Overview

The NCSU Nanofabrication Facility provides users with a broad range of nanofabrication capabilities to support a diverse set of projects. The facility houses virtually all standard thin film processing tools including a state-of-the-art ASML laser scanner for high volume, 193 nm patterning. The facility serves as a melting pot for a community of top-notch researchers from academica, government labs and industry representing a variety of disciplines. The vast majority of users, many traveling from afar, prefer to come on-site for hands-on access to the facility. However, users with well-defined projects can also have their work performed by our experienced staff.

The facility provides:

  • Affordable access to state-of-the-art equipment.
  • Personalized training on operation of equipment by experienced staff.
  • User-scheduled equipment reservations on a first-come, first server basis.
  • Teaching laboratories for undergraduate and graduate courses.
  • Infrastructure for design projects, K-12 workshops and research experiences for K-12 teachers and undergraduates.

The NCSU Nanofabrication facility is located in the Larry K. Monteith Engineering Research Center, on North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus and it occupies a 7400 square feet class 100 and class 1000 cleanroom. The facility has a full range of micro and nano-fabrication capabilities including: photolithography, reactive ion etching (RIE), deep RIE, low pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD), plasma enhanced CVD, rapid thermal anneal, thermal oxidation, solid source diffusion, thermal and e-beam evaporation, sputtering, chemical mechanical polishing, various wet etching and cleaning processes, along with various characterization tools. Many of the tools are capable of processing on a broad range of substrates such as semiconductor glass, ceramics, and plastics with sizes from small pieces to 6" wafers.

The fabrication facility enjoys a close relationship with the Analytical Instrumentation Facility at NC State which offers state-of-the-art scanning and transmission electron microscopy as well as material analysis (SIMS, XPS, AES etc).