Memorandum

To: C. Spanos, Associate Dean for Research

T. King Liu, Microlab Faculty Director

From: K. Voros, Operations Manager

Subject: 2007 Year-End Report

Date: 23 February 2008

I. INTRODUCTION

Microlab operations continued in a holding pattern in 2007. Our goal was to keep operations moving smoothly, on target financially, in anticipation for the eventual move into the new facility. Construction of the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory is progressing on schedule, with a beneficial occupancy date, Spring 2009, as target.

This is the 21^st year-end report I am submitting.

II. MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES

F a c i l i t i e s

Microlab

Bob Hamilton, Equipment and Facilities Manager, and Safety Officer of the Microlab, provides details on upgrades, installations, facilities maintenance and development in his report. Safety issues and HazCom improvements are also discussed.

Notable in 2007: Replumbing of nitrogen gas delivery lines such that Cory Hall laboratories are supplied separately from the Microlab; consolidation of equipment in room 145 into half of the space; move of the device characterization lab into 490 (both to make room for new faculty labs); major reliability improvement on the lam etchers and lam5 software upgrade; technics-c upgrade for improved 6” uniformity; replacement of the wafer saw with a donated unit, which also had problems; pumps database completed for improved pump management.

Process engineering activities continued in high gear throughout the year. Sia Parsa, Process Engineering Manager and his staff detail process support and development activities.

Notable in 2007: mix and match photolitography using the ASML and GCA steppers, also with Standford’s ASML tool; characterization of upgraded tools, technics-c, lam5, heatpulse4; process development for MEMS Exchange; and providing ETR service to other universities.

Baseline activities are an integral part of process engineering. The report on the latest 35 μm run came out in February 2007. See

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2007/EECS-2007-26.pdf

Rosemary Spivey, Administrative Manager and her staff’s reports include discussion of our financial status, accounts and members administration, purchasing, and inventory management. Recharge rate proposals were submitted on time for both the Microlab and the Machine Shop and scrutinized throughout the year by the Campus Recharge Rate Committee.

· Todd Merport, Computer Operations Manager describes systems maintenance, operational improvements and upgrades. Our computers and lab control software were maintained at the highest levels of uptime and integrity. There was another server upgrade which enabled retiring of our old argon server. Several migrations occurred at the same time, to distribute load more evenly.

In 2007 the Mercury project made good progress and the equipment user interface was finalized. We have made several decisions concerning what should be included in this part of the software and moved all the non-interactive details, such as reports and forms to web-based applications.

New Laboratory

Construction of the new engineering building, CITRIS, including our new lab, the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory, continues at a rapid rate. At this time the target for beneficial occupancy is Spring 2009, which means we can start moving in. We do not anticipate shutting down the Microlab for the move; however, there will be slow downs in selected areas. Planning is in progress. Details in Dr. Flounders’ report.

Machine Shop

The Machine Shop completed 296 jobs for 47 PIs in FY 2006/2007. Financially the Shop has been struggling to maintain operations fully on recharge basis. Because of the shift in the type of work requested of the Shop towards facilities maintenance and equipment repairs in situ, and the slow down of work for fine machining, staff had to be reduced by one principal laboratory mechanician by the end of 2007. Hopefully this will move finances of the Shop towards a positive outcome. The Shop’s website lists capabilities, contact information, job request forms and general information such as photographs of completed jobs, at http://mshop-erso.berkeley.edu. See Ben Lake’s report for details.

S t a f f

Microlab staff groups are organized along functional lines as described below. The Machine Shop operates independently, under the Microlab Operations Manager.

Table 1 – Staff Organizational Chart

The Microlab has been successful in retaining and developing staff well tuned to the laboratory’s needs. Cross training, back-ups and multiple responsibilities in all positions ensure that lab operations have broad coverage and problems are attended on a timely manner (Table 2).

This past year we developed a 6-month internship program, at the end of which we were able to hire the intern into a Development Technician IV position.

