Laboratory Equipment

  Students working in the cleanroom

Institute of Semiconductor Electronics is one of the founding members of the Central Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology (CMNT). The Central Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology is a state-of-the-art user facility that operates all required tools to carry out the research requiring micro- and nanotechnology. The facility is jointly operated by several other research units within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology as well as the Department of Physics at RWTH Aachen University and is open to RWTH-internal and external users from academia or industry.

CMNT offers the following microfabrication techniques:

  • Lithography: HMDS and resist coating, optical lithography with mask aligners and laser scanner, E-Beam lithography and nanoimprint lithography
  • Dry etching: Reactive ion etching, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching, deep silicon reactive ion etching, atomic layer etching, ion beam etching
  • Thin film deposition: low-pressure and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, sputter deposition, electron-beam evaporation
  • Thermal processing: rapid thermal annealing, oxidation and nitridation, hydrogen annealing, dry and wet thermal furnace oxidation, laser annealing
  • Wet chemical processing: vapor HF, RCA cleaning, KOH etching, electro-plating
  • Wafer polishing and bonding: mechanical polisher, chemical-mechanical polishing, wafer bonding
  • Characterization: optical and scanning electron microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry (Mueller matrix), Raman spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, FTIR, IR-thermography, AAA light source, atomic force microscopy, surface profiler

In 2022 a clean room extension will be opened such that CMNT provides approximately 1000sqm of clean room space. The new building will also feature jointly operated measurement labs for electrical characterization as well as chemical laboratories.

Please refer to the website of the Central Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology to find a complete list of the technological and metrological equipment available.