Funding for Student Participation at the 20th International Conference on Ion Implantation Technology, June/July in Portland, Oregon

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this project is to enhance student participation at the biennial 20th International Conference on Ion Implantation Technology (IIT), which will be held in June/July 2014 at Portland, Oregon. The IIT is the only conference dealing with the state-of-the-art and future developments in ion-implantation technology. This conference is widely attended by industry personnel and academic researchers. However, student participation is often sparse even though it offers excellent opportunities for the students to broaden their knowledge of ion implantation doping and wafer processing technologies. The participants at this conference will share their knowledge with the students and the conference holds a highly informative school preceding the technical program. This proposal aims at improving student participation at this conference by providing travel expense and conference and conference school registration fee support for students at US universities. Funding of this proposal will help to improve the quality of future workforce needed pursue careers in US semiconductor industry R&D in device manufacturing plants, which is vital for US economy. The project provides an opportunity for graduate students to expand their knowledge concerning state-of-the-art ion-implantation technologies which are critical for fabrication of nano-dimensional devices. Ion-implantation is the only viable selective area doping technique available for nanoscale silicon and other semiconductor devices. It is also the only reproducible technique available for altering the material properties in the nanoscale range. Due to the high cost of ion-implantation equipment, there is a lack of availability of facilities at universities. Current graduate students, who are the future workforce, are not being educated to face the challenges offered by the ion-implantation technology. The biennial IIT is the only conference that addresses these future needs and is widely attended by semiconductor researchers in the industry and by equipment manufacturers. Funding from the NSF will be used to support student registration fee for the conference and conference school and student travel for participation of about 8 students. Conference topics include: Emerging Research Devices and Materials, Junction and Contact formation, Precision Materials Modification by ion implantation and/or thermal treatment, ion implantation and new doping techniques, Rapid Thermal Processing, and Planar/ non-planar CMOS devices. There will also be invited talks by well-known experts addressing Transistor Scaling and New Materials and Junction Process Technology for Advanced Devices.