Process Technology and Devices

The Division of Process Technology and Devices performs semiconductor preparation processes for silicon and other semiconductor materials, like GaAs, SiC, Ge and diamond. The activities comprise the pre- and after-ion-beam sample processing, the fabrication of test structures and devices for different analytical and electrical investigations as well as industrial customer based semiconductor process and device development. 

The cleanroom assists in enabling the various research topics of the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research including  Nanostructures, Optoelectronic Materials, Nanomagnetism, Transport in nanostructures and Doping & Defects in Semiconductors. It also assists other research groups both on and off the HZDR campus.

Useful Forms:

Generally all samples processed in the cleanroom are required to have a processing template. This is commonly known as a process flow. These are currently managed through the process approval section of the Nanofaro Wiki.

However, if one only requires short work to be done in the cleanroom you can fill in one of the following forms and bring it to Ciaran Fowley. The processing will then be handled by the cleanroom staff. The forms are also available on the NanoFaRo Wiki under Useful Forms.

• Wet chemistry : For chemistry processes, e.g. Piranha, buffered oxide etching, KOH etching
• Photolithography : For UV lithography with photomasks, otherwise known as microfabrication
• Deposition : Material deposition by evaporation (e-beam and thermal) and sputtering
• Reactive Ion Etching : Reactive ion etching with SF6, CF4, O2 and C4F8 
• Thermal Processing : For thermally grown oxides, annealing and rapid themal annealing / processing

Note: the forms are only available internally.

Services and methods:

Clean Room

The cleanroom provides an area of 320 m² of Class 500,000 or better, within which a total of 40 m² is Class 100 work space. It is located adjacent the implan­ter halls.

Wet chemistry

Chemical pre­paration of clean surfaces via solvent and acid (Piranha, RCA-1, RCA-2 etc.) processes is available. Selective etching of Si, SiOx, Al, GaAs and Ge is available.

Photolithography

Photolithography with a resolution below 2 µm o­ver a 150 mm wafer is available as well as direct laser writing possibilities. A large variety of existing photomasks can help you accomplish your patterning fast.

Reactive Ion Etching

Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of Si, SiOx and various 2D materials is possible in continuous as well as cycled (Bosch-Process) processes with thickness monitoring.

Thin Film Deposition

Physical deposition of a myriad metals, semi-conductors and oxides via both sputtering and evaporation is possible. A total of 12 electron beam pockets, 2 thermal sources and 4 sput­ter targets are available.

Measurement techniques

Optical inspection, thickness measurements and electrical characterisation in the cleanroom mean fast calibration of deposition, oxidation and etch processes all with the clean environment

Group information:

The preparation equipment in the Class-100 cleanroom incorporates:

• Processing Technologies
  • Wet chemical wafer cleaning and isotropic thin layer etching
  • Wet chemical anisotropic and selective silicon bulk etching
  • Photolithography and mask alignment (double sided) / Direct write laser lithography
  • ICP reactive ion etching based on fluorine gases
  • Furnace thermal oxidation, diffusion and annealing
  • Rapid thermal processing (annealing and oxidation)
  • High Temperature vacuum annealing
     
• Thin Film Deposition
  • Sputtering (DC, RF and magnetron, various materials)
  • Evaporation (e-beam, resistive, various materials)
     
• Fine-focused Ion Beam (FIB)
  • Direct patterning on µm- and nm-scale
  • Local and writing ion implantation
  • FIB-assisted layer deposition and etching
  • Development and analysis of liquid metal alloy ion sources
     
• Device Packaging
  • Ultrasonic wire bonding
  • Adhesive technology
     
• Measurement and Characterization
  • Optical layer thickness measurement (interferometric, ellipsometric)
  • Optical line width measurement
  • Optical microscopy
  • Surface profiling and roughness measurement
  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
  • Electrical measuring techniques (I/V-, MIS-C/V-measurement)
     
• Computer Aided Design
  • Mask layout design for photolithography (AUTOCAD)