Quick Tool Overview
Here is a quick overview of all the available tools we have in the clean room. For more detail, click the name of the tool or go to the Tool Directory page.
Thin Film Deposition Tools
- Magnetron Sputtering Tool: Quickly deposits lower-quality thin films from a target using plasma.
- Electron Beam (E-Beam) Deposition: Uses an electron beam to evaporate material out of crucible and form thin films.
- Oxidation Furnace: Grows oxide layers on substrates (usually wafers).
- Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD): Deposits slow uniform films one atomic layer at a time.
- Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD): Quickly deposits thin films using plasma and gaseous precursors.
Etching Tools and Processes
- Reactive Ion Etcher: Uses reactive plasma and gaseous precursors to etch films quickly.
- Plasma Ash/Plasma Etching: Uses reactive plasma and gaseous precursors to etch films slowly.
- Hydrofluoric (HF) Acid Bench: Wet-etches silicon dioxide and similar oxides using HF.
- X-Etch (or XeF Etch): Uses XeF to selectively etch Si, Mo, and Ge isotropically.
- Pan Etch: Wet etching of metals using acids.
Photolithography Tools
- New Photoresist Spinner: Creates thin photoresist films using high-speed spinning.
- Old Photoresist Spinner: Legacy tool for spinning photoresist. We use this primarily for slides rather than wafers.
- LED (new) Mask Aligner: Uses LED bulb to expose photoresist through metal masks. Has more more robust alignment system than old aligner.
- Mercury (old) Mask Aligner: Uses a mercury bulb to expose photoresist through metal masks.
- Developer Spinner: Sprays developer to remove undeveloped photoresist after mask alignment.
- HMDS: Applied via vapor before photoresist spin. Improves photoresist bonding to the substrate.
Thin Film Characterization
- Filmetrics: Optically measures the thickness of films.
- 4-Point Probes: Measures the sheet resistance of films.
- Optical Microscopes: Can view and measure features.
- Atomic Force Microscopy: Models the roughness, thickness, and shape of features.
- Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM): Atomic-scale imaging by measuring tunneling current between a tip and surface.
Doping Tools
- Phosphorous Doping Furnace: Introduces phosphorus dopants into substrates via diffusion.
- Boron Doping Furnace: Introduces boron dopants into substrates via diffusion.
Miscellaneous
- Mask projector: Projects patterns onto photoresist that can be used to etch patterns into metal coatings on slides.
- Annealer: Vacuum system for precisely heating and cooling samples.