NASA research fab opens to industry

06/01/1997

NASA research fab opens to industry

A 24,000-ft2 research and development fab owned by NASA is now available for use by the chipmaking industry. Under its Commercial Technology Program, NASA is opening the Goddard Space Flight Center Detector Development Laboratory (DDL) in Greenbelt, MD, to contract semiconductor R&D. Companies can work with NASA under a variety of agreements, ranging from a memorandum of agreement to a patent license with NASA coordinating among multiple companies as needed.

Goddard used the facility to manufacture extremely low-noise junction field effect transistors, which are capable of operating at liquid nitrogen temperatures. A spokesman said this is the first time the facility is being opened "so wide" to the industry. "I don`t know whether any companies have been in there at all before."

The DDL facility includes a 4400-ft2 Class 10 cleanroom. Process capabilities include optical lithography, wet etching, plasma dry etching, rapid thermal processing, CVD, ion implantation, metallization, photoresist spinning, dielectric sputter deposition, and material and device characterization, as well as inspection processes.

DDL has an Eaton NV-1002 ion implanter, capable of handling wafers up to 200 mm, as well as Varian medium energy implanters. Dry etching is performed in an electron cyclotron resonance system (ECR) and a reactive ion etcher. The ECR system also performs CVD processes for silicon dioxide and silicon nitride at temperatures as low as 100?C. Wet etching capabilities include potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, buffered hydrofluoric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and aluminum etch; materials are filtered to 0.1 ?m to remove etch and product residue.

Located on a vibration-isolated floor, the cleanroom is detached from other levels of the three-story building and supported on its own foundation. The cleanroom is arranged into eight bays, each dedicated to a specific process; a sensing system is integrated into the alarm system and monitors toxic and pyrophoric gases 24-hours a day.

For more information about DDL, contact Glenn Unger, ph 301/286-5979, fax 301/286-1717, or e-mail [email protected]. The Research Triangle Institute, a not-for-profit R&D organization, offers a virtual tour of the facility on CD-ROM for both Windows 95 and Macintosh. For more information, contact Reid Maness at ph 919/541-7044. - Christine Lunday, WaferNews