MRI: Acquisition of Semiconductor Technology Lab for Undergraduate Reseasrch/training at Utah Valley State College

Utah Valley University, Orem UT

Investigators

Abstract

The primary aim of this proposal is to establish a semiconductor technology laboratory in the department of physics for students and faculty. We anticipate the participation of at least 5 faculty members as researchers, advisors and mentors for about 10 physics students per year. Our aim is to serve not only professional track students who will continue on to graduate school, but to provide training opportunities for those majors who will leave school with a terminal bachelor's degree to directly seek career employment. We propose here to obtain the equipment necessary to engage in silicon wafer fabrication and experiments. We propose to obtain a spin coater, argon laser, a sputter coating device, optics table, and optical accessories, ultraviolet spectrograph, oscilloscopes, photoresist polymers, and computer interfaces and software. A variety of appropriate undergraduate research projects spanning solar cell research to thin film optical elements will be available in our semiconductor technology lab. Hands on experience in silicon wafer technologies such as photoresist coating and exposure/development techniques, sputtering methods, and vacuum deposition technologies will be learned as a matter of course. We believe that experience in fabrication techniques for wafers will also be invaluable to those physics students who do not continue to graduate studies, but will require familiarity with these techniques in industrial careers. We anticipate that our semiconductor technology lab will be versatile enough for some of our advanced students to develop research projects in areas as diverse as UV and soft X-ray optics, and perhaps in MEMS or nano-type devices. We also anticipate collaborations with other departments, such as electrical engineering and chemistry, providing students and faculty increased research opportunities This proposal outlines the benefits of establishing a semiconductor technology lab at Utah Valley State College to both prepare physics graduate students for university programs, and to produce industrial physicists, engineers and supervisors and managers for the local high-tech job market. This will be accomplished with projects and research in thin film deposition, thin film optics, surface physics, multilayer optics, silicon semiconductor technology, with possible future investigations into micro- and nanostructures manufacturing, integrated optics and other unforeseen new directions. The UVSC physics baccalaureate degree requires each recipient to engage in a senior thesis project. We anticipate that many seniors will choose to perform thesis work through our proposed laboratory.