Argonne National Laboratory

Center for Nanoscale Materials

Fabrication

The Center for Nanoscale Materials offers nanofabrication capabilities in a 18,000-square-feet cleanroom with comprehensive lithographic, deposition, etching, and metrology suites, suitable to meet all user needs from small samples up to wafer-scale fabrication.

We pioneer new cleanroom-based nanofabrication techniques to integrate novel materials into unique structures and devices to realize nanofabricated structures for the transduction of mechanical, optical, and electrical signals.

We study the fundamental science behind the operation of micro- and nanoscale systems with the goal of achieving unprecedented control in the fabrication, integration, and manipulation of nanostructures and enhancing their performance and range of use.

We also operate a 18,000-square-foot class 100 and 1,000 cleanroom that includes the following nanofabrication features:

  • Lithography Suite: Variable voltage and 100-kV electron beam lithography, 150 mm stepper, Ga ion beam, and direct write optical and holographic lithography capabilities, as well as contact printing with back-side alignment.
  • Deposition Suite:

    • Multi-chamber industrial plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, multi-chamber sputtering tools, electron beam evaporation including ultra-high rate, and high-density chemical vapor deposition.
    • Atomic layer deposition of dielectrics and metals.
    • Microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition for production of diamond films and a system for production of carbon nanotubes and graphene.
  • Dry Etch Suite:

    • Multichamber industrial reactive ion etcher, deep reactive ion etching, dual chamber inductively coupled reactive ion etcher, several single chamber etchers, and down-stream plasma ashing.
    • o Non-plasma etching, including XeF2 dry etching of silicon and vapor HF etching of SiO2.
    • Focused-ion beam etching using Ga.
  • Wet Etch Suite: Electroplating, an electrochemical workstation, automated lift-off bench, and supercritical drying capability for postprocessing.
  • Supporting Suite:

    • Metrology tools, including profilometers, reflectometers, confocal microscope, stress gauge at variable temperature, a spectroscopic ellipsometer, and atomic force microscopy.
    • Scanning electron microscopes, including energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
    • Industrial dicing saw and wafer cleaving machine for device singulation.
    • Rapid thermal annealing.
    • Probe station, wire bonding, and PPMS temperature measurement system.

Tools and Capabilities

The tools listed below will be hyperlinked for more information as available. Capabilities that are available for remote operation are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Deposition Methods
  • AJA Sputtering (2-inch targets)*
  • AJA Oxide Sputtering (3-inch targets)*
  • AJA Dielectric Sputtering System*
  • AJA Metal Sputtering System*
  • Atomic Layer Deposition, Arradiance Gemstar*
  • Cressington Sputter Coater 108auto
  • Electron Beam Evaporator, Temescal FC2000
  • Lambda Microwave Plasma CVD System: Nanocrystalline Diamond Deposition*
  • Lesker E-beam Evaporator (PVD250)
  • Lesker Sputtering System (CMS18)
  • Oxford Plasmalab 100 Inductively Coupled Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition
  • Applied Materials P5000 PECVD Deposition
  • Sputter/Carbon Coater, SPI
  • Thermal Evaporator, Angstrom Engineering
  • Thermal/PECVD System for Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Synthesis
Dry Etching
  • Deep Reactive Ion Etcher (DRIE), PlasmaTherm
  • Dielectric Etcher, Applied Materials AMAT P5000
  • Hydrofluoric Acid Vapor Etcher
  • RIE March CS-1701, Chlorine and Fluorine Chambers
  • RIE Oxford PlasmaLab 100, Chlorine and Fluorine Chambers
  • RIE Oxford ICP Etcher
  • Xactix X4 Xenon Difluoride Etcher
Lithography
  • Contact Aligner, SUSS MA6/BA6
  • Electron Beam Lithography, JEOL JBX-8100FS*
  • Electron Beam Lithography, Raith 150*
  • Focused Ion Beam: FEI Nova 600 NanoLab*
  • Heidelberg MLA 150 Maskless Lithography with backside alignment*
  • Interferometric Lithography System
  • Laser Pattern Generator, Microtech LW405 (Direct Write Optical Lithography)
  • Ovens: Wafer Priming Oven: YES-TA Series, Image Reversal Oven: YES-TA Series
  • Wafer Stepper: ASML PAS 5000
Post Processing
  • AS-One 150 Rapid Thermal Processor
  • Cleaving Machine: LatticeGear Ax 420
  • Critical Point Dryer (Leica CPD030)
  • ADT Dicing Saw*
  • Electroplating (Au, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pt, Bi)
  • Integrated UV-Ozone Cleaner (Nanonex Ultra-100)
  • Selective Wet Chemical Etching
Physical Vapor Deposition
  • Lesker E-beam Evaporator (PVD250)*
  • Lesker Sputtering System (CMS18)*
  • Sputter/Carbon Coater, SPI
Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) Tip Etching
Tube and Muffle Furnaces
West-Bond Wire Bonder*