European project looks at post-CMOS devices
The Epitaxial Technologies For Ultimate Scaling (ET4US) project will develop logic devices based on high-mobility semiconductor channels, advanced gate stacks and compliant semiconductor-on-insulator substrates.
Under the European Commission’s 6th Framework program, the ET4US project is part of the Information Society Technologies (ITS) activity and falls within a strategic objective entitled "Pushing the limits of CMOS, preparing for post CMOS."
Coordinated by Dr Athanasios Dimoulas from NCSR Demokritos in Athens, Greece, the project’s other members are:
* DCA Instruments (Turku, Finland)
* IBM (Rüschlikon, Switzerland)
* Philips Research (Leuven, Belgium)
* IMEC (Belgium)
* EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland)
* Laboratorio MDM (Italy)
* Clausthal University of Technology (Germany)
During the first phase of the project, DCA Instruments will provide an MBE system for growth on miniature substrates, membranes and nanowires. The system will feature in-situ TEM and SPM characterization.
During the subsequent phase, DCA will manufacture a fully-automated robotic cluster tool MBE system. This will have separate chambers for GaAs epitaxy and for the growth of germanium and oxide materials on 8 inch substrates.
The project began on January1, 2004 and will last for 36 months. The project’s total funding budget is Euro 8.9 million ($11.4 million), with an EC contribution of Euro 3.7 million ($4.7 million).