Equipment & Procedures

For acid chemical processing

For acid chemical processing

Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PE-ALD)

Liquid Array Printing

O2 / Ar plasma ashing of photoresist and other organic materials

Biological Hood

Biological Hood

For spin coating photoresist and EBL resists ONLY

For spin coating materials

For photoresist base develop processing

Deposition of thin metal films

E-beam and thermal evaporation of metal films

High Temperature Annealing (750C-1050C) in Nitrogen used for N-type doped substrates

Dry oxidation (950C-1050C) in Oxygen

Low Temperature Annealing (400C-600C) in Nitrogen or Forming Gas and High Temp Annealing (up to 1050C) in Nitrogen of P-type substrates

3D surface profiling via optical, focus variation, laser confocal and while light interferometry

Film thickness measurements up to 50mm

Annealing, baking and curing up to 260C in air

Vacuum and nitrogen baking and curing

Low temperature oven for baking and curing PDMS and similar materials

PECVD deposition of Oxide, Nitride, and Oxynitride films

Photolithographic patterning

For Topside or Backside photo alignment and exposure

The ML 3 Pro is a direct write photolithography tool, allowing for micro-fabrication with a variety of photoresists without the need for a physical mask.

The probe station consists of a manual probe system with 4 independent probe micro-manipulators. It is configured with a Keithley 2450 SMU and an Agilent LCR meter for measuring current, voltage, resistance, capacitance, and conductance of devices and structures. This system also includes a 4 point resistivity probing system for making sheet-resistance and resistivity measurements of substrates and films.

Surface profiling and step height measurements

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) of oxide, nitride, and polymer films with fluorine and oxygen chemistries

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) of compound III-V semiconductors using chlorine and bromine based chemistries

Deep Silicon Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE)

Rapid thermal annealing up to 1000C in air, vacuum, N2, or forming gas (N2/H2)

Optical Microscopy

BF, DF, and Nomarski (DIC) optical microscopy

For solvent chemical processing

For solvent chemical processing (including ultrasonics)

RF sputter coating of dielectric materials

DC sputter coating of metals

Mixing and degassing PDMS

Electron Beam Lithography and SEM imaging

For acid chemical processing in a non-cleanroom environment

Critical Point CO2 Drying

Thermal Evaporation

Designed to make TEM carbon support grids hydrophilic.

Uses high-energy argon-ion beam to mill away material, creates smooth surfaces for electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy samples.

Annealing, baking and curing up to 600C in an N2 ambient

Low temperature baking of non-hazardous materials up to 100C

Accurate deposition of parylene films

Programmed dicing of silicon and other substrates

Epi BF, Cy3, Cy5 Fluorescence and Bright Field Optical Microscopy

Stereo Microscope

For solvent chemical processing in a non-cleanroom environment

Deposition of a gold film

Vitrifies suspension samples for imaging with the cryo-TEM.

Vitrifies suspension samples for imaging with the cryo-TEM.

For preparing Cryo-TEM and other TEM samples.

Wire bonding to interconnect wire leads to semiconductor, hybrid, or microwave devices.

For thin sectioning embedded biological samples for TEM or for thin sectioning frozen samples for AFM or EM.

The SEM is a high magnification imaging tool

The SEM is a tabletop high magnification imaging tool with secondary electron and backscattered electron detectors.

The TEM is a high magnification imaging tool. Resolution is on the order of 0.3nm

Cryo TEM for single particle analysis

Cryo TEM for screening

X-ray Imaging, Non-destructive CT, Quality Assurance, CAD vs. Actual Comparison (GD&T), Non-Destructive Internal Inspection, 3D Digitization, 3D Metrology, Surface Rendering, Morphology, Morphometrics

3D printing .STL or .OBJ 3D models created from software programs like CAD, or directly from MicroCT data.

X-ray CT Reconstruction of Nikon CT Data, Analysis of CT Data, Image Processing, 3D Visualization and Animation, CT Segmentation, CAD vs. Actual Comparison, Volume Rendering, Morphometric Data Collection, Quality Assurance, Graphics Work

X-ray CT Reconstruction of Nikon CT Data, Quick Analysis of CT Data, Image Processing, Quick Volume Rendering

Analysis of CT Data, Image Processing, 3D Visualization and Animation, CT Segmentation, CAD vs. Actual Comparison, Volume Rendering, Morphometric Data Collection, Quality Assurance, Graphics Work

Surface analysis for the detection of elements and variations in chemical compositions and oxidation states

X-Ray Diffraction of Materials from -190C to 1200C

Raman and PL spectroscopy

Optical characterization of samples over UV-Vis-NIR wavelengths

Infrared characterization of samples for determination of chemical species and molecular structure via transmission or attenuated total reflectance (ATR) measurements

Biacore T200 is a versatile and precise surface plasmon resonance (SPR) system that provides a wide range of high-quality molecular interaction data.

Asylum Cypher ES Environmental atomic force microscope. This AFM allows for temperature control and fluid or gas perfusion. It also has blueDrive photothermal excitation, which, by directly exciting the cantilever photothermally, provides significant ease of use and performance benefits for imaging topography, mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties in air and liquids.

Atomic force microscope scans mechanical probe across a sample to create topographical map of surface features with nanometer resolution.

For micron and sub-micron printing (e.g. conducting traces, waveguides, polymer molds, etc.)

Confocal Microscope Imaging

DLS measurement of particle size measurements and ELS measurement of surface charge of suspended particles

DSC: for thermal analysis of materials such as the glass transition (Tg), melting, crystallization, cure reactions, onset of oxidation, and heats of transitions (enthalpy). 

Ex-situ thin film characterization

Polishing and Lapping

Measure stress-strain relationship to understand the flow/deformation properties of a material.

Rheometry is used to evaluate how a material flows. Typically is used to characetriza viscosity, storage modulus G’ and loss modulus G’’, yield point, etc. The HR 20 at SMIF is equipped with a peltier (plate) that goes from -10C to 150C and a convection oven that works in the range of 25C to 200C .

Dynamical mechanical characterization of polymeric materials as a function of time, temperature and frequency. Glass transition (Tg).

Point collimated pinhole system for WAXS, MAXS, SAXS and Extreme SAXS of nano-particles for shape & structure analysis; GI-SAXS & GI-WAXS of surfaces for typography

Fluorescence and Optical Microscopy