NanoFab

University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
What the facility does

Fabrication and characterization of nanostructures

Areas of expertise

The NanoFab is a state-of-the-art nanofabrication and characterization facility. Lithographic capabilities include contact optical and electron-beam lithography. Focussed ion beam milling is also available using a Ga/He system, which incorporates a gas-injection system for focused ion beam assisted deposition of metal and dielectric. Microscopy capabilities include optical microscopy (2 systems), stylus profilometry, scanning electron beam microscopy (2 systems), atomic force microscopy (2 systems), and focused ion beam microscopy (He). Material etching (Si and III-V) is provided by one reactive ion etching system, one inductively-coupled deep reactive ion etching system and an O2 plasma system. Material deposition is available through spin-coating and curing, sputtering, or evaporation (thermal or e-beam). Optical parameter characterization is provided by a scanning spectroscopic ellipsometer and a prism-coupled system. Back-end processing is enabled by a dicing saw, an end polishing system and a solder reflow system. 

Research services

The NanoFab operates as an open access user facility. Students, researchers and external users are granted full access to the tools after appropriate training. Fee-for-service fabrication and characterization are also available to internal and external users. Typical projects include: the fabrication of integrated optical structures, silicon waveguides, plasmonic waveguides, metasurfaces, photonic crystal waveguides, photodetectors, modulators, lasers and biosensors.

Sectors of application
  • Chemical industries
  • Energy
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Information and communication technologies and media
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment

Equipment

Function

Raith PIONEER

 

  • SEM + Electron Beam Lithography
  • Laser interferometer translation stage
  • Two electron detectors
  • Overlay capabilities

Zeiss ORION NanoFab

 

  • Ga and He beams
  • Fast machining of sub-10 nm structures
  • High resolution imaging
  • Gas injection system

Zeiss GeminiSEM 500

 

  • SEM
  • Sub-nanometer resolution and high detection efficiency

Ellipsometer - Horiba UVISEL FUV-NIR

  • Scanning specstroscopic Far Ultraviolet (FUV) and Near Infrared (NIR) ellipsometer
  • Covers range from UV to NIR (400 – 2200 nm)
  • Thin film characterization

RIE Etcher - SAMCO RIE-110iP

  • Has fluorine and chlorine-based etch chemistries
  • Used for etching silicon and III-V to create nano-structures
RIE Etcher - SAMCO RIE-10NR
  • Dry etching system for fluorine chemistries
  • Wafers of up to 8” in diameter
  • Anisotropic etching of all types of silicon based thin films, compound semiconductors and refractory metals

Mask Aligner - OAI Model 204IR

  • Frontside to backside alignment (IR imaging)
  • Aligner has soft contact, hard contact, and vacuum contact modes

HMDS Oven - YES-310TA

  • Precise HMDS application
  • Image reversal lithographic processing

Profiler – DektakXT

  • Surface roughness
  • Topography
  • Feature sizes

Zeiss Axio Imager M2.M

  • Universal stand transmitted-light microscope
  • Image acquisition & analysis
  • 3D Imaging

Wafer Bonder – AML AWB

  • Wafer aligner and bonder
  • In-situ chemistry on wafer surfaces in chamber

Solder Reflow Station – SRO-700

Die attachment, IGBT/DBC and thermo compression bonding

Metricon – Model 2010 Prism Coupler

  • Optical waveguiding techniques
  • Measure thickness and refractive index of dielectric films

AFM-Bruker – Dimension Icon

  • Large sample tip-scanning AFM platform
  • Sensors compensate for temperature and noise rendering levels

Rapid Thermal Annealing System - Solaris 100, Surface Science Integration (SSI)

  • Manual loading RTA system for research and development and pre-production
  • Wafer capability: 1" to 4"
  • Operating Temperature Range: Room temperature to 1250 °C
  • Option of top side or bottom side heating to reduce non-uniform heating
  • 9 different graphing options
  • Excellent repeatability

Polishing Machine – Ultra Tec Ultrapol

Includes digital timer, tachometer, solenoid coolant system, speed control, and process-end indicator

Sputtering System – Quorum 150R

Compact rotary-pumped coating system

Evaporator – Angstrom Nexdep

  • Thermal and e-beam evaporation
  • Optimized for lift-off processes

Oxygen Plasma Etcher – PE-50

O2 plasma treatment tool

AFM Park - NX10

Atomic force microscope for nanotechnology applications