Nanofabrication Facility

About us

The Suzhou nanofabrication facility(SNFF), is a national user facility with location at Suzhou. Its mission is to support the fabrication, synthesis, and characterization of nanoscale devices and materials for both academic, industrial, and governmental researchers. We do this by maintaining state-of-the-art clean room facilities and a full fabrication tool set and by providing hands-on training in nanotechnology processes to all qualified users.

The SNFF has over RMB100 million of equipment in 5500 square meter clean room and operational for

1) Optical and electron beam lithography

2) Thin film deposition of metals, alloys and ceramic compounds

3) Annealing, oxidation, and doping

4) Wet etching and reactive ion etching

5) Packaging and characterization

Many of the equipment are capable of processing on a broad range of substrates such as semiconductor, glass, ceramics and plastics with sizes from small pieces to 6" wafers. SNFF now has electronics-based facility for MEMS/NEMS, III-V semiconductor device, advanced sensors, and microfluidic systems. In addition, the SNFF provides state-of-the-art tools coupled with expert staff support for all disciplines wishing to explore uses of micro- and nano- fabrication.

The Service We Offer

1) Independent operation of equipment for trained users

2) Technical consultations

3) Joint R&D projects

4) Clean room space lease

5) Contracted technology development

6) Training for technicians and postgraduates

Research Areas

Research at the Naofabrication facility has significant impact on important areas such as energy and information technology.

1 GaN Power Electronics Semiconductor Devices

For our convenient and comfortable lives, it is very important to solve the environmental issues, such as CO2 emission, air pollution and so on. In particular, to reduce the power loss of electronic equipment can solve a major part of these environmental issues. GaN power device is expected to be a game changer for the energy efficiency of appliances, mobile devices, industrial equipment, and others.

Research in SNFF is to develop GaN devices that work more efficiently and are more cost effective.. Our research interests involved in lager size GaN wafer growth (6” to 8”), device design and fabrication, devices’ packaging technology and devices’ reliability and application etc. We have brought out several novel structures to improve device’s performance and obtained outstanding results. For instance, the Double -Gate Devices had made excellent results to depress current collapse and reveal its mechanism. We also fabricated AlGaN/GaN MOS-HEMTs on Si substrate with Vth of +3.5V, ID of 5A and gate voltage swing more than +15V. [http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2013/JUN/CAS_070613.html]

2 Ultraviolet-Infrared Two-Color Detector

Intersubband (ISB) devices based on Ⅲ-nitride alloys have been attracting more and more attention recently since they have a tunable conduction band offset up to 2 eV and extremely short intersubband relaxation time. Besides, the group III nitrides offer a possibility to realize integrated detection of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation through an integrated structure. We have carried out the research of developing solar blind UV (<280 nm)-MIR (3~5 μm) two color detectors since 2010 which is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 10990102.

By techniques of the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), We have obtained high quality GaN/AlGaN quantum wells structures with absorption of 3~5 μm. The influences of grating period, duty cycle, metal film thickness, etch depth and passivation thickness of the metal grating have been investigated on the performance of the coupling wavelength and the optical enhancement using the theory of interaction between the metal surface plasmon and the electromagnetic field. Solar blind UV and MIR two-color integrated detectors with various structures have been fabricated and investigated. More than 60 papers have been published in the international academic journals and 16 national patents have been applied (including 6 authorized patents) during the reseach work.

3 New information device and materials

Current CMOS technology is based on charge properties of electrons. Since this technology is expected to reach the limit in 2020, investigations are ongoing to come up with new principles, materials and designs. An important new approach is being investigated utilizes spintronics, which is based on the spin components of the electrons. This method has the potential to offer enhanced functionality, higher speed, and less power. Other approaches include the use of carbon electronics such as grephene materials as well as novel materials including topological insulators.

Research team develops new compact and energy-efficient nanoscale microwave oscillators [http://phys.org/news/2013-03-team-compact-energy-efficient-nanoscale-microwave.html]

Faculty and Staff

The SNFF has an excellent and efficient team with a total of 63 members, including 17 senior R&D staffs, 13 process engineers, 9 equipment development & maintenance staffs, 7 management staffs and 17 process operators; among them there are 15 with doctorial degree and 17 with master’s degree.

Leading scientist: Baoshun Zhang(Professor, Director of the SNFF)

LAB Equipment

Training

Basic Content

1) Comprehensive training: usage, overall layout, rules & regulations and behavioral norms of clean room (including clean room orientation) as well as safety knowledge, online equipment reservation among others.

2) Equipment training (including theory learning and operation training)

3) Cleaning room training

                                                                 Training Courses List  

Advanced training is also provided for users

Opening Time

Open Time: 8:30am – 11:30pm, from Monday to Sunday

On Saturday and Sunday, the facility is mainly opened to users who have passed qualify test, and during the operation they should operate equipment independently; while others should get permission before use.

In case, users can make reservation for operation after 11:30pm, but no discount will be provided.

The nanofabrication facility (SNFF) is committed to stimulating international collaborations and academic exchanges. SNFF has established stable long-term collaborations with Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, California Nanosystem Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Messina, Italy and etc.

Contact

ADD:398 Ruoshui Road, Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123

TEL:00-0512-62872625

FAX:0512-62872742

Email: pzhang2008@sinano.ac.cn

Website: nff.sinano.ac.cn