Equipment
The facility and all its equipment is available to the entire University of Houston community as well as to the outside users on a pay-per-use basis. Refer to the Nanofab Userfees table for further information.
Equipment grouped into categories by primary use, some have multiple uses.
| Spin Coater | Brewer Cee 200 Spin Coater | A short description that will be shown on the Equipment Overview page |
| Mask Aligner | ABM Mask Aligner | Transfers a pattern from a mask to UV sensitive photoresist using UV light. |
| SEM (eBeam) | FEI XL-30FEG SEM equipped with NPGS (nanopattern generation system) | A scanning electron microscope upgraded with capability of making nanoscale patterns in photoresist. |
| eBeam Writer | JEOL JBX 5500FS eBeam writer | A specialized tool for producing custom patterns across an up to 4" wafer with sub-10 nm resolution. |
| Nanonex NX-2004 Nanoimprinter | Nanoimprinter | The Nanoimprinter is used to replicate a patterned mold with sub-10 nm resolution in several minutes. |
| UHV Sputtering System | AJA UHV six-source sputtering system | Deposits thin films down to sub-nanometer thickness uniformly across wafers. |
| eBeam Evaporator | Thermionics eBeam Evaporator | Creates a vapor from small metal pellets which condenses on the substrate to create films; can be more cost effective than the UHV Sputtering System when using expensive metals. |
| Desktop Sputtering System | Denton Desk II | A simple desktop sputtering system for coating samples. |
| Reactive Ion Etcher (RIE 80) | Oxford Plasma Lab 80 Plus RIE (Ar, O2, CF4, CHF3, SF6) | Uses a plasma to etch out a pattern in a wafer, the surface of the wafer covered by photoresist is protected and the exposed areas are etched. |
| Reactive Ion Etcher (RIE 100) | Oxford Plasma Lab 100 RIE (Ar, O2) | Uses a plasma to etch out a pattern in a wafer, the surface of the wafer covered by photoresist is protected and the exposed areas are etched. |
| Deep Reactive Ion Etcher (RIE 180) | Oxford Plasma Lab ICP 180 RIE (Ar, O2, CHF3, SF6, C4F8) | A more advanced form of the reactive ion etcher allowing very deep and narrow trenches to be etched. |
| Ion Mill | Custom High-Rate Ion Mill | Uses argon atoms to ‘sand blast’ metals which are not etched well by the reactive ion etchers. |
| Atomic Force Microscope | Veeco Dimensions 3000 Atomic Force Microscope | Create topographic images with nanometer scale resolution of a sample by rastering a sharp probe across the sample surface. |
| Profilometer | Alpha-Step 200 Profilometer | Drags a sharp probe across a sample surface to create a height profile. |
| Ellipsometer | Gaertner Ellipsometer | Used to measure the thickness of one or more thin films. |
| Optical Microscopes | Leitz Microscope, Olympus Inspection Microscope | For visual inspection. |
| RTP | AccuThermo AW 410 RTP/RTA | Creates oxide layers on wafer. |
| Ovens | Blue M Electric Ovens | For oxidation or other processing needs. |
| Wet Benches | Exhausted Wet Benches | Benches under fume hoods that contain work surfaces, sinks, vacuum lines, nitrogen jets, water sprayers, etc. |
| Nanofab Inventory | Nanofab Inventory | Facility users can enter items into the database to establish ownership. |
| Focused Ion Beam (FIB) | FEI 235 Dual-Beam Focused Ion-beam System equipped with TEM sample extraction probe | An electron microscope and a gallium ion beam capable of milling nanoscale patterns into a sample. |
University of Houston