NNF to Acquire Electron Beam Lithography System

 
Dr. Mehmet Ozturk

NC State University has won a MRI (Major Research Instrumentation) proposal for the acquisition of the university's first Electron Beam Lithography System. This proposal was lead by Dr. Mehmet Ozturk of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Dr. Ozturk said, "This will be the first E-Beam Lithography System that NC State will have on campus. Prior to this system, users had to travel to other campuses as far away as Cornell University in order to use an E-Beam Lithography System."

An Electron Beam Lithography System is a direct-write system that allows users to try different patterns without having to purchase expensive masks used in conventional lithography systems.

Lithography systems use light to expose the photo-resist and the wavelength of that light determines how small the features are. NC State currently has a state-of-the-art conventional lithography system that operates at a wavelength of 193 nm (nanometers). This is referred to as "Deep Ultra Violet Lithography." At that wavelength, the machine NC State currently has, can write features down to 100 nm. The E-Beam Lithography System that NC State will be acquiring will be able to go down to 10 nm. Its much higher resolution over most conventional lithography techniques is its advantage.

Dr. Ozturk says, "One hundred nm is too large for state of the art nanotechnology."

 
Electron beam lithography applications_RAITH150-TWO

Another advantage is that the E-Beam Lithography System will also work as an electron microscope, which will be located in the clean room.

"An Electron Beam Lithography System is essential for a Nanofabrication Facility to be able to claim itself as a Nanofabrication Facility" says Dr. Ozturk.

NC State has a large community of users that are excited about obtaining this system. Dr. Ozturk says, "We hope that this will be a major resource for our faculty and graduate students at NC State." This system will be available to users in every department and school at NC State and will be installed in the NNF (Nanofabrication) Facility.

Dr. Ozturk had co-principals (co-PI's) and senior personnel from different departments from NC State. The co-PIs and senior personnel provided paragraphs in the proposal that explained what they would do with the Electron Beam Lithography System. "Without their input, we would have not been able to win this proposal" says Dr. Ozturk. The co-PI's on this project were Drs. Veena Misra, Michael Dickey from Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Robert Riehn from Physics and Steven Soper from Biomolecular Engineering.

The total cost of this proposal, including cost sharing, was $1,371,370.

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