Photolithography
Photomasks and Direct Write: A Heidelberg DWL 66FS UV laser patterning system for the generation of photomasks and direct write onto substrates, such as wafers or individual die. The Heidelberg can provide write resolution capabilities down to 600 nm for substrates up to 9” square. Additionally, it can perform the direct write on wafers or individual die and write 128 levels of grayscale.
Contact Photolithography: Suss MA6 and AB-M mask aligners provide front and backside alignment capabilities. Alignment can be performed on individual die up to 6" wafers.
Image Reversal: An ammonia based photoresist image reversal systems by YES that can also perform HMDS vapor prime.
Thin Film Deposition
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition system: Oxford PECVD system capable of depositing silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, oxynitride, amorphous silicon (undoped/doped), polycrystalline silicon (undoped/doped), silicon carbide, silicon nanowires and generation of carbon nanotubes. The Oxford tool includes a 700°C high-temperature chuck and a TEOS delivery system.
Sputtering: Lesker PVD 75 three source tool and Technics two source system for deposition of both metals and dielectrics. The PVD 75 features RF, DC, RF/DC stacking and ion beam assisted sputtering, which includes throttled pressure control and reactive gas mixing.
Available deposition materials here.
Electron Beam and Thermal Evaporation: A Lesker electron beam and a Denton thermal evaporation system for depositing a variety of thin films on substrates up to 6”.
Parylene Coating: An SCS vapor deposition tool for Parylene C and Parylene N.
Molecular Vapor Deposition: An Applied MST MVD system for the conformal deposition of hydrophobic coatings for lubricants, anti-stiction layers, molecular glues, reactive adhesion layers, or to change the surface contact angle.
Electroplating: Pulse or continuous DC electroplating systems for Au, Cu and Ni processing using high aspect ratio photoresists.
Atomic Layer Deposition: A Beneq ALD system for the deposition of alumina (Al2O3), silicon dioxide (SiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) films.
Thermal Processing
Oxidation, Diffusion & Annealing: Multiple tube furnaces for thermal processes include wet/dry oxidation, high-temperature annealing, and boron/phosphorous diffusion.
Rapid Thermal Processes: An RTP system for silicon based gate oxide growth and rapid thermal annealing of implanted layers.
LPCVD Furnace:Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of polysilicon for 4” and 6” wafers.
Vacuum Cure Oven: Multiple programmable vacuum ovens capable of heating to 400°C.
Etching, Machining, and Bonding
Deep Reactive Ion Etch (Silicon): An STS DRIE tool for anisotropic (vertical only) silicon deep trench etching using the Bosch process. This tool has a pulsed plate bias to minimize “footing” at oxide etch stops.
Anisotropic Silicon Wet Etching: KOH, TMAH and EDP wet etchants for silicon substrates.
Plasma Etching: Multiple reactive ion etching (RIE) and oxygen/plasma based systems capable of providing selective silicon, SiO2 and Si3N4 etching, as well as ashing.
Trion Phantom III Reactive Ion Etch System: A Trion ICP Phantom Minilock III Etcher for etching nitrides, oxides, polymers, metal, compound semiconductor and other materials using fluorine (CHF3, SF6, CF4), oxygen and corrosive (Cl2 and BCl3) chemistries.
Xenon Di-Fluoride Etching: A Xactix XeF2 system for isotropic (vertical and lateral) dry etching of silicon microstructures prone to stiction.
Wafer Level Bonding: A Suss SB6e for wafer level bonding of silicon/glass anodic bonding, glass/glass or gold/gold thermal compression bonding, and Si/Si fusion bonding. All processes are capable of a 5-micron alignment with our adjacent Suss MA6 mask aligner.
Ion Milling: A two source ion beam based etching system capable of nanometer scale etching.
Critical Point Dryer: A critical point CO2 dryer for drying substrates, where stiction needs to be avoided.
Packaging
Dicing: A Disco programmable saw for dicing silicon, glass and alternative substrates up to a 6” diameter.
Wire Bonding: Multiple Kulicke & Soffa wedge, ball and deep access wire bonders for aluminum and gold 1-mil wire bonding.
Flip Chip Packaging: A Finetech Fineplacer “Pico” system for flip chip die placement accuracy up to 5 microns. This tool can accommodate surface-mount components SMCs with a side length up to 17 mm.
Printed Circuit Boards: An LPKF automated milling system for custom printed circuit boards (PCB) with a resolution of 100 microns and hole diameters down to 150 um. A vacuum table and fiducial recognition camera system ensure precise front-to-back registration. Applications include through-hole and surface mount PCBs, stencils, templates and engraved panels.
Metrology & Testing
Available at MNTC
Thin Film Stress Measurement: A Toho thin film stress measurement system using non-contact multi-wavelength surface flatness techniques for evaluating thin film stresses from room temperature to 500°C.
3-D Contact Profiling: A Veeco contact profilometer that can provide down to a 7.5-angstrom step height measurement with a vertical range up to 1 mm and a maximum scan length of 200 mm. The low stylus force allows scratch-free measurement of soft materials.
Non-contact 3D Optical Profiler: A Zygo non-contact profilometer that is capable of measuring surface topology of microscale systems. Its capabilities include a field stitching and a dynamic module for measuring MEMS devices during actuation.
Mid-wave Thermal Imaging System: A Quantum Focus Instruments (QFI) thermal imaging system for capturing thermal images and video of devices featuring 0.1°C temperature and 5 um spatial resolutions.
Testing: Veeco FPP-5000 Four-point Probe and suite of probe stations and electronic test instruments for measuring sheet resistance, TCR, I-V curves, C-V curves and device performance.
Thin film Measurement System:Filmetrics system for non-contact thin film thickness measurements and determining optical constants of single and multilayer films.
Available at HNCF
SEM, AFM, STM Capabilities:
- Zeiss Supra 35 scanning electron microscope (SEM) with 1 nm resolution imaging + accessories: STEM detector, Backscattering detector, EDAX-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Zyvex 5 nm resolution nanomanipulator, Heating Peltier stage up to 1100C.
- Zeiss EVO-40 Extreme Variable Pressure (3000 Pa) scanning electron microscope + accessories: Peltier stage -25C to 50C, Humidity control option
- Gold-Palladium Sputter Coating
- Asylum MF3D Bio-AFM + accessories: Liquid cell option for biomaterials, Vibration controller
- Asylum MF3D Conductive AFM
Ellipsometry: VASE Woollam Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometer for non-contact thin film thickness measurements and determining optical constants of single and multilayer films.
Design, Layout, and Modeling
A full suite of computer-based tools for photomask layout, custom analog and digital IC design, micro-scale tooling, and 2D/3D finite element models for virtual device evaluation. Software packages include Tanner EDA, Silvaco TCAD, CoventorWare®, Solid Edge. These packages are available for academic purposes only.
.