News Article
NWO Invests €3.06 Million in III-V Semiconductor Technology
The funding has been awarded to Eindhoven University, to buy a Metal-Organic Vapor Phase Epitavy (MOVPE ) reactor for III-V nanostructures and a wafer scanner for optical chips.
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) is investing €25.8 million in large-scale equipment, data collections and software. This funding comes from the Investment Subsidy NWO Large, which is used by NWO to finance substantial infrastructure that will facilitate research on a national scale.
The scientific infrastructure financed with Investment Subsidy NWO Large is predominantly national in nature. The equipment, data collections and software will enhance the international image and position of Dutch scientific research. The investments required for this run into millions, and it is therefore not possible for individual institutions to bear this sort of cost. NWO uses this investment to provide direction to scientific research in the Netherlands.
NWO assessed 23 applications for their scientific quality, national impact and social significance in a national competition. Of the eleven projects which were awarded grants, two of them are related to the III-V semiconductor industry.
The first recipient is the Faculty of Technical Physics, Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics. Headed by Professor E.P.A.M. Bakkers, the research in the group is aimed at unraveling all aspects of the growth, structural analysis and the electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of III/V semiconductor nanostructures.
The newest type of MOVPE reactor is being installed in the clean-room at Eindhoven University of Technology in order to grow semiconducting nanothreads. This reactor should allow monitoring and controlling the growth process with extreme precision. The group hopes to be able to produce new combinations of materials in a nanothread, with sharp atomic transitions.
Nanothreads open up the doors for entirely new possibilities in applications such as LEDs, solar cells, chemical and biochemical sensors and transistors, yet also for light sources emitting a single photon, which are interesting for information technology. The NWO contribution is €1.59 million.
The second recipient of the funding is the COBRA research school. The project will be headed by Professor H.J.S. Dorren. NWO is financing an experimental facility for research into optical interconnects which are expected to find increased use in computers. At the heart of the investment is a 193 nm DUV wafer scanner, specially adapted by ASML for the production of high-quality optical chips. Through these adaptations, COBRA will have access to a machine with globally unique features for the research of active optical chips. The NWO contribution is €1.47 million.
