UCI'S MICROTECHNOLOGY & MANUFACTURING LABORATORY
The Microtechnology and Manufacturing Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine (UCI MML) is housed in the newly constructed Engineering Gateway Building which was dedicated in October, 1994. TheMML occupies a total floor space of 9800 sq. ft. with an area of 7800 sq. ft. under HEPA filtration (10% of which is Class 100 for the photolithography labs, 55% is Class 1000 for the fabrication and processing labs, and 35% is Class 10,000 for the sample preparation and test and measurement labs). The MML is equipped to support research and development, prototyping, and small-scale manufacturing in the areas of (1) silicon and compound semiconductor microelectronic devices, (2) silicon micromachining, and (3) microscale fabrication. The MML contains the following major pieces of equipment:


MAJOR EQUIPMENT
  1. Thin Film Deposition: Molecular Beam Epitaxy, two thermal evaporators, a four-hearth electron beam evaporator, four sputter systems, a plasma-enhanced chamical vapor deposition chamber, and four low-pressure chemical vapor deposition tube furnaces.
  2. Dry Etching: A reactive ion etching chamber for metals and compound semiconductors, a reactive ion etching chamber for dielectrics and silicon, an ion milling system, and a barrel reactor for plasma etching.
  3. Photolithography: A projection stepper system, two contact mask aligners, photoresist spinners for both circular and variable-geometry substrates, CAD equipment for mask design, and a photomask plate maker.
  4. Thermal Processing: A rapid thermal anneal system, ten tube furnaces for annealing and oxidation and an environmental testing chamber.
  5. Packaging: Wedge and ball bonders two semi-transparent furnaces for encapsulation, and wafer dicing and scribing equipment.
  6. Analytical Equipment: A combined near-field/atomic force microscope, a scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer, ellipsometer, and surface profilometer.

In addition, the MML is supported by various material and device characterization facilities which are located in the same wing of the Engineering Gateway Building but external to the cleanroom area. The material characterization equipment includes Hall-effect, Photoluminescence, the Photoreflectance analyzers; the device characterization equipment includes a semiconductor parameter analyzer, a network analyzer, a microwave S-parameter analyzer and a variety of spectrum, noise, and impedance analyzers. Also available is an automated He refrigerator cryogenic station, vibration-isolated opeical benches, and a variety of laser sources (HeNe, Argon, Tunable Dye, YAG, and GaAs diode).

EQUIPMENT I NVENTORY (OCTOBER, 1996)

Sample Preparation

  • Buhler Isomet 11-1180-160 Low Speed Saw
  • K&S 750 Scriber
  • Raytheon Model 100 Ultrasonic Impact Grinder
  • Metals Research LTD. Multipol 2 Polisher

Thin Film Deposition

  • Varian Gen II Molecular Beam Epitaxy [combined (III-V)-IV capability]
  • Varian 3118 Thermal Evaporator with IC6000 Thickness monitor
  • Veeco V-300 Thermal Evaporator with Sloan Thicness Monitor
  • Airco/Temescal CV-8 Four-hearth Electron Beam Evaporator with IC6000
  • Plasma-Therm Model 790 PECVD/RIE System [dielectrics]
  • Materials Research Corp. 8632 RF Sputter System
  • Sloan SL1800 Sputter-Gun System
  • Perkin-Elmer 2400-8L DC & RF Sputter System [three target + etch]
  • Varian 4130 S-gun Sputter System with EC6000
  • (2 ea.) Thermco 6" dia. four-tube furnaces with Tylan gas controllers [annealing, oxidation, and LPCVD of oxide, nitride, and polysilicon]
  • Ion Tech Secondary Ion Reactive Sputtering/Ion Milling System

Dry Etching

  • Applied Materials Model 8130 RIE System [metals & compound semiconductors]
  • Plasma-Therm Model 790 PECVD/RIE system [dielectrics]
  • Ion Tech Ion Mill
  • Ion Tech Secondary Ion Reactive Sputtering/Ion Milling System
  • Branson/IPC PM-1813 Barrel Reactor [PR ashing]

Wet Etching

  • 14 Wet Bench Stations

Thermal Processing

  • AG Heatpulse 2146 Rapid Thermal Anneal/Oxidation System
  • Thermco 6" dia. four-tube furnace stacks with Tylan gas controllers [annealing, oxidation, and APCVD of oxide, nitride, and polysilicon] (2 ea.)
  • TranTemp 2" dia. tube furnace (2 ea.)
  • Cincinnati Sub-Zero environmental testing chamber
  • Lindberg 5" Dia. Crucible Furnace
  • Lindberg 3" Dia. Tube Furnace

Photolithography & Mask Making

  • Ultratech 1000 Wide Field Projection Stepper System
  • Karl Suss MJB3 Contact Aligner (2 ea.)
  • Machine Technology Inc. Wafer Track Spin/Bake System [4" wafers]
  • Headway Wafer Spinner
  • Ultratech Model 602 Plate Cleaner
  • 20:1 Mask Reduction Camer A
  • GCA/David Mann Photorepeater Mask Plate system

Packaging

  • K&S 4123 Wedge Bonder
  • K&S 4123/4124 Wedge/Ball Bonder
  • Micro Automation 1006A Wafer Dicing Saw
  • Ultro Tech High Speed Dicing Saw

Analytical Equipment

  • Topometrix Near-Field & Atomic Force Microscope System
  • ISI SR-50A Scanning Electron Microscope with EDS
  • Optical Microscopes [Leitz Secolux with MPV-SP CCD camera; Leitz SM-Lux HL; Nikon Optiphot with Polaroid camera; Olympus MS with CCD camera]
  • Rudolph Auto E1 Ellipsometer
  • Tencor Alpha-Step 200 surface Profilometer
  • Tektronix 576 Curve Tracer with probe system
  • Veeco FPP5000 Four Point Probe


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