Generation Of Sidewall Patterns Using A Thermal Shape-Memory Polymer

University Of Texas At Arlington, Arlington TX

Investigators

Abstract

The grant provides funding for investigating a novel approach to fabricate chips on the sidewalls of substrate structures. Consequently, chip density in a miniaturized semiconductor system will be increased resulting in improved functionality, such as increased computer speed. There is no viable method yet developed which takes advantage of the sidewall areas of substrate structures to generate patterns; only the top surfaces of the substrate structures are used to store chips. The proposed process makes good use of the strain-recovery deformation of a thermal shape-memory polymer. Such a polymer recovers its original shape from the deformed shape when it is heated above a certain temperature. This project will systematically explore the creation of sidewall chips of sizes down to 100 nanometers, using a combination of theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations. If successful, this method will become one of the major approaches to generate miniaturized semiconductor systems of densely distributed chips, and the systematic investigation of the method in this project will be a critical move to achieve this goal. The project will also focus on an effort to help K-12, undergraduate and graduate students visualize micro- and nanotechnology concepts. In addition, the principal investigator is committed to furthering the involvement of undergraduate students and minorities in scientific research.