Acquisition of an Advanced Plasma Etching System for Research at Nanoscale for Energy Harvesting and Nanoelectronics at Alabama A and M University
Abstract
Major Goals: The major goal of this project is to acquire a state-of-the-art OXFORD PlasmaPro 100 Cobra inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching system to enable researchers at the Alabama A and M University (AAMU), a leading HBCU, to fabricate devices at the micro- and nanoscales. The capability of fabricating materials and devices at the nanoscale is critical not only for the advancement of science and technology but also for the training of the future scientific workforce. Currently, 10 engineering and science faculty members and more than 30 graduate and undergraduate students rely on the class-1,000 cleanroom as a primary experimental resource for the design and fabrication of nanoscale materials and devices. Three of the key capabilities for nanoscale fabrication are the ability to create patterns using UV or e-beam lithography, the ability to grow nanoscale thin-film materials, and the ability to etch those patterns into a variety of substrates. Our lithographic capability is excellent: (1) a JEOL scanning electron microscope with a nanometer pattern generation system for e-beam lithography; (2) A Suss MABA 6 Gen3 mask aligner for UV lithography, which was installed with the DoD/ARO support in 2017. Our thin-film deposition capability is also excellent: (1) physical vapor deposition (PVD) including a sputtering deposition system and a thermal/e-beam evaporation system; (2) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) including a KJL ALD150LX plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) system, which was installed with the DoD/ARO support in 2018. However, we don't have any high-density plasma etch system in our cleanroom, which is critical in the fabrication at the nanoscale. The requested plasma etch system is a necessary companion instrument to our clean-room fabrication tools. The acquisition of the etching system would propel nanoscale science and technology at AAMU serving northern Alabama to new frontiers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 27, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1193198
Entities
People
- Qunying Yuan
- Satilmis Budak
- Shujun Yang
- Zhigang Xiao