Events Calendar

Munushian Seminar - Karl K. Berggren

Speaker: Karl K. Berggren, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Talk Title: Smarter Lithography: Top-Down Control of Nanometer-Length-Scale Self-Assembly

Abstract: The future of nanotechnology generally and the integrated circuit industry in particular depend on the ability to control and pattern complex structures at the nanometer length scale. We will discuss methods we have developed that use electron and ion beams to pattern structures at the single-nanometer length scale. However, covering large areas with nanometer-scale beams is a slow and expensive process, leading some to suggest that chemical and biological self-assembly might better address the future industrial needs in this area. The question is then, how to control self-assembly to create the kinds of flawless and arbitrary patterns the semiconductor industry now uses routinely in the fabrication of microchips? We will discuss a solution to this problem in which we pattern only a sparse structure and then using directed self-assembly of block copolymers, fill in the remaining space. The trick is to achieve a maximum of control and complexity in the final pattern with a minimum of expensive top-down lithography. The result is a surprising degree of control and perfection in patterning systems that would otherwise produce random patterns. We can even control double-layer patterns by using just a single layer of sparse electron-beam-defined posts. The methods take advantage
of the natural tendencies of the block copolymers to form ordered linear arrays, with the posts serving to guide the arrays during the assembly process. A future vision of lithography, where engineering and chemistry work together to construct complex and useful nanometer-length-scale patterns is envisioned as a result of this work.

Biography: Professor Karl K. Berggren is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he heads the Quantum Nanostructures and Nanofabrication Group. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University
in 1997, where his thesis research focused on nanofabrication by using neutral atomic beams. After completing his thesis research, he became a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he worked on superconductive device fabrication for superconducting analog, and digitial electronics, and quantum computation. In 2003 he joined the faculty at MIT, where his research focuses on high-resolution lithography and templated self-assembly by using electron-and ion-beams and block copolymers. He applies
novel lithographic methods to fabrication of superconductive quantum circuits, photodetectors, and high-speed superconductive electronics. He is Director of the Nanostructures Laboratory in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, and is a core faculty member in the Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL). He is also a member of the editorial board at the IOP journal Nanotechnology, an elected member of the Board of the biannual Applied Superconductivity Conference, and chair of the program committee for the 2014 Electron, Ion, Photon-Beams and Nanotechnology (EIPBN) Conference.

Host: EE-Electrophysics

More Info: ee.usc.edu/news/munushian

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news/munushian