Building a MEMS-based Fab-on-a-Chip as a Technique for Nanomanufacturing

在过去的几十年里，纳米技术的研究取得了重大的进展，使得在纳米尺度上对物质的控制和理解前所未有。然而，大部分的进展都是通过仪器和技术实现的，虽然这些仪器和技术是强大的研究工具，但当人们从研究转移到纳米级设备的制造时，这些仪器和技术是不可用的。从研究到制造产品，以及由此创造的工作岗位，需要开发一种新的纳米制造技术，与纳米研究工具不同。在这个项目中，大型（宏观）机器被用来建造小型（微型）机器，然后这些小型机器被用来建造微型或纳米级的设备和结构。该方法通过使用原子尺度的3D打印机，以数字可编程的方式组装材料，从而推动了制造技术的发展。专注于设计、测试和建模的跨学科方法，以及在外部铸造厂制造MEMS器件，使研究团队能够以新颖的方式吸引代表性不足的群体，扩大参与范围，并为团队提供一个平台，以加强研究生和本科生的工程教育。研究团队将建造、测试和模拟半导体工厂中常见的所有机器的微型版本，并将这些设备放在硅芯片上。这种“片上晶圆厂”将用于制造纳米器件和结构。他们将构建无电阻光刻工具，该工具具有纳米孔径，由聚焦离子束、微原子源、薄膜厚度监测器、加热器、温度计、掩膜、百叶窗、互连以及制造纳米设备所需的所有其他系统创建。我们的方法基本上是加法，因为它可以在需要的时候和地方放置原子，而不是沉积大量的原子，然后在后处理中去除大部分原子，这是现代集成电路制造的传统方法。微型机器将采用微米级光刻技术制造；纳米级分辨率是通过能够以纳米级精度调谐和控制器件来提供的。在低成本的商业晶圆厂中制造设备将使开发成本保持适度。这也允许该团队将“晶圆片”提供给其他人使用，就像晶体种植者向大量其他研究人员提供样品一样。

Over the last several decades, nanotechnology research has made significant progress allowing for unprecedented control and understanding of matter at the nano-scale. However, much of this progress has taken place using instruments and techniques that, while powerful research tools, won't be usable as one migrates from research to the manufacturing of nano-scale devices. Moving from research to making products and the accompanying jobs they create requires the development of a new class of techniques for nanomanufacturing as distinct from tools for nano research. In this project, large (macro) machines are used to build small (micro) machines and then those small machines are used to build tiny or nano devices and structures. The approach advances manufacturing technology through the use of what is, in essence, a 3D printer at the atomic scale allowing for the assembly of materials in a digitally programmable way. The interdisciplinary approach of focusing on design, testing and modeling and having the MEMS devices built in an external foundry allows the research team to engage underrepresented groups in novel ways, broadening participation, as well as giving the team a platform to enhance engineering education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.The research team will build, test and model micro versions of all the machines one typically finds in a semiconductor fab and place those devices on a silicon chip. This "Fab-on-a-Chip" will then be used to manufacture nano devices and structures. They will build resist-free lithography tools with nanometer apertures created with a focused ion beam, micro sources of atoms, film thickness monitors, heaters, thermometers, masks, shutters, interconnects and all of the other systems needed to manufacture a nano device. Our approach is fundamentally additive in that it can place atoms when and where needed instead of depositing large numbers of atoms and then removing most of them in post processing which is the traditional method for modern integrated circuit fabrication. The micro machines will be built using micron scale lithography; nano scale resolution is provided by being able to tune and control the devices with nanometer precision. Building the devices in a low-cost merchant fab will keep the development costs modest. This also allows the team to give "Fabs-on-a-Chip" to others for their use in much the same way a crystal grower provides samples to a large number of other researchers.