Applications
List of Possible Process Flows
Click below to reveal the possible process flows for this application. Each step is linked to capability in our database. Alternatively, search from a full list of capabilities here.
Fabricating ~100nm structures
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Step 1
Electron Beam Lithography (EBL)
Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) allows users to write patterns with extremely high resolution, smaller than 10nm in size. It makes use of a highly energetic, tightly focused electron beam, which is scanned over a sample coated with an electron-sensitive resist. The electron beam scans the image according to a...
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Step 2
Electron Beam Evaporation (E-Beam Evaporation)
Electron-beam evaporation is a physical vapour deposition method for depositing thin films of metals, oxides and semiconductors in a high vacuum environment. Ultra high purity coating material is placed inside a vacuum chamber, typically as pellets in a crucible. Electron energy is used to heat these pellets,...
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Step 3
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) is a method that combines both chemical and physical etching to allow isotropic and anisotropic material removal.
The etching process is carried out in a chemically reactive plasma containing positively and negatively charged ions generated from gases that are pumped into the reaction...
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Step 4
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is the process whereby a tightly focused electron beam is scanned onto the surface to be imaged. As the primary electrons hit the atoms in the surface, a number of secondary electrons are emitted, and collected by the instrument’s detector, which assigns a level of grey...
Fabricating ~100µm structures
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Step 1
Spin coating and wafer development
Spin coaters are capable of applying uniform thickness polymer films, such as a resist to substrates. Resist is essential for many types of lithography, such as UV lithography. Resists are termed either positive or negative — this denotes whether, when cured, chemical bonds are made or broken, and therefore whether...
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Step 2
Multiple mask lithography
Photolithography is used to create a pattern on a substrate by shining light from a light source onto a photoresist that coats the surface of the substrate through a photomask and is followed by a development phase.
Depending on the complexity of a device’s design, various deposition, etching and lithography...
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Step 3
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) involves the deposition of materials one atomic monolayer at a time. It forms extremely uniform, conformal, pin-hole-free coatings even on high-aspect-ratio structures. This is achieved by pulsing a chemical precursor onto a hydroxylated substrate surface which reacts, resulting in a...
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Step 4
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) is a method that combines both chemical and physical etching to allow isotropic and anisotropic material removal.
The etching process is carried out in a chemically reactive plasma containing positively and negatively charged ions generated from gases that are pumped into the reaction...
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Step 5
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is one of the most versatile characterisation methods.
AFM performs scanning probe microscopy, scanning the surface of a material with a nanoscale cantilever, either through direct contact or through oscillating the cantilever just above the surface. When the cantilever is positioned...