The Acquisition of Laboratory Equipment to Facilitate Micro and Nano Engineering at Michigan State University

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Recently within the College of Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU) faculty with research interests at the micro and nano dimensions have coalesced about a new College of Engineering Center research activity entitled the Micro and Nano Engineering Center (MNEC). MNEC builds upon the past strong research capabilities of faculty within the College of Engineering, such as carbon-based materials and plasma technologies and combines them with newly hired research faculty and their associated research initiatives in nano-device technologies, miniaturized millimeter wave and optical systems and micro/nano machine instrumentation. MNEC's mission is concerned with the application of frontier knowledge and techniques that synthesize, characterize, manipulate and modify materials in order to create integrated structures, electronic, and photonic devices and machines in the micro and nano environment. The emphasis of the Center's research activities is the development of novel devices, machines and systems in the micro and nano world. Faculty form synergistic interdisciplinary research teams which include cross-campus and multi-university collaborations. Notable among these are the NSF MRSEC Center for Sensor Materials and the NSF Wireless Integrated Microsystems (WIMS) ERC collaborations. Additionally, MNEC's research activities provide the university setting in which to train and educate both graduate and undergraduate students. Presently, the Center includes ten faculty and 40 graduate students of which over half are Ph.D. students. Of the ten faculty, five have been newly hired during the past five years and it is anticipated to expand to a total of 15-20 faculty over the next five years via additional faculty interest reorientation and new hires. MNEC's research activities have been and continue to be transferred to industry and commercialized into applications relevant to manufacturing, health care, the environment and national security. The rapid advance of micro/nano-fabrication technology requires continual reassessment of our facilities and capabilities. Micro-scale technology has been an important economic driver for the United States as well as the entire world. MSU's MNEC faculty have pioneered several important micro-fabrication technologies, including microwave plasma processing machines for etching and diamond deposition, IC-compatible diamond processing and fabrication techniques, and diamond micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Now, as we enter a new millennium, nano-scale technology is becoming increasingly important to the center, the college, the university, and the nation. The instrumentation requested in this proposal will improve the Center's faculty ability to perform research activities and student training in nano-scale and micro-scale technologies. Specific, new long-term goals of the Center have been established over the past year through many strategic planning discussions amongst the Center faculty. Current and developing micro and nano-engineering research activities in MNEC can be described and organized into five areas including: (1) carbon-based technology, (2) microwave plasma technology, (3) nanodevice technology, (4) manipulation and probe technology for micro and nano applications, and (5) miniaturized millimeter wave and optical systems. The proposed equipment acquisition described below is part of the MNEC's multiyear strategy to improve its laboratory facilities, which will facilitate research activities and student training in these five areas. In developing our request, we have considered the availability of similar instrumentation on campus and the capabilities of such instrumentation. The equipment requested in this proposal will be housed in common facilities in the Micro and Nano Engineering Center (MNEC) cleanroom located on the MSU campus. The instrumentation requested in this proposal includes the following systems: Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) System Multisource Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) System Scanning Probe Microscope Wet Chemical Processing Station Electrochemical Plating Station