Equipment: Acquisition of a laser direct-write photolithography system

设备： 购置激光直写光刻系统

• 批准号: 2320641
• 负责人: Andrew Sarangan
• 金额: $ 39.04万
• 依托单位: University of Dayton
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320641&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Equipment; Acquisition; laser; direct; write

Lithography is the most expensive and most critical step in the fabrication of semiconductor electronic and optical integrated circuits. The ability to reproduce millions of identical copies has advantages in manufacturing but in an R&D/educational setting we typically only need a handful of prototype copies. The current method of chip prototyping requires outsourced manufacturing of photomasks for each lithography step. The proposed laser lithography capability will eliminate the photomask step and enable researchers to directly print lithography patterns on a chip or wafer, thereby significantly accelerating research progress and reducing development cost. The difference in technique and corresponding advantages is analogous to mold replication vs 3D printing. Just like advances in electronics, mechanics and software have enabled high-quality 3D printing, recent advances in UV lasers, focusing optics and mechanical positioning accuracy have enabled direct-write photolithography. This project brings together a diverse group of researchers from Engineering and Science to make advances in several areas such as semiconductor materials, photonic and biotechnology chips, imaging science and advanced lithography process development. This tool is also ideal for incorporating hands-on experience for graduate and undergraduate students studying semiconductor manufacturing. This capability will become an integral training module for our semiconductor manufacturing workforce development initiatives and will augment our successful and on-going relationships with community colleges and minority-serving institutions in the region.The Raith PicoMaster 150 direct-write laser beam lithography (LBL) system will enable rapid prototyping of complex devices in hours instead of weeks with significantly lower cost by circumventing the need for the intermediate photomask step. With the ability to achieve feature sizes down to 300 nm, this equipment will help advance our current education, research, and industry partnerships in integrated photonics and electronics. This project brings together a diverse group of researchers from the Departments of Electro-Optics & Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Technology, Physics and Biology. Specific research activities that will immediately benefit from this tool include nano-patterned phase change materials (PCM), photonic integrated circuits (PIC), wide bandgap electronics, soft/wearable electronics, novel spectroscopic imaging, and lab-on-a-chip biomedical devices. Additionally, we will collaborate with Raith to explore resolution enhancement techniques such as self-aligned double patterning (SADP), which could enhance the optical resolution of the tool down to 100 nm. The proposed lithography capability will enable fast turnaround of designs made by students for immediate fabrication in our cleanroom. It will allow devices such as MOSFETs and photodetectors to be designed and fabricated during a single semester course. This will enhance the experiential learning of our graduate and undergraduate students, which was not previously possible due to the lengthy lead-times and costs associated with the photomask-based lithography process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

光刻是制造半导体电子和光学集成电路中最昂贵，最关键的一步。复制数百万个相同副本的能力在制造方面具有优势，但是在研发/教育环境中，我们通常只需要少数原型副本。当前的芯片原型制作方法需要为每个光刻步骤外包照相罩的制造。提出的激光光刻功能将消除光掩膜步骤，并使研究人员能够直接在芯片或晶圆上打印光刻模式，从而显着加速了研究进度并降低了发展成本。技术和相应优势的差异类似于模具复制与3D打印。就像电子产品的进步一样，力学和软件也能够实现高质量的3D打印，紫外线激光器的最新进展，聚焦光学和机械定位精度已经实现了直接 - 写照刻画。该项目汇集了一群来自工程和科学的研究人员，以在半导体材料，光子和生物技术芯片，成像科学和高级光刻过程开发等多个领域取得进步。该工具也是为学习半导体制造业的研究生和本科生纳入动手体验的理想选择。该能力将成为我们半导体制造业劳动力发展计划的组成培训模块，并将扩大我们与该地区的社区大学和少数族裔服务机构的成功和持续的关系。RaithPicomaster 150直接 - 韦斯特·帕克斯特（Raith Picomaster）150 Direct-Write Laser Laser束光刻（LBL）系统将在工作时间内降低成本的快速原型。由于能够达到300 nm的功能尺寸，该设备将有助于促进我们目前的综合光子学和电子产品的教育，研究和行业伙伴关系。该项目汇集了来自电机和光子学，电气工程，工程技术，物理和生物学部门的各种研究人员。将立即受益于该工具的特定研究活动包括纳米图案的相变材料（PCM），光子集成电路（PIC），宽带隙电子产品，柔软/可穿戴电子产品，新颖的光谱成像和实验室芯片生物医学设备。此外，我们将与Raith合作探索分辨率增强技术，例如自我对准双图案（SADP），这可以增强工具的光学分辨率下降到100 nm。拟议的光刻功能将使学生能够在我们的洁净室中立即制造设计的设计快速转变。它将允许在单个学期课程中设计和制造MOSFET和光电视工等设备。这将增强我们的研究生和本科生的体验学习，这是由于与基于摄影的光刻过程相关的漫长的销售时光和成本而无法实现的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来获得支持的。