Students learn how to fabricate devices in silicon. Capabilities include wafer characterization, cleaning, oxidation, photolithography, wet and dry etching, dopant deposition and diffusion, wafer inspection, electrical testing, and process simulation. Other instrumentation includes a Unitron mask alignment microscope (MAM). Micro-Electromechanical Systems I and II (ME 337 鈥� 339), Senior Projects I, II utilize this lab.
Primarily dedicated to microfabrication processing and device characterization, this lab also serves MEMS courses and projects. Lab work not only offers a series of experiments which examine various unit fabrication processes, it also integrates our current semiconductor processing capabilities to obtain and characterize operational bipolar junction transistors. One of the main focuses is understanding the scientific principles dictating which process operations are required and what these operations accomplish. These operations include wafer characterization, cleaning, oxidation, lithography and etching, pattern transfer inspection, dopant deposition and diffusion, and electrical testing.
Lab Capabilities 鈥� Process Tools
- Wet Bench with hot plates for batch cleaning, etching, and resist removal; Ultra Sonics Bath (Table top); Millipore Super Q Water Polishing System; March CS-1701 Reactive Ion
- Etcher; Batch spin, rinse, dryers: 4鈥� 鈥� Semitool single Stack SRD and 30 mm 鈥� Fluoroware.
- Karl Suss MJB-3 Mask Aligner and manual Unitron mask alignment microscope with split field objectives Pattern transfer tools; Headway Research Model PWM 32 Photo Resist Spinner; various ovens and inspection microscope, Bruce Technologies Model 7351C Semiconductor Process Controller, Tempress 4 tube stack for four inch wafers suitable for oxidation and doping of silicon wafers.
Metrology Tools
- Four point probe to monitor doping with measured sheet resistance.
- Hot point probe
- RCA film thickness monitor
- Probe stations and Tektronix 370 Curve Tracer used for diode & transistor characterization.
- Angle lap-stain junction depth
Simulation Software
Silvaco: Athena for process simulation, Atlas for device characteristics