Announcements

September 10, 2025

Save the Date: Labmember Meeting Thursday, 10/9/25

Fall Lab Member Meeting

The next Lab Member Meeting will take place at 11AM on Thursday 10/09/25. The meeting will be hybrid. In-person attendees will be meeting in SDH 242. Remote attendees can access zoom. The zoom link will be sent out before the meeting.

There will be a short presentation from process staff. Additional topics from members can be submitted to discuss at the meeting.

After the meeting, process engineers will be available for in person discussion. Pizza will be provided.

August 19, 2025

Cleansweep: August 25-28, 2025

Lab Updates

The NanoLab's yearly "cleansweep" event is coming up, from Monday Aug 25 - Thursday August 28. This yearly event serves to clean the NanoLab, including tabletops, wet sinks, and chemical cabinets, and also as a community building event.

Please sign up on the sheets in the gowning room, or online.

We truly appreciate your participation and support, and are excited to come together to add that clean and sparkle to the lab. To make this event a success, the more lab members that sign up, the better. Snacks and cold beverages will be provided the day of your shift, and appreciation swag will be given to participants.

-NanoLab Staff

July 30, 2025

Qualification Progress Update

Lab Updates

Dear NanoLab Members,

We've updated the Qualification Progress system to make it easier to plan your training.

What's new?

  • You can now add any tool to your qualification list at any time, even if you haven't completed the prerequisites.

  • The system will automatically add the required prerequisites to your list.

This means you can now see your entire training path for any tool, right from the beginning. We hope this helps you plan your work more effectively.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

-NanoLab Staff

July 8, 2025

Monthly Update: July

Lab Updates, Equipment Updates

This is the start of roughly monthly updates for the NanoLab. This update also kicks off the new fiscal year (June 25, 2025 - June 24, 2026). Please feel free to email Michael with questions, comments, or concerns you may have. 
 
Over the course of this fiscal year, we will complete a substantial portion of our 200 mm/8" upgrades to the point where you can run many complete process flows. We will continue to support 150 mm/6" equipment for many years to come. 
 
FY26 Rate Changes
Please see the membership page on our website for FY26 updates. This year saw a larger increase than in years past to overcome prior deficits. Future increases should be more in line with inflation.
 
Rate Tier Reductions
  • Both Crestec E-Beam lithography systems have been moved from Tier 3 to Tier 2
  • The General Lab Rate for the metrology rooms in SDH has been changed to Tier 0 (no cost)
 
Lab Updates and Disruptions
The Lam 2300 cluster tool (lam9,10,11,12) assembly will begin on July 15. Please expect interruptions in the bays as we transport various pieces from the basement to bay 585. Utility shut downs will be emailed in advance to tools affected. The schedule below shows the current installation and bring-up plan. 
  • 7/15-7/25: Mechanical assembly with Lam Research staff
  • 7/28-8/22: Facilitization 
  • 8/25-9/19: Hardware start
  • 9/22-10/3: Process start and tool qualification
  • October 2025: Standard recipes open for use, pending review by staff
  • January 2026: Lab wide availability subject to material compatibility review 
 
New Equipment Arrivals
Two new 150/200 mm G&P CMP tools and a CMP cleaning tool arrive on July 9th. Installation will begin after the Lam cluster tool facilitization is completed. 
 
 
Process Updates
  • Support for BARC on picotrack1 will be added in the coming weeks after a hotplate upgrade
  • We are increasing staff support for E-Beam lithography. If you are having issues or need assistance, please contact staff member Allison Dove 
 
Lab Policy Reminders
  • Before putting materials in a tool, verify compatibility. Ask staff if there is any question or concern.  
  • When alarms sound, use emergency (BLUE) exits only, even if you just entered the gowning room
 
Thank you for your continued use and support of the NanoLab,
-Michael

April 29, 2025

New 8" Equipment

Lab Updates, Equipment Updates

This year we will be installing a lot of new 8" equipment. It started with the new msink7/8 benches and will continue for the remainder of the year with substantial additions in capability.
 
There will be occasional interruptions in service as we make room. Some equipment will be moved around as well. We will try to give a timely notice, so watch your emails closely.
 
We are now clearing space for a donated Lam Research 8" etch cluster tool capable of atomic layer etch (ALE) and respectable etch rates. The equipment will arrive mid-May and take a few months to bring on line and release for member use.
 
In June, we expect to take delivery of 2 CMPs and a CMP cleaning tool that will be placed in 582A.
 
Lithography will get a few upgrades as well. More details to come as plans are solidified.

April 14th, 2025

Updates on msink7/8/9

Spring Lab Member Meeting, Equipment Updates

At some point, the old msink7 sink will be renamed to 'msink9'. For the short-term, msink9 will have the same operations as old msink7. At some point, it may change purposes, and then there will members will be de-qual'ed and will re-qualify with a new training procedure. We will keep you updated.
 
New msink7 will be grouped with msink7 and msink8. Since msink7 shares physical space with msink8, it makes more sense to group them for training and qualification. There are a few members who are on 6/8 but not 7; please get on all three sinks if you need to use even one of the sinks.

09/10/25