Advancing Innovation: DARPA Seeks Proposals for Nano-Scale Heterogeneous Material Synthesis

DARPA aims to develop a universal methodology for synthesizing heterogeneous materials at the nanoscale, enabling the creation of multilayer structures with atomic precision on mismatched crystal lattices.

Current State:
Currently, the integration of heterogeneous materials is limited to a thickness of 1 micrometer due to defects in the structure when synthesized on mismatched substrates. Additionally, current methods do not allow for the creation of sharp atomic transitions between layers at the nanoscale.

Objectives:

Develop methods for synthesizing impurity-free semiconductor layers with a thickness of less than 10 nm on mismatched crystalline substrates with a low defect density.

Create multilayer structures consisting of several heterogeneous semiconductor layers with a thickness of less than 10 nm, maintaining atomic precision at the transitions between layers.

Achieve high charge carrier mobility in the synthesized structures, comparable to modern transistor technologies.

This will enable the realization of a revolutionary technology for integrating diverse materials at the nanoscale to create new electronic and optoelectronic devices.

DARPA&CIA