Acquisition of Specialized Instrumentation for Research & Development of Materials, Devices, and Processes

9732697 Misra It is proposed by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) under the National Science Foundation Research Equipment program to acquire an BP 4156A Precision Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer and a Cascade Microtech (Summit 10552) low noise probe station. The HP 4156A with ultra-low leakage SMUs can measure up to 1fA and I(V, automatically extract process parameters, perform AC/DC device characterization. The low noise probe station will have femtoguard noise level with a micro-chamber that will accommodate wafers up to 6-inch diameter. The instrumentation will support a unified research effort across many undergraduate and graduate areas including physics, electrical engineering, materials science, environmental engineering and manufacturing. A strong body of research is currently in place at NJIT to support this instrumentation, with faculty expertise covering the range from wafer level testing, characterization of thin films and SOI, to individual device design, fabrication and testing, ultimately to the development of integrated systems for applications in manufacturing and industry. Research areas include new device design, plasma charging damage to thin gate oxides, large molecular ion implantation to silicon, tunneling through thin dielectrics, optical waveguides on silicon, Hall effect devices etc. This body of research is directly affiliated with NJIT's one-of-a-kind to a university, class 10, 6-inch capable cleanroom for silicon-based microprocessing that provides access to advanced state-of-the-art process methods and equipment to perform complex design, modeling, simulation, process characterization and prototype development, and generates synergy between industry and NJIT students, faculty and staff, leading to joint research opportunities and efficient technology transfer. NSF funding will help the undergraduate and graduate students to have hands on experience of the advanced characterization systems. Since NJIT has a significant presence of minority and w omen (-40% and -19% respectively) students it is expected that some of these students will have the opportunity to work on the state-of-the-art characterization system. The proposed instrumentation provides a unifying theme combining individual research and problems of emerging importance in the light of device scaling. Novel electronic, magnetic and optical devices can be designed and evaluated using the proposed sensitive measurement system. ***