Graphene Research center (GRC) The Edge that we have! Grafoid/Focus get to work in World class facilities. Impressive to say the least.
GRC Clean Room
The Graphene Research Centre has built a state-of-the-art clean room facility with 800 m2 of Class 1000 and 100 landscapes. It provides sophisticated micro- and nanofabrication facilities for graphene and other research material. Below you can find a list of the current and expected equipment as well as some recent photographs.
Jeol Electron Beam Lithographer
The Jeol JBX-6300FS EBL is a high throughput system, running at 25keV, 50keV and 100keV acceleration voltages. It has multi cassette loader and is able to process piece part samples and full 4 inches in diameter substrate. The minimum linewidth achievable in our cleanroom environment is 10nm with stitching accuracy of lesser than +/-20nm at 100keV. It comes with Genisys-Beamer software to assist in high resolution patterning by considering proximity effect.
Electron Beam Lithography
The Nova nanoSEM 230 is an ultra-high resolution field-emission SEM system configured to get the most information out of the largest selection of samples, down to the nanometer level. It offers ultra-high resolution characterization at high and low voltage in high vacuum. Apart from SEM, it is an extensive set of tools for nanoprototyping, with an on-board digital pattern generator and dedicated patterning software (Nabity - NPGS & designCAD), a high speed electrostatic beam blanker and gas injection systems for direct electron beam writing of nanostructures.
Laser Writer
LW405B is designed for the definition of planar geometries and for surface diagnostics, in applications where maximum resolutions down to 0.7 µm are required. The system transforms a laser beam into a controlled writing tool for photolithographic mask fabrication or for direct in situ processing on planar substrates. This also eliminates the requirement of mask for lithography.
Ultraviolet Lithographer / Mask Aligner
The MJB4 is equipped with a reliable, high precision alignment and high resolution printing capability in the submicron range. It offers fast and highly accurate alignment with SUSS singlefield or splitfield microscope, HR optics enables high resolution prints down to 0.5µm, combined SUSS broadband optics (UV250/300/400) allows for fast switching between different wavelengths and wafer and substrate handling up to 100mm.
Atomic Force Microscopy
The BRUKER Dimension FastScan delivers extreme imaging speed with atomic resolution while simultaneously providing real-time maps of properties derived from the individual force interactions. With its built-in measurement automation software in conjunction with higher speed ScanAsyst, it can provide exceptional measurement confidence and repeatability. It supports various imaging modes such as contact, tapping, magnetic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy and etc.
Raman Microscopy
The Alpha 300 R offers the unique ability to acquire chemical information non-destructively. This allows you to observe and analyze the distribution of different phases within a sample in ambient conditions without specialized sample preparation. In addition to chemical compounds, analysis of physical properties such as crystallinity or material stress are also possible. Apart from information on the sample surface, it is able to look deep inside transparent samples and even obtain 3D information. The acquisition time for one spectrum in the range of milliseconds, resulting in complete images being collected in a matter of minutes.
Ellipsometer
This new Microscopic thin film, surface and materials metrology tool generation uses a combination of auto nulling ellipsometry and microscopy to enable surface characterization with a lateral resolution as small as 1 micron. Measurable parameters are like thickness, refractive index and absorption. It also allows you to receive maps of selected areas. You can combine the instrument with other technologies like AFM, QCM-D, reflectometry, Raman spectroscopy and many more to receive even more information from the sample.
Molecular Beam Epitaxy
MBE is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices. It allows the deposition of single crystalline structure such as oxide, semiconductor, metal and organic. This system has more than 10 ports to cater for different wafer sizes and deposition materials.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition
ICPCVD can be utilized to deposit a number of materials such as SiO2, SiNx, SiOx Ny, a-Si and SiC. In Graphene Research Centre, we have tailor made our system to focus on the growth of high quality graphene on 8” silicon substrate.
UHV Sputterer
The AJA ATC-2200 Ultra High Vacuum Sputterer is equipped with 6 magnetron sputtering sources (3 DC and 3 AC) for deposition of metals and dielectrics. The DC and RF generators support up to 750W and 300W respectively with auto-matching unit. Sample holder is able to hold small piece samples, up to full 8 inches in diameter wafer, with rotation and RF/DC biasing capabilities. A heater jacket is provided for chamber bake-out to obtain UHV pressure.
Thermal Evaporator
The Nano36 offers thin film deposition at low vacuum pressure with 3 isolated thermal evaporation sources on the base plate to prevent cross contamination. Thermal sources can be filament, basket heaters, box heaters, boats (coated and uncoated), rods and screens. It has user friendly GUIs to ease the control of sample mounting, chamber pressure and deposition process. Evaporation methods are controlled via a quartz crystal sensor in conjunction with a thin film controller to achieve reliable deposition.
