Southampton Nanofabrication Centre

Lithography

The backbone of the cleanroom is the lithography capability, the techniques by which design patterns are transferred to a sensitive resist as the initial stage of a fabrication process. In the Centre, the lithography is a mixture of photolithography, using UV mask aligners for pattern resolutions of down to 0.5µm, and electron beam lithography for smaller feature sizes. The Centre also has alternative nanopatterning techniques available such as microcontact printing and Nano Imprint Lithography.

The mask aligners operate in contact or proximity modes and can handle a wide range of substrate sizes from small pieces up to 200mm wafers. The Centre also has an extensive and versatile facility for resist processing, including a spray coater/developer for non-planar surfaces and the normal range of equipment such as spinners. The types of resist that are standard in the Centre is similarly extensive, from photoresists, ebeam resists through to thick film resists such as SU-8 and laminatable epoxy and acryllic materials. More details can be found below:

EVG6200 Infinity - robotic mask aligner

This is a fully automated, rapid, double-sided mask aligner, which is capable of high precision and high throughput processing of wafer sizes up to 200mm.

EVG 620 TB - double sided mask aligner

This is a high precision, automated mask aligner capable of aligning both top and bottom side patterns on wafer sizes up to 150mm. It is also paired with the EVG 520 bonder to provide the ability to precision align wafer stacks prior to bonding.

EVG 620 TB - rapid prototyping

This second high precision, automated mask aligner is located in the rapid fabrication Bio area of the cleanroom, handling up to 150mm wafer sizes.

EVG 620 T - single side mask aligner

A standard automated mask aligner providing straightforward mask alignment and patterning options.

EVG 150 - robotic resist processing station

An automated resist processing station, providing both resist deposition on a range of surfaces and topographies and development, using spray technology. Capapble of handling substrates up to 200mm in size from a cassette loading point.

EVG 510 - laminate thick film resist station