Nora Savage
$49,740
Ahmed A Busnaina
Elias Towe
Carnegie-Mellon University
Pennsylvania
Engineering (ENG)
The Forum on Nanotechnology between the U.S. and Korea has been held annually since 2003 in alternating countries, except during the COVID-19 pandemic. These forums focus on enhancing research collaboration in the field of nanotechnology among scientists and engineers from both countries. The joint forum facilitates networking between the research communities and agencies of both countries, promoting exchange of information and new opportunities for research collaboration. The forum’s topics this year will be Next-Generation Semiconductors and the Environmental Implications of Semiconductor Manufacturing. One keynote speaker, seven senior presenters and seven early-career presenters from the U.S. will participate with the same number of Korean presenters. The organizing committee will emphasize diversity of the participants. This forum will bring together a bi-national community of expert researchers and innovators who are working at the leading edge of next-generation semiconductors and environmentally benign semiconductor manufacturing. The outcome of this forum will lead to milestones and vigorous research collaboration between the U.S. and Korea in semiconductor technology that can generate significant economic and social impact. The forum’s proceedings and findings will be made available to a broad audience on Carnegie Mellon’s website. Semiconductor technology will be an important thrust area in economic development, defense, and security for the U.S. and Korea over the next decade. This forum will explore cost/performance gains using 3D integration through monolithic and heterogenous integration and advanced packing processes to continue Moore’s law. Further decreases in chip sizes will require novel environment, health, and safety (EHS) solutions. Therefore, development of novel devices that use nanotechnology to evaluate semiconductor fabrication chemistry for toxicity, environmental fate, and behavioral characteristics will be discussed. Cost effective methods that use nanotechnology with a multiscale approach are needed to assure that wastewater effluents and air emissions have minimal environmental impact. Ultra-pure water (UPW) is important in semiconductor manufacturing and fabrication processes. Thus, novel reduction, reuse, and recycling techniques for UPW in manufacturing and chemical mechanical planarization in conjunction with EHS will also be discussed. The broader impacts will include new recommended paradigms in semiconductor science, environmentally benign manufacturing, and education, as well as new collaborations in the semiconductor manufacturing research, especially among early-career scientists. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.