Acquisition of a Laser Pattern Generator for Student Training in a 100-User Micro/Nanofabrication Laboratory

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This grant provides equipment for the Center for Photonics and Optoelectronic Materials (POEM) micro/nanofabrication laboratory at Princeton University with a tool for fast-turnaround patterning, including mask-making and direct writing. This Clean Room has 100 users, mostly PhD students from five academic departments, and undergraduates and individuals from local startup companies. Projects range from microfluidic surface arrays and microfluidic DNA spectrometers in silicon and on glass, single-electron interferometers and 2-D quantum fluid structures in III-V semiconductors, spherically shaped circuits on plastic, transistors on steel foil, and micromechanical structures. Some of these devices rely on functional cells with near-nanometer features, and others require patterns in the 100-micrometer range. Virtually all need frequent experimentation with arranging and patterning at resolutions in the intermediate 1-to-10 micrometer range. Patterning is central to work in the Clean Room, and the equipment includes optical mask aligners and an electron beam writer. The beta model of a nanoimprinter, a very new and very high-resolution technique, will be installed. What is missing is a photolithographic tool that encourages students to experiment with patterns. This grant provides easy, fast-turnaround, on-site, direct-writing and mask-making, a capability that changes the quality of experimentation in the micro/nanofabrication laboratory. An in-house direct laser writer will spawn new ideas and new projects. POEM's Clean Room is an exemplary teaching facility. Students do the research (no technicians) and assist in maintenance. A users committee of graduate students from five departments participates in lab planning and in setting procedures. A key part of the educational mission of Princeton University is to engage undergraduates in advanced research. POEM's micro/nanofabrication laboratory is a prominent contributor to this mission.