Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p>The purpose of this Research Tool and Instruments (RTI) grant proposal is to purchase an Ion Milling System for applications in the field of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), millimeter-wave, and opto-electronics. The Ion Milling System is a key processing tool in any micro-fabrication facility. This system is highly beneficial for selectively removing thin film materials that cannot be etched using conventional plasma etch techniques such as Pt, Pd, Au, etc. The tool will be fitted with an electrical feedthrough to interrogate the device to be etched between ion exposure steps. The system will be instrumental in investigating the novel concept of integrating our chip-scale MEMS-based atomic force microscopes (AFM) with the requested tool to provide in-situ metrology and end point detection with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. Thus, the tool will be used not only to meet our etching needs but also to investigate the possibilities of enhancing the performance of ion milling techniques through the use of in-situ AFM. <br /> <br /> The tool will be located in a clean room facility at the University of Waterloo that is dedicated to the fabrication of MEMS and gold-based thin film devices. The proposed tool will benefit more than 20 faculty members and 50 graduate students at the University of Waterloo who currently use this clean room facility. Some of the current research projects that are relevant to this proposal are: 1) radio frequency (RF) MEMS, 2) chip scale scanning probe microscopes, 3) micro-fabrication and packaging, 4) fabrication of neural micro-electrodes, 5) MEMS/NEMS sensors, 6) MEMS-based photonic devices micro-power generators, and 7) millimeter-wave integrated receiver systems.<br /> <br /> All of the above mentioned research projects will directly benefit from the requested tool. Most of these projects are supported by industry. A large number of companies in Canada that are involved in wireless communication, instrumentation, automotive and biomedical applications will also benefit from the requested RTI tool. </p>