No such thing as a “shrinking machine”

Must learn how to “Build ‘Em Small”

Bottom Up Top Down

Chemistry! Milling
• Large size distribution
• No control of shape
• Impurities

Crystal Growth Lithography

• 0-D particles
• 1-D particles
• 2-D films

6
Mark Bachman, Summer 2005
In modern semiconductor manufacturing, the lithographer imposes
structure on a beam of light by having it pass through a "mask"
followed by projecting the image onto a silicon wafer coated with a
thin layer of material called resist. The resist undergoes a chemical
transformation when exposed to light. This transformation alters the
solubility of the material so that when placed in a developer of an
appropriate solvent the latent pattern image transforms into a
patterned chemical stencil. This chemical stencil then serves as the
template for further process steps. Deposition and etching tools add or
remove material as needed through the openings in the chemical
stencil. Another process step strips away the chemical stencil and a
fresh layer of resist is applied. The process repeats until all of the
device levels necessary to build a full device have been assembled.
The enormous productivity of modern electronics is driven by the
capability of a single lithographic machine to pattern features at a
rate in excess of 100 trillion features per hour.
 Lithographic processing: Wafers

Start with wafer (a clean, flat surface)

Single crystal silicon boule Single crystal silicon wafers

Lithographic processing: Film growth/deposition

Grow a thin film of desired material

Wafers coated in furnace (artificially colored)

Lithographic processing: Photoresist spinning

Spin coat a protective polymer resist layer

Polymer goes on wet, then is dried after spinning

Lithographic processing: Masking and exposure

Expose resist to UV light through a mask

Mask is aligned to wafer before exposure.

Lithographic processing: Developing the pattern

Resist is removed from exposed areas

Remaining resist faithfully reproduces mask pattern.

Lithographic processing: Etch the material

Resist protects selected regions during etch.

Pattern is transferred to substrate material.

 Lithographic processing: Final release

Etch away one of the “sacrificial” materials to release the part.

Voila! Thousands of micromachined devices.

 Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS)
nanowire growth
Interface where
SiCl4 vapor + H2 growth continues
Growth
direction
Melted gold
nano-particles
saturated with
SiH4

Substrate

Heterogeneous nuleation of Si Substrate

at the interface

Diameter of nanowire
is determined by the
Temperature for Si deposition on a planar gold droplet size
substrate (homogeneous nucleation): ~ 800 ˚C

Mark Bachman, Summer 2005

Nanowires formed by VLS
growth
Gold nano-
particle

Growth
direction

S. Kodambaka, J. Tersoff, M. C. Reuter, and F. M. Ross, Science 316, 729 (2007).

Mark Bachman, Summer 2005

 Conventional manufacturing

Assembly
1. Materials are processed, formed into components
2. Components are assembled together to build more complex modules
3. Materials are standardized
4. Interfaces are standardized
5. Manufacturing methods are standardized
6. Design method is mature
7. Test methods are mature

Primary method of manufacturing for

engineered systems.
 Conventional manufacturing

Batch fabrication
1. Materials are processed in batch
2. New materials are layered and patterned over other materials
3. Final devices are “packaged” and assembled on host system

Primary method of manufacturing for

semiconductor systems.
 How to manufacture microsystems?

Assembly (“top down”)

1. High precision actuators move atoms from place to place
2. Micro tips emboss or imprint materials
3. Electron (or ion) beams are directly moved over a surface

Nano-scale assembly has been demonstrated using atomic force

microscopes. Slow and not suitable for large scale production.
 How to manufacture microsystems?

Growth (“bottom up”)

1. Chemical reactors create conditions for special growth
2. Biological agents sometimes used to help process
3. Materials are harvested for integration

Nano-scale structures are readily formed using bottom up approaches.

Mostly materials. Hard to directly integrate or build devices.
 How to manufacture microsystems?

