Today we were in the lab again and entered the real clean room. Air filtering, whole-body overall, no cell phones, anti-vibrant floors, no breathing allowed, ... that kind of clean room. And we worked with a plasma microwave. This is not a joke!^^ They used a microwave to build a plasma ashing tool. This etches "stuff" with the use of plasma. (Plasma is a partially ionised gas which glows in the dark - like a lightsabre somehow.) Inside the microwave a plasma is created with the microwave microwaves. The plasma ions then react with the surface you want to etch and remove it. And I just have to repeat: You can build something like this from an ordinary microwave!
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| Electron Beam Lithography Tool - Lund Nano Lab (image from lecture script) |
This wardrobe like or industry baking oven like looking thing is not the plasma microwave. This is an Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) Tool. (I think our teacher mentioned something about 30 million euros ...) What it does is "simply" writing structures on a photo resist with an electron beam.
Why should anybody do such things like writing with the help of electron beams or etching stuff with plasma in a microwave? Well, this time this is not just because we can! Maybe ask your mobil phone or your PC why anybody should do this. ;) These processes are necessary to produce the processors and stuff in all your electronic toys. Would not work without plasma microwaves. ;)
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