TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY: Electron Beam Heating and Atomic Restructuring of Sapphire Surfaces (LAR-TOPS-263)

NASA's Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses . THE TECHNOLOGY : NASA's Langley Research Center has developed a new way to reduce the high temperature heating requirement of sapphire substrates in wafer production. The growth of high quality and single crystal epitaxy layers on sapphires requires uniform and high temperature heating to accommodate re-structuring of sapphire surface to be aluminum-terminated. These requirements (uniform heating and re-structuring of sapphire substrates) are challenging for high yield and high quality production. This innovation offers a new way to reduce the high temperature heating requirement of sapphire substrates and at the same time to create the morphological restructure of sapphire surface required. This process utilizes an electron beam flood gun to irradiate the sapphire surface as a means of raising the surface temperature. As the electrons collide with the top layers of surface atoms, the substrate absorbs much of the energy through thermalization losses from the electrons. Subsequently, the surface temperature rises and this modifies the atomic surface structure into a form conducive to single crystal SiGe epitaxy. Moreover, while tested on sapphire, this method applies to any other wafer material, providing a broad new means of changing surface temperature and atomic structure independently of the substrate heater. To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA's Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LAR-TOPS-263 If you have any questions, please contact Langley Research Center at [email protected] with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this FBO notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/ These responses are provided to members of NASA's Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice .