The Nano and Micro Devices Center (NMDC) is a research center located at the University of Alabama in Huntsville

University of Alabama in Huntsville

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a state-supported, public, coeducational research university, located in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees, and is organized in five...

. The center forms the backbone of nanotechnology research in the university. It operates a level 4 clean room as well as several other lab facilities.

Objectives

The objective of the center is to effectively integrate the expertise in electrical, chemical, and materials engineering, biology, chemistry and physics towards the development and research in the fields of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology.

Facilities

The center operates a clean room that is equipped with microfabrication machines that perform thin film deposition, photolithography, dry and wet etching, and metrology measurements. It also operates a dark room for wet etching, electroplating and porous silicon fabrication. The facilities are utilized by organizations based in north Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The processes performed in such a cleanroom level may be classified into :

• Lithography: the processes under this category include the conventional UV-lithographic techniques, Electron Beam lithography, and Projection lithography.
• Material Deposition processes: Under this category fall the processes of Sputtering, thermal vapor deposition, and electroplating, other techniques to deposit biological molecules and bilayer membranes include the Langmuir- Blodgett technique.
• Material Removal Processes: these include dry etching such as reactive ion etching, or wet etching such as anisotropic etching of silicon in a KOH bath.
• Surface Analysis and Characterization: Such as Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Confocal Microsocopy, Ellipsometry, UV, IR, and Raman Spectroscpy, X-ray Spectroscopy, and other techniques.
• Computing