Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Electron beam lithography is the most powerful and widely-accepted technique for defining nanometer-scale patterns and building nano-scale devices. The University of British Columbia is one of the premier research universities in Canada, with strong programs in nanoscience and related fields, but the only electron beam lithography facility on campus is three decades old. The research of over 10 NSERC-funded groups depends on nano-fabrication by electron beam lithography; until now those groups have had to rely on an aging machine that frequently breaks, and at the best of times whose electron beam has a very low resolution. The poor quality of this machine poses a significant limitation on our ability to compete at an international level. The most expensive part of an electron beam lithography facility is a good scanning electron microscope (SEM), to generate an exquisitely sharp electron beam free from noise and jitter. In addition, electron beam lithography requires electronics to steer the beam rapidly to a precise location, and a high precision stage to position the sample accurately. The recently formed Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) at the UBC is installing a new and high-quality SEM for the Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory. We propose to purchase a suite of tools to enable electron beam lithography on this new machine: a high precision stage, an electrostatic beam blanker, and the NPGS pattern generation system. By taking advantage of the QMI purchase, modest funding from NSERC will dramatically enhance nanofabrication facilities at UBC.