The Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory is a class 100/1000
cleanroom facility established to support a wide range of microfabrication activities
at the University of Louisville's Speed
Scientific School of Engineering. The 1500 square foot cleanroom facility
opened in the Spring of 1997 and is located in the lower level of the New Academic
Building at U of L. However, a new
state-of-the-art research building is being erected to keep with the rapidly
expanding fields of Micro/Nano-Technology and MEMS. It will house a 10,000
sq. ft. multi-user core cleanroom facility equipped with the latest in microfabrication
processing tools. More than 40 research scientists and engineers from diverse
disciplines will come together in a new 106,000 square foot research facility
on the University of Louisville's main campus. When the $42 million University
of Louisville Science and Technology Research Center is complete, the University
of Louisville will be home to one of the premier multidisciplinary research facilities
in the region. It is scheduled to be completed in February 2006.
MISSION
The new Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory is utilized for both research and
instructional purposes. It provides a state-of-the-art environment for
teaching both the fundamental and current fabrication techniques used to
manufacture integrated circuits (ICs), discrete microelectronic devices,
MEMS devices such as sensors and actuators, and various electro-optic
devices. Since the new laboratory houses the only general-purpose
microfabrication cleanroom facility in the entire state of Kentucky, it
also serves as an appropriate setting for technology transfer of
information and projects related to microfabrication. Students are able to
obtain valuable training in a leading edge technology currently lacking in
our state. In addition, it is an appropriate setting for new research in
the microfabrication field. The laboratory houses a wide range of
processing, packaging, and test equipment. As such, it is of tremendous
value to a wide range of disciplines. Specifically, it is currently
serving as a center for research activity in the areas of micromachined
sensors and actuators, electro-optic devices, special-purpose
microelectronic devices, planar waveguides, chemical transducers,
microstrip and microgap radiation detectors, micromachined nozzles, and
micromachined ink-jet printheads.
ACTIVITIES
The Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory is utilized for the fabrication,
packaging, and testing of various microelectronic devices and
circuits, electro-optic devices, micromachined sensors and actuators,
and various other MEMS (microelectromechanical) devices and
structures. Due to stringent processing requirements, the lab is
designed to meet class 1000 clean room specifications throughout with
certain areas and rooms in the lab satisfying class 100
specifications. Activities that can be performed in the Lutz
Microfabrication Laboratory include: photolithography, oxidation,
thermal diffusion, evaporation, sputtering, metalization, spinning,
chemical vapor deposition (CVD), anisotropic and isotropic etching,
reactive ion etching (RIE), bulk and surface micromachining,
silicon-silicon bonding, electrostatic bonding, wire bonding, dicing,
packaging, probe inspection, measurement and testing.
EDUCATIONAL IMPACT
The development of the Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory provided a quantum
leap in the quality of education available to students at the University
of Louisville and the state of Kentucky. The only university cleanroom in
Kentucky is that of the Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory. The current
activity in the Lutz Laboratory fits in well with the national interest in
microfabrication as a strategic research area. It is clear that
microfabrication techniques and applications are and will continue to have
an important impact upon our technology base. Graduate and undergraduate
students who are exposed to microfabrication activities will emerge with
real experience in a new technology and its applications.
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Last modified: Tue Aug 12 12:54:48 EDT
