The UA Micro-Fabrication Facility (MFF) houses micro-patterning and plasma processing equipment in a Class 100/1000 clean room, similar to those used for producing microchips. Devices are patterned via photolithography using a Solitec 5110 spinner and Karl Suss MA6 mask aligner. Thin film deposition equipment include the SFI Shamrock sputtering system, Denton Vacuum Explorer electron-beam evaporator, and ST Systems PECVD. Plasma etching equipment include the ST Systems Advanced Silicon Etcher, ST Systems Advanced Oxide Etcher, Intelvac ion mill with Veeco ion source, 4-Wave Ion Beam Etcher, and Yield Engineering Systems YES-R3 plasma asher.
In addition, there are tools available for performing thin film metrology (Veeco Dektak V220-Si stylus profilometer, 4 Point Probe station, Zeiss Axioplan 2 optical microscope, Nanometrics Nanospec 212 Film Thickness Measurement System, Rudolph Auto-EL III ellipsometer, Flexus thin film stress tester). Research applications include materials and devices for computer disk drives, advanced memory, semiconductors (including photovoltaics), and various types of sensors.