A few days ago, Jinan University Frontier Cross-Science Research Institute Professor Liu Hong's circle of friends updated this information: "After nearly a year of research, dozens of furnaces of groping, Dehui and his buddies finally mastered the perfect 8-inch lithium niobate crystal growth technology, help large-size lithium niobate thin film preparation, to promote the development of optical integration photovoltaic integrated devices, and to realize China's new generation of Information industry in China to achieve a breakthrough in the whole chain. The road is long, but everyone is full of confidence ......" This information has attracted numerous praise.
Lithium niobate crystal material because of its excellent electro-optical, acousto-optical and non-linear optical effects, with the gradual development of new material properties, new applications, is widely recognized as a new generation of information industry, the core material of key technologies.
Not long ago, Jinan University, Professor Liu Hong, Sun Dehui team using the pulling method to successfully grow 8 inches in diameter (200mm) X-axis lithium niobate single crystal, which is the team following the breakthrough in 2021 acoustic chip with the Z-axis, 128Y, and other directions of the 8-inch lithium niobate crystal growth technology, lithium niobate crystal growth technology to obtain another important breakthrough.
In recent years, integrated optoelectronic devices based on lithium niobate single-crystal thin film can realize single-pass 100G or more ultra-high-bandwidth high-speed optical modulation, which has become an international research hotspot and a key area of development. Lithium niobate is the gatekeeper of the whole optical communication world, and lithium niobate is equivalent to silicon in the semiconductor industry for optical communication.
Optoelectronic device integration relies on the micro-processing process for the mainstream production line for the 8-inch semiconductor production line, therefore, the 8-inch X-axis lithium niobate crystals as a new generation of information technology integration of optoelectronic chips urgently needed basic materials are highly valued. However, the domestic market is only 3 inches, 4 inches X-axis lithium niobate crystal products, Japanese companies announced last year the realization of the 8-inch X-axis lithium niobate small batch trial production. So the 8-inch X-axis lithium niobate crystal has become a key basic material limiting the development of China's new generation of information technology.
Jinan University with Professor Sun Dehui as the leader of the "optoelectronic functional crystal team" in the national talent under the guidance of Liu Hong, since 2017, a variety of high-quality, large-size lithium niobate crystal growth technology and devices to carry out research, in the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China, the major basic research projects and the university talent fund support, has broken through the 8-inch X-axis lithium niobate crystals. With the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation Major Basic Research Project and the university's talent fund, the team has successively broken through the 8-inch Z-axis and 128Y-axis lithium niobate crystal growth technology and realized the transformation of ten million scientific and technological achievements, and jointly created Shandong Hengyuan Semiconductor Technology Co.
In the future, the team will further improve the quality of 8-inch X-axis lithium niobate crystal growth, and complete the pilot experiment as soon as possible, to provide a solid guarantee for the development of basic materials for China's information industry.
Talking about the transformation process of the technology, Sun Dehui said, the factory started mass production is a long process, including several preparatory procedures: batching, mixing, briquetting, burning and other polycrystalline material preparation, as well as the most critical step of the "thermal insulation material shaping to make the temperature field". "At that time, we were full of energy. During the summer vacation, the team members left the school in the morning to go to the company and came back at night when it was dark. In the process of building the production line in the company, one day to start a new equipment, complete a process, every day is full of a sense of accomplishment."
For the future, the team members are very confident, the photonic integrated chip localization of the road is very competitive, but the future is very bright, it is worth every scientific research workers to explore, the footsteps never stop.
