Vol. 16, No. 39	Aug. 21, 1997

UD receives $2.88M grant for new research center

This is the future," UD's Daniel W. van der Weide said Aug. 12, holding a shiny, silver-colored disk as he accepted a $2.88 million grant to develop better techniques for making semiconductor integrated circuits, or computer chips. "What I'm holding is an array of integrated circuits-the engines that drive our information-based economy."

Patterned onto saucer-sized silicon wafers, modern integrated circuits (ICs) feature increasingly small components, and soon even molecular-scale flaws could create big problems for IC manufacturers, said van der Weide, electrical and computer engineering. To ensure more precise manufacturing techniques and provide a training ground for workers in the semiconductor industry, Governor Thomas R. Carper and the Delaware Economic Development Office selected UD and several industry partners including Rodel, Inc., to launch a new Advanced Technology Center.

Van der Weide and other researchers within the Center for Nanomachined Surfaces (CNS), to be located on the Newark campus, plan to develop the world's highest-precision polished, or "nanomachined," photomask surfaces for patterning computer chips. Using a technique called photolithography, chip makers project ultraviolet light through a photomask-a template or circuit blueprint of chromium on synthetic quartz-to define the features of each chip on a silicon wafer, van der Weide explained. The photomask exposes selected sites on the wafer, in a fashion akin to printing a photographic negative.

Because slight imperfections on the surface of the photomask result in costly chip defects, each template must be polished to an atomically smooth finish. One way to characterize the templates, van der Weide said, is with atomic force microscopy (AFM), which involves scanning the photomask with a miniature tip that measures the topography of the surface.

As director of the CNS, van der Weide will work closely with Mary Wirth, chemistry and biochemistry, and Mark Barteau, chemical engineering, to investigate the fundamentals of polishing and surface-characterization techniques. Wirth's research team, for example, has developed a flat molecule that might serve as a substitute for AFM tips, which can be unreliable. "We just let this molecule roll around on the surface," she said. "When it tilts, we know that it has encountered some roughness."

Work at the CNS "ultimately could affect every integrated circuit made," said Stuart L. Cooper, engineering. "The new Advanced Technology Center at UD will be an integral part of the state's aggressive and ongoing effort to attract the semiconductor industry. We were delighted and honored to win one of these highly competitive awards."

UD also was named a partner in a second Advanced Technology Center, the new Applied Optics Center (AOC), located at Delaware State University. The AOC, supported by a $1.2 million grant, will develop new laser technologies for biomedical, industrial and consumer uses. UD's participation in the AOC will be directed by Robert G. Hunsperger, electrical and computer engineering.

In addition to research and development, Cooper said, the CNS will promote state-wide economic development by offering training in semiconductor fabrication techniques.

"The bottom line," Gov. Carper said Aug. 12, "is jobs." The CNS will help stimulate Delaware's economy through collaborative research with industry, and by preparing students for technical careers, he said. "UD is on its way to becoming a great university," he added, and Advanced Technology Centers such as the CNS are "an important part of our game plan to make sure this economy we enjoy today will go on... forever."

The information-processing industry has become the largest economic segment worldwide, recently surpassing the automotive and oil industries, van der Weide said. Driving this growth are continuous improvements in the speed and complexity of integrated circuits. The worldwide market for photomasks alone could reach $3 billion by the year 2000, according to van der Weide.

Along with UD, partners involved in the CNS include Delaware Technical and Community College, Rodel, DuPont Photomasks, Delaware Diamond Knives, Atlantic Industrial Optics and CFM Technologies.

The CNS Web site is: http://nanosurf.ece.udel.edu

-Ginger Pinholster