Overview
The
U.C. Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory (The Microlab) opened in March 1983
in Cory Hall and after 28 years of successful operation, closed its doors at
the end of December 2010. Information on
these pages reflects its status at closing.
* * * * *
The U.C. Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory,
Microlab, is the only facility on campus that provides research space and
knowledge in state-of-the-art semiconductor and microfabrication technology.
Microfabrication has wide ranging applications in various fields of engineering
and sciences. About half of our membership originates in departments other than
EECS, such as Bioengineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials
Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics. For a listing of
participating Principal Investigators, click here.
The Microlab occupies roughly 10,000 sq.
ft. in Cory Hall. The laboratory is operated as an ERSO recharge
operation, providing access to state-of-the-art fabrication capabilities to
over 500 academic and industrial labmembers. The research thrusts addressed by
their resources are interdisciplinary in nature and generate an annual
laboratory recharge revenue of $2.9 M (2006-07); this is wholly used to support
and sustain existing operations.
Among the laboratory's major features are a
computer area for device and circuit layout; a lithography center, which
includes three step-and-repeat reduction cameras, two contact aligners, and a
mask-making facility with an optical pattern generator; thin-film systems;
6” silicon VLSI wafer processing areas equipped with LPCVD and
atmospheric furnaces, process-specific plasma etchers, wet processing stations,
and various types of metrology equipment for in-line testing and specialized analytical
diagnostics; a planarization laboratory with chemical-mechanical polish and
interlayer dielectric deposition; and a satellite thin-film lab housing a
5-chamber high-vacuum cluster tool for dc-magnetron sputtering of metal-based
thin-films. The facility supports a 0.35 μm CMOS baseline process. For an
artist’s conception of sites inside the Microlab, click here.
The
Device Characterization Laboratory is equipped with manual probe stations and
an automated wafer probe station - all with extensive HP-IP-based
instrumentation and HP computers for data collection and analysis.
Operating
infrastructure includes a support staff of 26 FTEs: 13 equipment and facilities
support, 7 process sustaining, 2-computer support, and 4 administrative
support. Laboratory access is controlled, but open to active labmembers 24
hrs/day, 7 days/week. Laboratory use by active industrial members is available
via the Berkeley Microlab
Affiliates (BMLA) program. Currently we have 27 such participating
companies.
The
UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory (Microlab) is supported by the Department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Sciences (EECS) and the Engineering
Research Support Organization (ERSO).
K.V.
