Template:News

News from the U.C. Santa Barbara Nanofabrication Facility.

CHIPS Act Award Announced to USC and UCSB NanoFab

U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal congratulates UCSB and the NanoFab on receiving a CHIPS & Science Act award, as part of the California DREAMS Hub (Microelectronics Commons) led by USC. // Demis 12:06, 4 October 2023 (PDT)

JEOL SEM's Installed

Both SEM's have been replaced with new JEOL SEM's #1 and SEM #2. SEM#1 has the NABITY lithography system installed, and SEM #2 has always-on EDAX elemental analysis. Contact the supervisor, Aidan Hopkins, for more information. // John d 18:31, 20 September 2023 (PDT)

Wide FOV Microscope Installed

We have installed an AmScope stereo microscope in Bay 4 for wide field-of-view digital imaging/capture, with >2cm of FOV currently available. Wiki page here: AmScope Wide Field of View Stereoscope // John d 14:52, 19 April 2023 (PDT)

Loomis Scribe & Break installed

We have installed a new Loomis LSD-155LT Automated Scribe & Break Cleaving tool in the Back-End Processing lab. Qualifications are underway. Contact supervisor, Aidan Hopkins, for more information. // John d 09:41, 16 April 2023 (PDT)

Dektak XT installed

We have replaced the old Dektak 6M with a new Dektak XT profilometer. This tool will provide robust, fast metrology for rapid in-process topography inspection. // John d 10:41, 25 January 2023 (PST)

New Process Control data tables

We have added "Process Control Data" - data on deposition/etch repeatability - to a number of our highest used etchers and deposition tools. The datasheets are linked in multiple places, mainly on the Recipes pages for each tool, or on the general Recipes pages for Deposition Recipes or Etch Recipes. // John d 16:07, 5 January 2023 (PST)

Oxford PlasmaPro ICP Etcher installed

We have a new ICP etcher in Bay 2: Oxford_ICP_Etcher_(PlasmaPro_100_Cobra)

The tool has been qualified for InP Ridge and InGaAsP Grating etches, and is intended for III-V etching in general (GaAs, GaN, GaSb etc.)

In addition, the tool is capable of Atomic Layer Etching on various materials. Contact the supervisor for training. // John d 11:27, 29 September 2021 (PDT)

SiO2 etching, High-Aspect Ratio

Dr. Bill Mitchell recently published an article detailing high-aspect ratio SiO2 etching (JVST-A, May 2021) in the Plasma-Therm Fluorine ICP etcher, using a novel Ruthenium Hard Mask.

Ruthenium can be deposited using the Oxford ALD or AJA Sputter and etched in one of the Panasonic ICP's.

You can find a full process flow at the FL-ICP's Recipe Page, in this case using a Sputtered Ru hard mask and I-line stepper lithography. // John d 08:05, 27 May 2021 (PDT)

Wafer Polisher available

We have added an Allied Wafer Polish tool to our equipment list. Contact Bill_Millerski for more information. // John d 16:49, 10 May 2021 (PDT)

Digital Microscope: Olympus DSX-1000

You'll see a new digital microscope in Bay 4/Metrology, that's our new Olympus DSX-1000. We are currently developing procedures, keep an eye out for training emails. // John d 13:49, 8 April 2021 (PDT)

Raith Velion: FIB/SEM Installation

We have installed a new state-of-the-art focused ion beam/electron beam tool in Bay 1. The Raith Velion enables synchronized interferometric stage, Focused-ion Beam Lithography with ~10nm features or less, live SEM during writing, and Electron-Beam Lithography.

Learn more about the tool's capabilities at the Raith website:

• Raith Products: Velion.
• VIDEO: Synchronized FIB beam + Laser Interferometric Stage write, with live SEM

Tool qualification is currently underway. Dr. Dan Read is the resident expert on this new tool.

// John d 06:53, 30 November 2020 (PST)