U.S., Russian Collaboration To Study Isotopically Pure Silicon

Isonics Corp. (Golden, CO) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL; Berkeley, CA) have signed a cooperative research and development agreement to study isotopically pure silicon for improved microelectronics. The two-year agreement is part of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) Program to employ Soviet weapons related scientists in commercial activities.

The study—which will involve Isonics, LBNL, and the Electrochemical Plant Isotope Separation Facility in Zelenegorsk, Russia—is being jointly sponsored by the DOE and Isonics. The DOE will provide $1.01 million to acquire silicon isotopes from Russia and to fund basic research on silicon at LBNL. Isonics will make a $1.11 million "in-kind" contribution to manufacture isotopically pure silane gas, polysilicon, and epitaxial wafers that will be used to perform fundamental experiments in solid-state physics and manufacture semiconductor devices. Isonics will have rights to any intellectual property developed under the program.

LBNL will study the properties of highly enriched silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30 isotopes, including transport studies in isotope superlattices and magnetic resonance studies in silicon-29. It will also study enriched silicon-30 for improvements in neutron transmutation doping (NTD) of silicon for power semiconductor applications.

Isonics develops isotopically engineered materials and produces isotopically pure silicon-28 chemicals and wafers for the semiconductor industry. Isonics also markets and sells stable isotopes for the health care industry, such as carbon-13 for diagnostic breath tests and drug design, and oxygen-18 for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

For more information, call Stephen Burden of Isonics at 303-279-7900 or e-mail sburden@isonics.com, or call Glen Dahlbacka of LBNL at 510-486-5358 or e-mail ghdahlbacka@LBL.gov.

Edited by Jim Pomager