Raith eLine Electron Beam Lithography System
Our new Raith eLine EBeam Lithography tool will provide cutting-edge nanolithography for FabLab users. For the first time, NanoCenter users will be able to print features as small as a few nanometers. The system has been ordered and will arrive on campus before the end of the year.

Upgraded: JEOL 840 FE-SEM
We have upgraded our JEOL 840 field emission scanning electron microscope for electron beam lithography by adding Nabity software and a beam blanker to the SEM. Although it does not have the full capability of the Raith system, this system can meet the needs of many of our users until the Raith arrives. It will also be used for training students and faculty in the art of e-beam lithography before they move on to the Raith system.

Nanowire Growth System
A new nanowire growth system will enable synthesis of nanowires for research aimed at exploiting nanoscale structures. Configured for both silicon and germanium nanowire growth, this sytem can be easily converted to other materials as well. The system is sized to handle up to 4" diamter substrates which will allow us to combine nanostructures with microelectronic and optical devices fabricated by more converntional techniques.

ALD System
A new atomic layer deposition system will provide users with the ability to deposit ultra thin dielectrics and metals over nanoscale topography. Films can be grown one atomic layer at a time with excellent control. Originally configured for Hafnium oxide, aluminum oxide and tungsten nitride films, this system was chosen for its quick adaptability to other materials systems.

Plasma-enhanced CVD
A new plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system will provide high quality dielectric layers while maintaining low process temperatures. This system will deposit low-stress silicon oxide, silicon nitride and siliconoxynitride thin films with excellent step coverage. It can also deposit amorphous silicon. This new tool supplements our existing thin film deposition by sputtering, LPCVD, ebeam and thermal evaporation.

Inductively-coupled Plasma Etcher
A new inductively-coupled plasma etcher will enable selective removal of thin film materials by chlorine-based etching processes. Complementing our fluoring-based etch capability, this tool will be heavily used by our III-V materials community. With eight separate gas input lines, a variety of etch recipes will be developed.

Thin Film Evaporator
A versatile new thin film evaporator will allow users to deposit a wide variety of materials, either by electron-beam evaporation or by thermal evaporation, with an option of in-situ ion beam cleaning of the surface or bombardment during deposition.

Environmental SEM
A new environmental scanning electron microscope with analytical capability (EDS) will allow FabLab users to verify process and device results while working in the FabLab.

Other Characterization Instruments
A variety of other materials characterization instruments are being added as well. We already have and Agilent 4255C Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer and a wafer probe station in FabLab. This set up can be used for dc characterization of devices, circuits and process control test structures as was as quasi-static CV measurements. A Rudolph AutoEL III Ellipsometer has been ordered and should be here by the end of March 2007. We are also looking for a thin film stress measurement tool.