Technology Description:

George Washington University (GWU) will develop a new technique to produce commercial III-V substrates called Transfer Printed Virtual Substrates (TPVS). To reduce costs, the team proposes using a single source substrate to grow numerous virtual substrate layers. The team will use an enabling technology, called micro-transfer printing (MTP), to transfer the layers from the source substrate, in the form of many microscale “chiplets,” and deposit them onto a low-cost handle (silicon, for example). Once printed, the clean surfaces of the MTP process allows each chiplet to complete the epitaxial growth process on the lower cost substrate after having been seeded from the initial source and having sacrificial layers in between to release the chiplets from the source wafer. The TPVS process can potentially yield tens to hundreds virtual substrates from a single source wafer. Any micro/nanoscale device grown on III-V substrates, such as sensors, detectors, lasers, power electronics, and high-speed transistors, will experience significant cost reductions as a direct result of TPVS deployment. TPVS can also reduce the demand for rare minerals used for a wide range of critical technological applications due to the greater efficiency with which each initial source substrate is utilized.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Michael Haney
Project Contact:
Dr. Matthew Lumb
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
matthew.lumb.ctr.uk@nrl.navy.mil

Partners

US Naval Research Laboratory

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