The Nanotechnology Core Facility (NCF), is a versatile device fabrication facility accessible to both academic, non-profit, and industrial researchers. Located in Engineering Research Facility (ERF) building on the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) campus, the NCF enables research by providing access, training, service and process guidance on fabrication and characterization equipment. As a research and development laboratory, the NCF is dedicated to the application of integrated circuit and fiber optic technology to improve manufacturing methods for MEMS/Nano, BioMEMS, Microfluidic, Electromechanical, Mechanical, Chemical, Optical, Photonic and multi-functional devices, some of which have previously been made by more traditional techniques.
The primary function of the NCF is to provide R&D expertise and service support to the research efforts of both University faculty and external commercial companies in the wide-ranging areas of MEMS/NEMS, electronic and photonic material device design and fabrication. Using all aspects of advanced processing techniques, the NFC also provides instrument training on the processes such as photolithography, thin film deposition by electron beam, plasma enhanced deposition and etching and more. It also provides characterization techniques including XRD, SEM, AFM, Optical and Step Profilometry, Ellipsometry, Dynamic Laser Scattering, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Rapid Thermal Processing and Scanning Acoustical Microscopy. Rudimentary device packaging services such as laser marking, wafer saw cutting and wire bonding can be provided by request.
NCF staff consists of a full-time laboratory manager, and graduate students who assist in training new users along with 22 associated research faculty members at UIC. The laboratory consists of a 3000 square foot clean room subdivided into five bays providing workspaces for various functions including physical and chemical vapor deposition process (PVD, CVD), wet and dry etching, surface characterization, and top and bottom lithography. With over two and a half million dollars of equipment installed, approximately one and a half million of which has been used to acquire new equipment at the cutting edge of microfabrication technology, the NCF provides strong capability within the thrust areas of MEMS processing, analysis, and development. Unlike highly automated industrial production equipment, the NCF is flexible and multipurpose in function.
Mission
The primary function of the NCF is to provide R&D expertise and service support to the research efforts of both University faculty and external commercial companies in the wide-ranging areas of MEMS/NEMS, electronic and photonic material device design and fabrication, using all aspects of photolithography, deposition by electron beam, DC/RF sputtering, and plasma systems as well as low-pressure chemical vapor deposition, deep reactive ion material etching and wafer thermal oxidation. The NTC also provides instrument training on the systems above as well as most film characterization techniques including XRD, SEM, AFM, Optical Profilometry, Step Profilometry, Ellipsometry, Dynamic Laser Scattering, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Rapid Thermal Processing and Scanning Acoustical Microscopy. Rudimentary device packaging services such as laser marking, wafer saw cutting and wire bonding can be provided by request.