Research Equipment at CHTM

Semiconductor Materials Growth

CHTM boasts an extensive materials growth capability featuring 2 MOCVD reactors and 3 MBE systems. These reactors are used for the growth of a wide range of III-V and other semiconductor materials in support of CHTM research. The two MOCVD reactors and one MBE system are located in our state-of-the-art crystal growth facility that also incorporates, some of the major materials characterization equipment described below. (more information on materials growth)

Materials Characterization Tools

CHTM has, or has regular access to, a wide range of materials and device characterization equipment that allows us to fully analyze as-grown epitaxial material and optoelectronic or electronic devices. This equipment includes:

  • Transmission Electron Microscopy (resolution 3Å)
  • High Resolution X-section TEM on III-V heterostructures
  • High Resolution X-ray Diffraction Analysis (Philips MRD).
  • Electrochemical C-V profiling of doping concentration
  • Photoluminescence (300 K to 4 K) using a range of pulsed and CW laser pump sources, with wavelengths as short as 252 nm.
  • Variable Temperature Hall Mobility Measurements
  • Raman spectroscopy
  • Atomic Force Microscopy

Optoelectronics and Microelectronics Device Processing

CHTM operates a fully equipped, 1800 ft2 class-100 cleanroom for semiconductor materials processing. Key processes and characterization tools available in this cleanroom include; solvent cleaning, photolithography (Two Karl-Suss contact aligners with either positive or negative photo-resist technology), wet-chemical etching, dry etching (Plasma Quest ECR), e-beam evaporation for metallization and dielectric deposition, PECVD for dielectric deposition, plasma etch cleaning, rapid thermal annealing, ellipsometry, surface profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS). We are currently adding an electron-beam lithography system software package to our existing JEOL 5800 SEM. This software, NPGS (nanometer pattern generation system) by JC Nabity Lithography Systems, will enable us to write features as small as 0.1 µm. (more information on Cleanroom)

Device Characterization

  • Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS)
  • Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • Confocal microscopy and confocal photoluminescence with submicron resolution.
  • Model 6200 MicroManipulator DC probe station, curve tracer, DC parameter analyzer, and capacitance meter for measurement of I-V and C-V characteristics.
  • HP 4145A DC Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer
  • HP 8510 Network Analyzer (up to 20 GHz) and HP 22-GHz Spectrum Analyzer.
  • CW and pulsed UV lasers for optical pumping including:
    • Quadrupled Nd:YAG laser operating at 266 nm with 10 ns pulses, 10 Hz repetition rate, and 0.25J/pulse peak power
    • CW doubled Ar laser operating at 257 nm with peak power of 50 m;
    • CW Ar laser operating at 363.8 nm with peak power of 300 mW
    • Excimer laser capable of 100 ns pulsed operation at 248 nm and 345 nm.
  • High speed electrical measurements up to 30GHz
  • Optical beam profiling for analysis of laser output beam characteristics
  • Optical spectroscopy including picosecond spectroscopy (streak camera, autocorrelator, etc)
  • Optical power measurement
  • Ultrafast optical measurements for analysis of mode behavior or carrier dynamics
  • High speed digital sampling to 40GHz
  • Multichannel pseudorandom data generation at 1GB/s per channel, with eye diagram capability
  • Optical fiber handling and test instrumentation

Computer Facility and Related Resources

CHTMs' Computer Center

High Performance Computing Education and Research Center (HPCERC)

For more demanding computing projects HPCERC operates two parallel computing facilities that are used by CHTM and other UNM researchers;

  • The 512 processor IBM SP2 located at the Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC) in Maui with high speed T3 communication link from the mainland to MHPCC.
  • HI and the 32 processor IBM SP1 at the Albuquerque Resource Center (ARC).