The State Key laboratory of functional materials for informatics has four main research directions. They are superconducting materials and Electronics Applications, Advanced silicon-based materials and applications, novel nano-electronic materials and devices and compound semiconductor materials and devices. detail introduction will be given below:

Major research areas:

1.　Superconducting materials and electronics applications

    Superconductivity is one of the most intriguing phenomena in physics. It has always been the research frontier in condensed matter physics. Superconductivity has significant applications in many areas such as green energy, health, informatics and natural resource exploration etc. Superconducting devices play indispensable roles in many high-end electronics applications due to its superior performance. Current major research includes: novel superconductor materials, In-situ electronic structures, superconducting sensors/detectors and circuits, superconducting electronics applications such as single photon detection, bio-magnetism, ultra low field NMR/MRI and geophysical exploration etc.

2. Advanced silicon-based materials and applications

    Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and large-scale silicon wafer build the foundation for integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. In particular, SOI technology has been renowned as “the silicon integrated circuit technology in the 21st century” for its advantages of high speed, low power consumption and radiation resistance. State key laboratory of functional materials for informatics has conducted the research on SOI materials and devices for more than 30 years, and takes the lead in China. It has incubated the sole SOI manufacturing base named as Shanghai Simgui Technology Co. Ltd. in China, and received several national awards including the Prize of National Science & Technology Advancement (1st grade) etc. Currently, SOI research group is devoted to develop advanced silicon-based substrate materials, SOI radiation hardened chips and silicon photonic chips.

Major research directions include:

(1)Advanced silicon-based substrate materials: manufacturing 12-inch silicon wafer and 12-inch FD-SOI wafer; exploring wafer-scale high-mobility SOI materials (including sSOI, GOI, GrOI etc); manufacturing 8-inch RF SOI wafer and 8-inch Power SOI wafer; exploring the technology for integrating non-silicon semiconductors (wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN) with silicon and SOI architecture.

(2)SOI radiation hardened chips: SOI is an advanced technology which satisfies the application in aerospace environments. SOI group aims at developing special techniques to realize radiation hardened SOI wafer, manufacturing highly reliable IC chips to meet the demand of IC chip applications in special environments.

(3)Silicon photonic chips: Integration of silicon-based photonic devices with circuit on one chip using mature CMOS manufacturing techniques. With silicon photonic chips, the digital information can be transmitted using the optical signals, and then the bottleneck of interconnection for high-performance computers and high-end CPUs can be solved.

3.　Novel nano-electronic materials and devices

    According to the national strategic plan and international nanotechnology developments in nanotechnology, our main research objects are high density, high speed, low power consumption, and high reliability phase change random access memory (PCRAM) as well as high purity nano abrasive and polishing slurry. We are heading towards developing PCRAM and nano abrasive and polishing slurry with the independent intellectual property rights, building dedicated research and design platforms based on the 8/12 inches CMOS technology, developing 130/110/40/28 nm node PCRAM with market competitiveness, and establishing the technology database for mass production.

The main research contents include:

(1) First-principle calculation, development and engineering of new phase change materials, three dimensional stacking high density devices, brain-inspired computing for the applied basic research on PCRAM;

(2) 130/110/40/28 nm circuit design, chip process design, autonomous test platform and 8/12 inch testing systems, and chip packaging test and application of PCRAM;

(3) Process development of nano packing, polishing, etching, etc. , single process development of 1D, 1R, nano electrode, medium coating layer, etc., and the integration and optimization of 1T1R and 1D1R technologies for the development of 8/12 inch PCRAM process;

(4) Electronic grade nano abrasive and polishing slurry for silicon wafer, sapphire polishing slurry, and high purity phase change material slurry.

4. Compound semiconductor materials and devices

    Compound semiconductor materials and devices are important in optoelectronic, microwave and millimeter-wave systems with applications such as the environmental protection, medical health, infrared remote sensing, communication technology, and intelligent transportation.

    Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) has a long history of research activity on compound semiconductor materials and devices using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and received well recognized reputation within both the international and domestic research community. Near- and mid-infrared quantum well, quantum dot and quantum cascade laser materials, devices, modules and assemblies have been developed. Room temperature lasing at various wavelengths has been demonstrated and trace gas inspection systems based on these lasers developed. SIMIT also leads the domestic research on novel dilute bismide semiconductor materials and has delivered over ten invited talks at international conferences. In 2016, the 7^th International Workshop on Bismuth-containing Semiconductors: Growth, Properties and Devices will be hosted by SIMIT in Shanghai. For the application in space remote sensing, short-wave infrared (1-3 μm) InGaAs detector materials and devices are developed. The detector materials have been successfully applied in the imaging demonstration on the ground, and awarded the silver medal of progress in science and technology of Shanghai in 2012. The InP-based heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) and high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) epitaxial materials up to 2-4 inches have been developed, providing a solid support for the self-developed microwave/millimeter-wave circuits.