Student Alumni Club

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Speaker: Dr. Vincent Tang, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA.

Working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

In this talk, an overview of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is given with emphasis on some of my work and experiences in the Engineering directorate. The structure of the Laboratory, its missions,
and its diverse research portfolio, ranging from Petawatt lasers to micro-fuel cells, are highlighted. Technically, startup efforts and data for a compact fusion neutron source using pyroelectric crystals are
discussed, along with diagnostic work on an 17 MeV electron beam using optical transition radiation (OTR). The presentation concludes with a discussion of internal LLNL funding sources, current LLNL fusion projects, my views on working in LLNL Engineering, and employment opportunities that are available for graduates of the PSFC.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Speaker: Dr. Robert Nachtrieb, Lutron Electronics, PA.

Adventures of a Plasma Physicist in Industry.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006.

Speaker: Dr. Alexander Mazurenko, Philips Advanced Metrology Systems, Natick, MA.
Applications of Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Waves and Fourier Transform IR Reflectometry for Process Monitoring in Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) propagate in a narrow boundary layer of a solid object. As such they are well suited to characterize thin films and small patterns deposited during the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. The design of a compact metrology instrument utilizing laser generated SAWs will be presented. In this instrument, the surface waves are excited by a pulsed microchip Nd:YAG laser and detected by using another laser. Wavelengths as short as 1 um can be generated and frequencies up to 3 GHz can be detected. Dispersion curves collected by varying the SAW wavelength are then fitted by using an analytical model and the necessary information about film thickness, modulus, density, anisotropy, etc is extracted.

Another line of metrology products is based on Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) reflectometry. This technique relies on Michelson type interferometer and Fourier decomposition to achieve spectral selectivity in a wide (1-20 um wavelength) optical range. Since silicon is transparent in infrared the instrument can sense what other techniques cannot.

The physics behind the instruments will be presented along with some of the applications. General aspects of modern IC manufacturing processes will be covered as well.

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