RIT to upgrade Semiconductor and Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory through $1m New York state grant

Rochester Institute of Technology is upgrading its Semiconductor and Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory (SMFL) to further advance its research in integrated photonics, quantum information technology, biomedical devices and sensors for smart systems. Improvements will enable the university to expand its key research, teaching, workforce training and entrepreneurial capabilities.

The 2019-20 renovation project will be launched with a $1m grant from New York State’s Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program. The first phase of expansion (to begin in the 2019-20 academic year) is part of a broader project to create a versatile, multi-disciplinary user facility to meet the evolving needs of academic and industry researchers in the Rochester region and across the state.

“Thanks to this grant, we will be able to upgrade and expand our cleanroom, making it more relevant to emerging technologies,” says Doreen Edwards, dean of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. “The facility will provide our faculty and students with opportunities to work side-by-side with our industry partners who are developing new products right here in Rochester.”

New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced recently that RIT was one of three local colleges receiving a portion of $2.3m in matching capital improvement grants. All funding is part of the state’s emphasis on continual improvements to college and university facilities.

The 2019-20 funding will enable RIT to:

expand its research portfolio in key areas related to integrated photonics, quantum information technology, biomedical materials and devices, and sensors for smart (interconnected) systems;
expand and improve user services available to researchers and inventors in the region;
assist with the incubation of companies that need access to micro- and nano-fabrication facilities;
improve the quality of hands-on education in micro- and nano-fabrication technologies at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level;
deliver an expanded portfolio of workforce training and talent development models to meet the needs of regional and other New York companies in the industry; and
incubate new companies and inventors.

“This will support expansion of research initiatives within microsystems as well as the growing area of biomedical engineering and their need for microscale capabilities in fabrication and nano-materials,” says Karl Hirschman, director of the SMFL and a professor in RIT’s electrical and microelectronic engineering department. “This expansion will improve upon and complement recent investments made through AIM Photonics.”

Originally built in 1985 as part of RIT’s microelectronic engineering program, the lab has expanded considerably and is used by the engineering college’s undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs, by faculty-researchers associated with the Nanopower Labs and Future Photon Initiative as well as industrial partners. With more than 10,000ft2 of cleanroom space, the SMFL is equipped with micro-fabrication and metrology equipment to support research programs in semiconductor materials and devices, nano-electronics, MEMS devices and sensors, photonic devices and nanomaterials. All these systems are utilized as part of RIT’s role in AIM Photonics, to advance integrated photonics for manufacturing capabilities in areas such as high-speed data and telecommunications.

In 2016, the lab received a laser lithography system and a reactive ion etching system through two US National Science Foundation (NSF) major research instrumentation program grants. The laser lithography system is a multi-step, precision process to build, layer-upon-layer, the electronic circuitry on silicon wafers that is then used as the basis for electronic devices. The new system has several advantages over traditional proximity or projection optical lithography, Hirschman says. It has the ability to handle a variety of substrate shapes and sizes, make on-demand pattern changes, and implement pattern variations within a sample. Patterning can be intermixed with e-beam or optical exposure levels, providing design flexibility on pattern transfer processes.

A plasma reactive ion etching system was acquired to test and develop new materials that could complement the use of silicon for devices and improved applications related to solar energy and ultraviolet (UV) wavelength sensors.

These technologies — along with the metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) system used for the growth of novel materials, thin-film crystals and nanostructures — give RIT researchers more flexibility and independence in its development and processing of integrated circuits.

See related items:

RIT’s Jing Zhang wins NSF CAREER award for research on UV photonics

Rochester Institute of Technology improves nano-structure fabrication process

RIT awarded NSF grant for ICP-RIE etch system for photonics and nanoelectronic device R&D

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