Microlab Operations (25 FTE)

Katalin Voros, Principal Development Engineer, Operations Manager

1. Equipment and Facilities (10 FTE)

Bob Hamilton, Principal Development Engineer, Manager

Joe Donnelly, Associate Development Engineer

David Lo, Associate Development Engineer

Jay Morford, Assistant Development Engineer

Danny Pestal, Assistant Development Engineer

Evan Stateler, Senior Development Engineer

Phill Guillory, Senior Development Engineer , Supervisor

Alan Briggs, Development Technician IV

Mike Linan, Associate Development Engineer, Supervisor

Brian McNeil, Development Technician V

2. Process/Baseline (8 FTE)

Sia Parsa, Principal Development Engineer, Manager

Kim Chan, Assistant Development Engineer

Jimmy Chang, Senior Development Engineer

Marilyn Kushner, Junior Development Engineer

Laszlo Petho, Associate Specialist – Baseline

Attila Szabo, Associate Specialist – MEMS

4 student assistants, 0.5 FTE each

3. Administration (4 FTE)

Rosemary Spivey, Administrative Analyst, Manager

Nancy Peshette, Administrative Assistant III (0.5)

2 student assistants, 0.5 FTE each

Susan Kellogg-Smith, Buyer II, Procurement Manager

Adrienne Ruff, Administrative Assistant III

4. Computer Support (3 FTE)

Todd Merport, Programmer Analyst IV, Supervisor

Madeleine Leullier, Computer Resources Specialist II (0.75)

Olek Prokurowski, Programmer Analyst III

Changrui Yin, Programmer Analyst III (0.5)

5. Technology Management

Bill Flounders, Principal Development Engineer, Manager

Xiaofan Meng, Senior Development Engineer − Cryoelectronics

Matt Wasilik, Associate Development Engineer − BSAC

► Machine Shop (4.5 FTE)

Ben Lake, Senior Superintendent

Bob Amaral, Development Technician V

Robert Connolly, Development Technician V

Joe Gavazza, Principal Laboratory Mechanician

Nancy Peshette, Administrative Assistant III (0.5)

Table 2 - Operational Staff Groups

F i n a n c i a l R e s o u r c e s

Recharge accounts under Microlab management continued to be closely monitored for budgetary requirements throughout the year. Rosemary Spivey's report shows details and financial analysis for each unit (see Table 3 below).

Unit	Income	Expenditures	Performance	No. of PIs Billed
Microlab	$2,880,295	$2,915,008	1 % [-]	99
Machine Shop	$380,866	$398,085	4.5 % [-]	47

Table 3 - Recharge Accounts Summary

30 June 2007

Both units are financially stable and again closed the fiscal year within recharge operation specifications.

III. COMMUNICATIONS & CONTROL

Membership

Microlab monthly membership was over 300 this past year, same as in preceding years. Overall, we dealt with 502 members during FY 2006/07 (see Table 4 below).

Fiscal Year

Membership/Month

Lab Use-Hrs

Sp. Equip. Use-Hrs.

2000/2001

2001/2002

2002/2003

2003/2004

2004/2005

2005/2006

2006/2007

345

315

326

331

315

345

317

45,413

39,288

43,455

40,823

40,394

48,201

45,696

39,383

36,738

37,676

34,692

38,798

44,992

45,699

Table 4 - Microlab Utilization

Berkeley Microlab Affiliates (BMLA)

Industrial membership, BMLA is currently numbering 26.

Document Control & Training

The Microlab’s operating manual consists of 1,391 pages compiled in 163 chapters, available on-line from the web portal of the Microlab, http://microlab.berkeley.edu/text/labmanual.html

We continue to expend considerable effort to keep documentation up-to-date. We expect labmembers to use the on-line manual (and hard copy) as the first step in finding operational and process information; thus, we take care that the information is up-to-date. The oldest date on equipment operating manuals is 2005. In addition, 38 equipment have written test requirements for qualifications, which we also maintain and update regularly.

The task of writing new manuals, appending, updating existing ones with the latest information, is shared by staff and expert users of the tools, with process staff carrying most of the burden. Madeleine Leullier, Computer Resources Specialist, has the assignment of document control, i.e. editing and installation of both on-line and hard-copy manuals and written tests.

Outreach

During the Summer of 2007 we again had two students participating in our Summer Internship for High School Girls program. They worked under the guidance of Jimmy Chang. Process engineer, and Daniel Queen, a graduate student labmember, who also worked part time for the Microlab during the Summer. We will continue the program this coming Summer, http://microlab.berkeley.edu/text/MLOutreach.html, for which we have selected two applicants from Bay Area high schools.

IV. SUMMARY

The year of 2007 moved along smoothly in the Microlab. Steady state operations continued, along with anticipation of the realization of the new lab. Support from our PIs was strong throughout the year, which meant that we were able to end the fiscal year on target and did not have to raise fees. We are looking forward to our new lab to become reality.