Event Information |
Special Seminar: Dr. Jason Sanabia, Raith America CEO, on SEM-EBL Applications Presented by Raith America and hosted by the Maryland NanoCenter Unique Nanofabrication and Microscopy Applications with SEM-based Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) Instrumentation
Dr. Jason E. Sanabia In his 1959 speech entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” Richard Feynman stated that he saw no reason why we cannot write the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin. Professor Feynman even suggested ways of accomplishing the task: “We can reverse the lenses of the electron microscope.” Cambridge Instruments introduced the first SEMs five decades ago, enabling us deeper insights at the nanoscale. A few years later, Cambridge Instruments went on to “reverse the lenses of the electron microscope,” thus introducing the world to electron beam lithography (EBL) and forming Raith’s historical roots. Since then, there have been decades of advances of EBL instrumentation, which got faster, more accurate, higher resolution, less expensive, more versatile, and easier to use. Today, such writing with electron beams (and focused ion beams) are ubiquitous nanofabrication processes that are critical for advancing today’s nano-scale science and engineering. Both dedicated EBL and SEM-based EBL have thus evolved over the years, and in this seminar we aim to explain where these different techniques are today, with a special emphasis on what one can do with SEM-based EBL instrumentation, such as the eLINE installed in the Maryland NanoCenter since 2007. The SEM-based EBL technique has its advantages and disadvantages compared to dedicated EBL, and we will explain these by surveying its applications in 2D nanomaterials devices (low keV SEM and EBL for minimizing damage), quantum devices, and plasmonics and nanophotonics. Finally, coming full circle on Feynman’s vision: What happens when we now “reverse the lenses” of an EBL instrument? In answer, we discuss automated CD-SEM metrology of device structures for nanofabrication process control (e.g. characterizing line-edge roughness, LER, of many devices), automated SEM inspection (e.g. for locating randomly oriented 1D/2D nanomaterials), CAD-based navigation with CAD-SEM overlay, and large area SEM image stitching for reverse engineering of ICs and neuronal tissue. About the speaker: This Event is For: Graduate • Faculty • Staff • Post-Docs |