Departments

The department ”Lithography and Pattern Transfer” represents the technological basis for all patterning processes of the Center for Microtechnologies and its partners. In a class 4 (ISO 14644-1) clean room a complete process line for mask fabrication and lithography is available:

• Large variety of wet and dry etching steps, including DRIE
• 4 inch and 6 inch wafers are typically processed
• 5 inch and 7 inch mask fabrication
• Partially process tools are available even for 8 inch wafers
• Optical lithography is based on a mask aligner (up to 8 inch wafers) and an i-line wafer stepper (up to 6 inch wafers)

In addition to the conventional lithography processes, the department is experienced with double-side exposure, spray coating on 3D-surfaces and the treatment of special resist types like SU-8 by using advanced systems. Furthermore, cavities can be filled individually by a special spray robot.

With respect to nanopatterning, more than 20 years experience exists within the e-beam lithography field. In combination with about 10 dry etch tools, typically sub quarter micron structures have been etched into numerous materials. Using resist patterns made by partners and special hard masks, feature sizes smaller than 100 nm have been transferred. At the end of the year 2014 a new e-beam writing system SB 250 from VISTEC Electron Beam GmbH was deployed even for very small dimensions down to 20 nm.

Beside these technology services for internal and external partners, the department is performing R&D projects focusing on dry etching processes and High-Aspect-Ratio-MEMS (HAR-MEMS). This work is addressing applications in microsystems technologies, microelectronics, spintronics and photovoltaics as well. Therefore, etching of new materials and surface modification steps are investigated. Based on the developed and patented AIM technology (Airgap Insulation of Microstructures) a sensor and actuator fabrication platform is available. Using this technology, high performance low-g and vibration sensors are provided to several partners for system integration. For this, much effort has been spent additionally in device characterization at wafer-level and yield improvement too. Another example of successful technology research is the development of a thin film encapsulation procedure and several innovative solutions for the fabrication of backside contacts in order to reduce the package size and costs of MEMS/NEMS.

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Head of Department: Lithography and Pattern Transfer

	Dr. Danny Reuter
	Deputy: Gunther Schwenzer
	Phone: +49 (0)371 531 35041
	E-Mail: danny.reuter@...

The department “Layer Deposition” is highly competent in the development and fabrication of conductive and isolating layers and layer stacks for microelectronic and microsystems technologies. For this purpose, the department owns state-of-the-art equipment including a new clean room. The department offers support for advanced process modules for research and development purposes and small volume prototyping.

Process modules available include:

Physical Vapor Deposition (sputtering, electron beam):

• Vertical sputtering system MRC 643 (materials: Ti, TiN, Ta, TaN, Cu)
• Vertical sputtering system MRC 643 (materials: Al, Al-Alloys, Cr, TiW, W)
• R&D sputtering system FHR MS 150 x 4 AE (materials: Ag, Al, Au, Cr, Ti, TiN, TiO₂, NiMo, Ta, Ni)
• R&D sputtering system FHR MS 150 x 4–AE-B (materials: Al, Al-Alloys, Hf, Pyrex)
• R&D Electron-Beam-Evaporation (materials: Cu, Pd, Pt, Co, Ni …)

Chemical Vapor Deposition (MO-CVD, PE-CVD, LP-CVD):

• PE-CVD system Precision 5000 Mark II Applied Materials (materials: SiO₂, Si₃N₄, Si_xO_yN_z, Black Diamond, SiCH, TEOS-SiO₂)
• PE-CVD system Plasmalab DP 80 (materials: SiO₂, Si₃N₄)
• PE-CVD system Microsys 400 Roth & Rau (material: Diamond-like Carbon)
• LP-CVD system LP-Thermtech Sirius 9000 (materials: Si₃N₄, polysilicon, LP-TEOS-SiO₂)

High-temperature processes (diffusion / thermal oxidation / annealing)

For the characterization of the deposited layers and layer stacks we use a lot of measuring methods and systems, for example:

• KLA Tencor surface profiler VEECO Dektak 8
• Thin film stress measurement system TENCOR FLX 2900
• White light interferometer Nanometrics NanoSpec / AFC
• Ellipsometer: Gaertner L11B (632.8 nm)
• Spectroscopic Ellipsometry: Sentech instruments GmbH SE 850 (190 nm – 2550 nm)
• White Light Interferometrie

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Head of Department: Layer Deposition

	Dr. Sven Zimmermann
	Deputy: Norbert Zichner
	Phone: +49 (0)371 531 33671
	E-Mail: sven.zimmermann@...