Compact e-beam Evaporator – In house built
The e-beam evaporator is a compact system which is able to fit 4” wafer for deposition of aluminium, chromium, gold and other metals. It is designed and built in-house and uses the Mantis electron gun source which is able to support 4 crucibles, up to 250W each. Co-deposition of more than one source is also possible up to 500W in total. It has an oxygen gas feed through for fabrication of tunnel junction.
Atomic Layer Deposition
The Savannah ALD offers precise control of depositions down to the atomic scale. It provides digital control of your thin films which grow one layer at a time and can be controlled to accurate thicknesses – nano or micro scale on ultra-high aspect ratio features (greater than 2000:1). Individually precise control of precursor line temperature gives the flexibility to use solid, liquid, or gaseous precursors.
Deep Reactive Ion Etcher
The Oxford Plasma Pro Cobra 100 Deep RIE uses special gases for standard industry semiconductor etching purpose. It is able to process both Bosch (chiller mode) and Cryo (liquid nitrogen mode) recipes for etching of silicon substrate. Apart from that, it can also etch oxides and nitrides. It has a load-lock and the process are completely computerized, robust and easy to use.
Graphene Flakes Transfer Station
The transfer station is customized for the transfer of graphene flakes or other single crystal structures. It has microscope equipped with CCD camera and 3-axis micromanipulator for high precision control of flake position.
Reactive Ion Etching
The VITA-MINI is a plasma ashing and etching system which supports 3 gas channels, 6” substrate and 300W of RF regeneration. It can be used for low power plasma cleaning of substrates and high power reactive ion etching of metals and thick polymers.
Plasma Etcher
The plasma etcher has MFCs to support 2 types of gases for etching up to 100W. A process controller is integrated so that the process recipe (etching time, power and gas flow) can be programmed for automatic processing.
Critical Point Dryer
Leica EM CPD300 Leica critical point dryer utilizes carbon dioxide for controlled drying of sensitive/delicate samples such as biological samples, thin membrane and MEMS devices.
Annealing Furnace
Suitable for annealing samples with mixed gases (Ar/H2) or N2 up to 800C. The quartz tube is 2” in diameter.
Wire bonder
The F&K Delvotec Model is a universal thin wire bonder that can be used as a gold wire ball bonder and as well as aluminum wire wedge bonder. The bond head can be switched easily between ball and wedge bonder. It offers production in manual or semi-auto mode with heat sample stage holder. Its LCD display panel ease the bonding parameters adjustment and users can save their settings for repeated use.
Probe Station
The probe station has 4 motorised micromanipulator which can be controlled using computer software or joypad. Standard measurement equipment such as multimeter, source measure unit and lock-in amplifier are available to assist samples measurement and characterization.
Diamond Scriber
Supports up to 8 inches wafer. It has a microscope and xy-axis plus rotation sample stage for alignment purpose.
Wet Benches
Wet benches are used for chemical etching, wafer cleaning and many other wet chemical processes . Additional options such as nitrogen, DI water gun and hotplates will further assist users in their experiments.
Fumehoods / Fumedesks
Laboratory fume hoods serve as a ventilation device to control exposure to toxic, offensive or flammable vapours, gases and aerosols. Fume hoods are the primary method of exposure control in the laboratory. Exhausts are used to remove hazardous gases, dusts, mists, and vapours from a confined location and helps protect users from inhalation exposure.
Optical Microscopes
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 |
 |
| ZEISS Imager.A1m |
Nikon Eclipse LV100D |
Nikon SMZ 1500 |
| 2.5x to 100x |
4x to 100x |
0.75x to 11.25x |
The optical microscopes are specially designed for image processing and documentation. It introduces high resolution and excellent contrast as it enlarges the image of the sample in the focal plane. The Nikon SMZ has a micromanipulator stage with 3 axes control for graphene transfer process.
Hotplates
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 |
 |
| SD160 |
SD500 |
SD162 |
| Aluminium / Silicon Alloy |
Glass Ceramic |
| max 1200 deg C |
max 600 deg C |
| 200 x 200 mm |
300 x 300 mm |
A portable appliance which is used to heat samples of different sizes at various temperatures and it also contain a magnetic stirrer to allow automatically stirring of heated chemicals.
Spincoaters
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 |
 |
| POLOS 200 |
SPS SPIN 150 |
WBS-400BZ-6NPP |
| max diam. 260mm |
max diam. 160mm |
max diam. 150mm |
| 1-10000 rpm |
Binder Oven
The Binder FD115 offers a broad range of application. It provide quick drying, uniform circulation even under full load and homogenous temperature distribution throughout the process. Temperature range from 5 °C above ambient temperature to 300 °C.