Facilities
The Scottish Microelectronics Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
Nikon i-line stepper system for sub-micron photolithography on 200mm substrates
The SMC infrastructure provides extensive cleanroom facilities and is located in a purpose built complex at the University of Edinburgh's Science and Engineering campus at King's Buildings. It consists of approximately 300m2 of class 10, 200m2 of class 1000 cleanrooms and 1000m2 of office and laboratory space. Over 250m2 of the office and laboratory space in the building is available for rent to commercial organisations with the Institute for Integrated Micro and Nano Systems from the School of Engineering occupying the rest. Similarly, two of the cleanroom modules (64m2) have been designated for rental with the remaining areas containing fabrication and metrology equipment which can be made available for use by those associated with the Centre.
Advanced 200mm cluster tool for thin film deposition
The SMC is one of a very small number of Centres in the UK with access to a comprehensive toolset for processing 200mm silicon wafers. 200mm is the substrate size used in the majority of industrial cleanroomsi and the associated process and metrology equipment is largely located in the class 10 cleanrooms. The facilities available at the SMC are more than capable of post processing sub-micron CMOS as well as fabricating a wide-ranging set of non-silicon based microsystems.
The SMC is involvd in major interactions with industry as well as numerous spin-out activities. The SMC has a commercial turnover in excess of £1M pa and is recognised as a leading centre for research and development with a number of companies located within the Centre. The SMC provides the R&D expertise necessary to integrate the many technologies capable of enhancing existing mainstream electronic products and the staff have the entrepreneurial track record to spin out both technologies and products.