Growth and patterning (“top down” and “bottom up”)

1. Chemical reactors used to grow nanomaterials
2. Lithographic techniques used to selectively remove some materials
3. Process is repeated multiple times

Nano-scale structures and micro-scale structures are readily formed using top
down and bottom up approaches. Best chance for integration.
 Biological manufacturing of microsystems

Batch growth
Small creatures often farm their
materials. Many biostructures are made
by successively layering of materials and
letting them harden.
 Biological manufacturing of microsystems

Mechanical assembly
Insects and other small creatures regularly assemble microsystems
 Biological manufacturing of microsystems

Molecular assembly
Complex molecules (nature’s
engines) are manufactured using
molecular assembly. RNA acts as
coding template to attach specific
amino acids to form a peptide
chain.
Biological manufacturing of microsystems
Conventional micro-manufacturing today

Semiconductor processing
 Clean rooms for micro and nano fabrication

Semiconductor clean room processing facilities

UCI
INRF
www.inrf.uci.edu
A world class facility devoted to interdisciplinary research in micro and nano-engineering.
8600 sq. ft. clean room space (class 10000, 1000, 100) with all major fabrication tools.
 Micro device integration: Packaging

For the microdevice to be useful, it must be “packaged”

80% of cost of MEMS is in

the packaging!

Packaged device can be inserted into system

 Commercial micro devices: sensors and actuators

Pressure sensors Gas sensors Accelerometers Gyros

Specialty structures Mirror arrays Micro array plates Microfluidics

Pressure sensors, ink jet nozzles and accelerometers are biggest markets.
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
MEMS Actuators from Sandia Labs
 Future directions (industry)

From industrial perspective

• Develop robust, standardized manufacturing

Every MEMS device is a one-of-a-kind manufacturing operation.

• Solve the packaging/interface problem

80% of the cost is in packaging. MEMS are so delicate!

• Understand reliability, QC
Need to understand reliability of MEMS better.

• Evolve robust design tools

Need comprehensive software, design libraries.

• Killer applications!
Need economic incentive to justify investment in MEMS development.
 Future directions (research)

From research perspective

• Novel, integrated manufacturing

Creative new ways to build things, more materials, more 3D.

• Push smaller, discover new materials

Exciting opportunities to develop new materials with unique properties.

• High performance masterpieces

Demonstrate the potential of miniaturization and nanotechnology.

• Bio/Nano
Bring biological sciences and engineering together. Molecular engineering?

• Killer applications!
Need public benefit to justify investment in research.
 Becoming a micro-engineer

Interdisciplinary nature
Micro- and Nanotechnology spans many
different disciplines. Need to be able
to work well in teams. No ego
problems. Good communication skills.
 Becoming a micro-engineer

Broad, creative thinker,

renaissance man/woman
This is definitely the time to “think
outside the box”. A new area of
research—anything is possible. All
science and engineering is fair
game.
 Becoming a micro-engineer

Perseverant
There’s no known way to do
things. Most ideas will not work.
Prepare to fail, try again, then
move on.
 Becoming a micro-engineer

Enthusiastic optimist
No safe road to a comfy desk
job, no guarantees. You must
make the future happen.
 Becoming a micro-engineer

Requirements of tomorrow’s micro-engineer

• Interdisciplinary nature
Micro- and Nanotechnology spans many different disciplines. Need to be
able to work well in teams. No ego problems. Good communication skills.

• Broad, creative thinker, renaissance man/woman

This is definitely the time to “think outside the box”. A new area of
research—anything is possible. All science and engineering is fair game.

• Perseverant
There’s no known way to do things. Most ideas will not work. Prepare to
fail, try again, then move on.

• Enthusiastic optimist
No safe road to a comfy desk job, no guarantees. You must make the
future happen.
 Engineering the Microworld: 1959

First micro-engineered device: Integrated Circuit

1959
Jack Kilby (TI) invented the
monolithic integrated circuit.
Design was improved by Robert
Noyce (Fairchild Semiconductor)
to produce planar technology.
 Engineering the Microworld: 1959

“There’s plenty of room at the bottom”

Lecture given by Dr. Richard Feynman in 1959

What I want to talk about is the problem of

manipulating and controlling things on a
small scale.
It is a staggeringly small world that is
below. In the year 2000, when they look
back at this age, they will wonder why it
was not until the year 1960 that anybody
began seriously to move in this direction.
Why cannot we write the entire 24 volumes
of the Encyclopedia Brittanica on the head
of a pin?
 Engineering the Microworld: 2005

There’s still plenty of room

at the bottom!