Equipment database
Our equipment list is constantly being updated and upgraded. If we don't have what you need, then please contact us to outline your requirements and make suggestions for new capabilities that would benefit you and your research / industry.
Detailed information about instrument specification, capability and compatible materials are accessed via the 'Equipment database' drop down menu at the top of the page, separated by category.
Should you require processing that is not specifically identified within these pages, but which can be achieved using our instruments, then please contact us to discuss your needs further.
Abbreviated Equipment List
Deposition
| CVD | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| PECVD | PlasmaTherm | Vision 310 | For dual-frequency, stress-controlled deposition of SiO2, SiN and SiOxNy films. |
| HD-PECVD | Oxford Instruments | PlasmaPro 100 ICP-CVD | FOR INSTALLATION APR-Jun 2024: configuration TBC |
| ALD | Veeco | Fiji 200 | For ultra-thin, ultra-conformal thermal or plasma-enhanced films can be formed in materials including oxides and nitrides of Ti, Hf, Al and Sn. |
| Parylene coater | SCS | Labcoter 2 (PDS 2010) | For thick, conformal deposition of parylene-N and parylene-C. |
| Oxidation Furnace | Thermco | Maxi Brute | FOR INSTALLATION APR-Jun 2024: For dry and wet oxidation of up to 25 x 150 mm Ø Si wafers. |
| PVD | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Electron-beam evaporator | Angstrom | NexDep | Including ion-beam assisted deposition, for maximum substrates of 150 mm Ø configured for Ti, Au, Pt, Ir, Al, Ni0.8Fe0.2 and Cu. |
| Electron-beam evaporator | Oerlikon | Univex 350 | For deposition of Ti, Au, Pt, Ag, Ni, Cr, Ta, Al, Cu, Py and SiO2 thin films. |
| Mixed deposition | Angstrom | Evovac | Including ion-beam assisted deposition, with x4 thermal sources, x8 electron-beam sources and x1 2" sputter source, configuration TBC. |
| Thermal evaporator | Angstrom | Evovac | Including ion-beam assisted deposition, with x6 10cc thermal sources, configuration TBC. |
| Thermal evaporator | Oerlikon | Univex 300 | Dedicated to AuGeNi, AuGe, Ni and Au deposition. |
| Thermal evaporator | Edwards | Auto306 | For Ti, Au, Al and Cr deposition |
| Thermal evaporator | Edwards | E306A | Dedicated to AuGeNi Ohmic contact deposition. |
| Sputter coater | Kurt Lesker | PVD 75 | Two DC and one RF source for deposition of ZnO, Ti, Cr, Mo, Al, SiO2, Cu, Nb, and Au films onto up to 6” wafers. |
| Desktop sputter coater | Agar Scientific | Agar Auto | For coating SEM samples. |
Dicing, Lapping and Annealing
| Dicing and sawing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Dicing saw | Loadpoint | MicroAce 66 | A 150 mm chuck wafer saw compatible with resin and hubbed blades. |
| Scriber and breaker | JFP Microtechnic | S100 | With controllable scribe descent and stitch-scribing, for up to 100 mm Ø wafers. |
| Lapping and polishing | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Lapping & polishing | Logitech | PM5 | For controllable lapping/polishing of substrates up to 4” in diameter. |
| Annealing and baking | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Rapid thermal annealer | AnnealSys | As-One | Capable of anneal temperatures up to 1000°C and fitted with N2 and forming gas (5% H2 in N2). |
| Vacuum oven | Binder | VD56 | For atmosphere-controlled baking and degassing. |
Dry etch
| Chemical | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| ICP-RIE | Plasmatherm | Takachi | For etching III-V semiconductor materials using Cl2, BCl3, SiCl4, Ar, N2, O2 and SF6 gas chemistries. |
| ICP-RIE | Oxford Instruments | PlasmaPro 100 Cobra | FOR INSTALLATION APR-JUN 2024: for general etching, details TBC. |
| DRIE | Oxford Instruments | PlasmaPro 100 Estrelas | FOR INSTALLATION APR-JUN 2024: for deep silicon etching, details TBC. |
| RIE | Oxford Instruments | PlasmaPro 80 RIE | FOR INSTALLATION APR-JUN 2024: for general purpose etching, details TBC. |
| UVO cleaner | Jelight | 42-220 | For ozone-mediated surface functionalisation, or etching/ cleaning organic residue. |
| Physical/Chemical | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview | Ion Beam Etcher | Scia | Scia Mill 150 | For Ar ion physical etching, with chemically assisted / Reactive IBE capabilities using CHF3, O2, Cl2 and BCl3 chemistries. |
| Barrel asher | EmiTech | K1050X | With O2 and N2. |
