I4BAGS : Ion Implantation for Innovative Interface modifications in Battery and Graphene-enabled Systems

The increasing worldwide demand for more performing communication means and more efficient energy management has promoted technological breakthrough and transversal scientific endeavours fostering research and innovation towards ever more subtle material scaffold in devices and components. This has been claiming new and often more restricting processing specifications towards smoother operating conditions to be tailored and prevent any damage in the different materials and at their respective interfaces. This project aims to demonstrate the versatility of low-energy ion implantation (LEII) protocols as a processing tool to locally modify electronic, electrochemical and electrical properties in different materials and structures and exemplified in two different technologies, planar and vertical graphene on silicon carbide devices and thin film post-Li solid state batteries. The project is therefore to be organised in two materials platforms, depending on the foreseen applications: materials for thin film solid state batteries (TFSSB) and materials for graphene-on-SiC-enabled systems (GRSiC).

Objectives: Planned processing encompasses low-energy ion implantation tailored for targeted application. Broad frequency range characterisation methods from DC to millimetre waves supported by suitable modelling and software contribute to describe electrical properties of materials, structures, interfaces and devices. Generated data are to be collected within open innovation environment and disseminated throughout European Materials Communities.

Potential applications: Expected implementation includes electric transportation, smart metering, power applications and electricity storage solutions. 

Goals:

1. Fabrication, processing, characterisation and modelling of thin films for solid-state batteries.
   - 25% increase of gravimetric capacity of TFSSB with ion implantation of graphitic cathode.
   - 100% increase of battery performance stability upon cycling with ion implantation of interfacial functionalised anode.
2. Materials, characterisation and processing for GRSiC enabled systems.
   - Demonstration of an optimised planar Hall effect structure based on epitaxial graphene on pre-epitaxially-modified semiinsulating bulk SiC with an increased range of thermally-stable current-mode sensitivity in reference to an unmodified one.
   - Demonstration of an optimised vertical PIN-like structure based on epitaxial graphene on pre-epitaxially-modified n-type homoepitaxial SiC.
3. Development of advanced microwave and mm-Wave methodologies for the characterisation and modelling of I4BAGS materials and interfaces.
   - Application and multiphysics modeling of dielectric resonators to monitor thermally-induced resistivity changes in ion-implanted semiinsulating SiC.
   - Microwave to mm-wave electrical characterisation and modelling of ion implanted electrodes.
4. Validation of new characterisation and modelling technologies in relevant environments and development of demonstrators for the dissemination and outreach purposes.
   - Production of software and hardware demonstrators

The project started in September 2022 for a 36-month period of time.

IONICS is in charge of carrying out the ion beam implantation tests based on the orientation results obtained by Materia Nova.
 

If you need more information, please contact Aida NASIRI : info@ionics-group.com.

I4BAGS projects are co-funded by the Service public de Wallonie (SPW) under M-ERA.NET3. The I4Bags project is recognised as an EMMC Related Initiative.

Project Partners:

QWED, L-IMIF (Lukasiewicz – Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics), MATERIA NOVA, and IONICS

Our Public Workshop is announced at: https://emmc.eu/i4bags-public-workshop-may-2024/