IPMash RAS scientists received an RSF grant on a topic proposed by Epiel JSC. The grant is aimed at developing a technology for creating a new type of substrate for the future production of heterostructures of galium nitride for efficient transistors with ultrafast electrons. IPMash RAS scientists are doing the groundwork for creation of substrates on which these structures will be obtained.

«We have started a major project, which was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. Its essence lies in the fact that the next 3 years we will develop special substrates of cubic silicon carbide on silicon for the growth of transistor heterostructures of galium nitride with high mobility of charge carriers. This will be the basis for creating a new generation of microelectronics, which is not available anywhere else in the world,» said Sergey Kukushkin, Head of the IPMash RAS Laboratory of Structural and Phase Transformations in Condensed Media.

The innovative potential of this technology lies in its main technological component – a new breakthrough technology for growing a buffer layer of silicon carbide on silicon, on the basis of which the layers of other wide-band semiconductors on silicon will be formed. These substrates differ in the fact that they have a better consistency of the parameters of the crystal lattices and the coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrate and the growing layers, as well as greater wear resistance and lower cost. Devices made on the basis of monocrystalline silicon carbide substrates are used in the electric vehicle industry, in the manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles, as rectifiers, switches, etc. Based on these substrates, transistors can be made that can be used for 5G generation communication systems, satellite communications, navigation and other applications. However, in the world market there are no available substrates with a diameter of more than 50.8 mm, that is caused by insurmountable technological barriers of the existing methods for producing bulk gallium nitride crystals. Buffer structures that will be grown based on silicon carbide technology on silicon can help in this.

«The technology developed as a result of this project will make it possible to create Russia's first high-tech pilot production of 3C-SiC layers on silicon substrates. Special silicon carbide substrates on silicon can become the basis for the formation of a whole class of wide-band silicon semiconductors, the main of which are gallium and aluminum nitrides. In the case of further development of this technology and creation of pilot production based on it, it is possible to develop significantly one of the high-tech areas of microelectronics — production of gallium nitride (GaN) heterostructures for power and microwave electronics, in which Russia could take a leading position,» said Sergey Kukushkin.

IPMash RAS scientists are the specialists in the creation of materials for microelectronics. The work is carried out on the basis of a fundamentally new method, previously created at IPMash RAS, of growing monocrystalline silicon carbide on silicon. The method is based on the coordinated substitution of a part of the atoms in silicon for carbon atoms without destroying the silicon base. For the first time in world practice, a consistent coordinated replacement of atoms of one grade with the other atoms directly inside the initial crystal without destroying its crystal structure has been implemented. The quality of the structure of the layers obtained by this method exceeds significantly the quality of films grown on silicon substrates by leading global companies.