| Barrel asher | Deiner | Pico asher | With O2 and N2. |
Electrical Test and Measurement
| Probing & characterisation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| DC probe station | Signatone | 1160 | For DC characerisation using:
|
| RF probe station | Cascade / Formfactor | EPS150RF | For DC-RF characerisation using:
|
Lithography
| Electron-beam lithography | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| EBL | Jeol | JBX-6300FS | A state-of-the-art vector scan electron beam lithography system capable of defining sub-10-nm features on up to 6” wafers. |
| Optical lithography | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Maskless lithography | Heidelberg | MLA150 | A 375 nm direct-write lithography tool for use with all Novolac and SU-8 photoresists on substrates sizes including piece-parts up to 6” wafers. |
| Mask aligner | EVGroup | EVG 610 | For photolithography on up to 6” wafers, with back-side alignment capabilities. |
| Mask aligner | Karl Suss | MJB-3 UV400 IR | Offering vacuum, contact and proximity alignment capabilities, with IR camera for through-wafer alignment. |
| Mask aligner | Karl Suss | MJB-3 HP | Offering vacuum, hard and soft contact and proximity alignment capabilities. |
| Megasonic spin processor | SPS International | Prosys MegPie Ztop 200 | IMPulse 250 RF power supply with POLOS Spin200 Advanced spinner, for delicate substrates or post-CMP cleaning. |
| Ancillary lithography equipment | |||
| Instrument type | Details | ||
| Vacuum oven | For atmosphere-controlled baking, with N2 purge. | ||
| Oven | Dedicated for photoresists | ||
| Spin coaters | x5 Labspin6 spinners for up to 6" wafers. | ||
| Megasonic bath | Wet-bench integrated PCT for up to 6" wafers. | ||
| Ultrasonic baths | x4 132 kHz wet-bench integrated US baths. | ||
| DI H2O weir rinse | With resistivity measurement for process termination and rinse | ||
| Cold development | Dedicated station for cold EBL resist development. | ||
| PDMS processing | Dedicated station for PDMS processing, with integrated spin coater and sink | ||
Metrology
| Contact | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Stylus profiler | KLA | P7 | Offering 156 mm continuous scan length, constant force control. |
| Stylus profiler | KLA | Alpha-step IQ | Offering step-height and line-roughness measurements. |
| AFM | Digital Instruments | Dimension 3100 | A vibration-isolated AFM driven using a Nanoscope IVa controller, producing a maximum image size of 100 µm x 100 µm. |
| Non-contact | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Reflectometer | Thetametrisis | FR-pRo D VIS/NIR | 370 – 1700 nm spectrometers for measurement of transparent films in the 15 nm – 200 mm thickness range. |
| Spectroscopic Ellipsometer | Woollam | M-2000XI | With 245nm to 1690 nm wavelength range with automated angle, z, tip-tilt, and X-Y mapping, with micro-spot optics for optical characterisation of < 2 µm thin films. |
| FEG-SEM | Zeiss | Leo 1530 | A GEMINI column offering 1 nm resolution @ 30 kV and 3 nm resolution @ 1 kV, with a x20 to x900,000 magnification range. |
| 3D optical profiler | Filmetrics | Profilm 3D | With PSI – roughness, and white light – topography, modes. Motorized 100 mm X-Y stage with manual tip-tilt. Image stitching and colour mode capable. x5 (Michelson), x10, x20 and x50 (Mirau) lenses. |
| Optical Microscope | Nikon | Eclipse LV100ND | With BF/DF imaging. |
| Optical Microscope | Nikon | Eclipse LV100ND | With BF/DF imaging and DIC imaging. |
| Optical Microscope | Carl Zeiss | Axio-Imager A1m | BF imaging, with analysis software and imaging camera. |
| Optical Microscope | Three additional optical brightfield microscopes. | ||
Packaging and Bonding
| Wire bonding | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Ball bonder | K&S | 4524 | For individual and stitch Au-wire ball bonding. |
| Wedge bonder | K&S | 4123 | For individual and stitch Au or Al-wire wedge bonding. |
| Multi-purpose bonder | TPT | HB16 | For Au, Al, Cu wedge, ribbon, ball and bump bonding. |
| Device and wafer bonding | |||
| Instrument type | Manufacturer | Model | Brief overview |
| Die bonder | Finetech | Fineplacer Lambda 2 | Semi-automatic die bonder with 0.5 mm alignment accuracy for 0.03 to 20 mm component assembly. |
| Wafer bonder | AML | AWB-04 | For bonding piece-parts up to 4” wafers with 1 – 5 µm alignment accuracy and up to 25 kN force. |