NEWS & EVENTS
Intel Corporation donates to Penn State Nanofabrication Lab
The Penn State Materials Research Institute is extremely grateful to announce the donation of
$1M in processing equipment to the Penn State Nanofabrication Laboratory by Intel Corporation. The donation consists of two state-of the art processing tools that will be used in the Penn State Nanofabrication Laboratory, an NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Node (NNIN) site and an open access national user facility, to help scientists and engineers from academia and industry to advance the frontiers of nanoscale science and engineering. The donated tools will enhance the laboratory’s mission and help build on core research strengths at Penn State University to establish strategies for integrating diverse materials –semiconductors, complex oxides, superconductors, ferromagnets, polymers and molecular systems– into micro and nanoscale devices. The donated tools are described below:
Hitachi Hi Tec 9300: the tool is a state-of-the-art fully programmable low voltage scanning electron microscope with three nanometer (3nm) resolution. It will be used in the PSU Nanofab for in-line critical dimension measurements and high resolution inspection. The tool can be used in the manual mode for wafer pieces or other small substrates or fully automated for full wafers up to 200mm in diameter. The system has a number of advanced capabilities such as back scatter electron imaging mode, multipoint measurement, edge roughness measurement and automated image archiving that are invaluable in process characterization and development. In the fully automated mode it can quickly collect statistically significant amounts of data resulting in rapid development of robust nano- and micro-fabrication processes.
Applied Materials 5200 Ultima: The tool is a state-of-the-art plasma deposition cluster tool with the capability of depositing high density, high quality oxide on substrates up to 200mm in diameter. The system consist of a dual cassette load-lock module, a central transport module with orientation and flat finding capability, a cool down camber and three (3) HDP Ultima-2 chambers each equipped with an electrostatic chuck with helium cooling, closed loop wafer temperature monitoring, RF and microwave power supplies and multiple gas feed capability.The system will be used to deposit high density oxides for a wide range of device applications including nano-electronics and nano-photonics. In addition, the tool can be configured to deposit additional plasma enhanced films including amorphous silicon for development of materials and techniques for solar cell applications.
