[labnetwork] Virtual fabrication apps/programs

[Jackson Anderson]

Hello Chito,

I do not have too much experience with Synopsys Sentaurus myself, but I
know it is a very popular and powerful TCAD application that is used in a
lot of industrial applications. That being said, I think it can be a bit
confusing to get started with. Silvaco Athena is another TCAD application I
have used in past coursework at Rochester Institute of Technology that is
more user friendly and I believe has cheaper licensing. It maintains the
capability to do physics-based simulations of oxidation, diffusion, etc and
the final 2D device geometry can be exported into their Atlas simulator to
do electrical simulations. One of the professors in Microelectronic
Engineering there might be a good reference on using it in coursework. If
you are merely looking for a tool to visualize 2D cross-sections for an
example process, you could look at the XSection add-on for Klayout, which
would be a completely free option.This tool allows you to take a GDS,
assign materials/processing to each mask layer, and then drag a 2D cutline
across the top view of your mask at various points but is visual only and
does not have physics simulation.

Hope that helps.

Jackson

*Jackson Anderson*
*Graduate Research Assistant*
*Electrical and Computer Engineering*
*ander906 at purdue.edu <ander906 at purdue.edu>*
*https://engineering.purdue.edu/hybridmems/
<https://engineering.purdue.edu/hybridmems/>*



On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 9:33 PM Chito Kendrick <cekendri at mtu.edu> wrote:

> I hope all are well and keeping safe.
>
> As it looks more and more likely our fall semester is going to be online
> or a hybrid and therefore how I teach my lab based microfabrication course
> is going to have to change.
>
> I ended up recording videos on my processing for the last 3 weeks of the
> spring semester and will likely do that for the rest of the process (first
> 11 weeks) once I can get into the facility again. However, ZOOM, vidoes,
> powerpoints, animations are not going to get students the full hands-on
> feel for doing processing in a cleanroom and nothing really does.
>
> I did find a virtual fab created by KAUST - https://fablab.kaust.edu.sa -
> and they do have some tools that are the same as in my fab (EVG mask
> aligner). This allows the students to interact with the system - they use
> it for training from what I have seen. Does anyone else know if other
> facilities have produced a similar virtual experience?
>
> I am also looking for a processing software that allows a user to see a
> 2D/3D section of a wafer and do oxidation/etching/deposition on the wafer
> and see the cross section change after each process step. I was looking at
> the https://www.synopsys.com/silicon.html, but without a copy I have not
> been able to see if it does what I want. Not sure if anyone has had
> experience with this software? about to go check out Youtube.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chito Kendrick
>
> --
> Chito Kendrick Ph.D. <https://sites.google.com/site/chitokendrickphd/>
>
> Managing Director of the Microfabrication Facility
> Research Assistant Professor
> Electrical and Computer Engineering
> Michigan Technological University
> Room 436 M&M Building
> 1400 Townsend Dr.
> Houghton, Michigan 49931-1295
>
> 814-308-4255
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