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Twente laser process creates ordered semiconductor material at room temperature…

21 Jan 2025

…and Dutch tech groups Demcon, TNO, and Twente partner to drive photonic chip innovation.

Scientists at the University of Twente (UT), The Netherlands, have developed a new laser-based method to create highly-ordered semiconductor material at room temperature. The scientists say that this breakthrough could make optoelectronics more efficient by controlling the crystal structure and reducing the number of defects at the nanoscale.

Their research is described in Nature Synthesis.

The team focused on metal halide perovskites, known for their ability to absorb sunlight efficiently and their use in devices like LEDs, semiconductors and solar cells. Making these materials with one single orientation – with highly ordered grains – has long been a challenge.

So far, the material has mainly been used in the polycrystalline form, in a non-ordered fashion. This can limit its use in applications, such as LEDs, where high order and low density of defects are needed. Normally, these highly-ordered semiconductors require high processing temperatures. But in this new process, the UT researchers skip the heat and build up the material layer by layer using a pulsed laser.

Optimizing the structure

“Halide perovskites are already remarkable semiconductors and are, for example, used in solar cells,” said Junia Solomon Sathiaraj, PhD student at UT’s Inorganic Material Science research group. “But usually we have little control in how exactly the material grows,” she added. This means the molecules in the materials have many different orientations and structures. “In theory, if we improve the quality of the material, we also improve its efficiency.”

“It’s all about getting the structure right,” said Monica Morales-Masis, who leads the work under the ERC StG CREATE project. A perfectly ordered structure in the material is essential for creating devices that are efficient and reliable.

The resulting material is stable for over 300 days and offers great potential for applications like solar panels and advanced electronics. This innovation not only helps us in creating greener, more cost-effective technologies but also paves the way for new scientific discoveries in materials research.

The UT announcement commented that this research “highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, involving contributions from synthesis, theory, and advanced characterisation. The synthesis and core experimental work were performed at UT, with theoretical insights provided by Prof Dr Linn Leppert and her team. Advanced characterisation was conducted in partnership with AMOLF and the University of Oxford.”

Demcon joins TNO and Twente to innovate photonic chips

Netherlands-based technology group Demcon has partnered with national research agency TNO and the University of Twente to accelerate low-energy modulation of silicon nitride (SiN) photonic chips. These advanced photonic chips promise to create cheaper, faster, and more energy-efficient devices, enabling earlier disease diagnostics, safe self-driving vehicles, and more efficient data communication.

By pooling their expertise, the partners say they are intending to “drive significant advancements in photonic chip technology.” The research is partly funded by the (Netherlands) National Growth Fund project PhotonDelta.

The partnership will be formalized under the auspices of the Photonic Integration Technology Center, following a new silicon nitride roadmap. Demcon will participate for the next three years through its subsidiary, Demcon TSST, which specializes in the design and production of customized thin-film deposition equipment.

Both TNO and UT will contribute their expertise in integrated photonics, and the research and development efforts will utilize facilities at the University of Twente’s MESA+ Institute. The partnership also highlights TNO's growing commitment to the Twente region. PITC is currently actively exploring participation with several other industrial parties to further advance the roadmap activities.

The AI revolution, for instance, is driving unprecedented growth in data processing needs, and energy-efficient photonic chips can help manage this surge by providing faster and more efficient data handling capabilities without a proportional increase in energy consumption. Furthermore, in biosensors and other sensitive applications, low-energy photonic chips can improve device performance and longevity, ensuring more reliable and accurate results in medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

The development of photonic chips is still in a relatively early phase, but will most likely play a key role in high-tech sectors where speed and energy efficiency are of great importance. It is therefore one of the key enabling technologies that has been prioritized by the Dutch government.

Ton van Mol, managing director at TNO Flexible and Freeform Products, said, “This project is not only a technological challenge but also an opportunity to strengthen the position of the Dutch high-tech industry, with photonic chips being key to a more sustainable future.”

Guus Rijnders, professor in NanoElectronic Materials within the MESA+ Institute, commented, “This new partnership exemplifies the evolving role of our university within the photonics innovation ecosystem, empowering scientists to accelerate their research and transform discoveries into market-ready products faster than ever before.”

Emiel Rutgers, managing director at Demcon TSST, said, “By joining forces, we are harnessing our collective expertise to push the boundaries of photonic technology, accelerating innovation and paving the way for energy-efficient solutions that will benefit a wide range of industries.”

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