[labnetwork] EBL Staffing and Support

[Jing Guo]

Hi Brian,

Congrats to your new EBL system!

We only have one dedicated EBL system (Elionix ESL-G100) since 2018. We purchased the system with 3 year warranty and 4 more years service contracts. I am the major scientist in charge of the system. At the same time I am also in charge of all lithography systems and some other instruments in our cleanroom.  Most time I train users to use the EBL independently. Each training takes 6-7 hours total. It will need another session (1-1.5hrs) for alignment training for experienced users. We welcome process/fabrication discussions any time from our users. 

The service contract covers an annual PM (e-gun exchange every year). Usually PM takes about 2 weeks. Those two weeks were almost all the down time for our system for the last 6 years. When beam memory drifts a lot. Elionix service engineer will remotely calibrate all memories. 

This type of the system must be in charged by a staff so that all the operation procedure is set up correctly and can be kept consistent. I learned that some institute who has the same system had experienced several major failures in the first 6 months after installation which were caused by user errors. 

Let me know if you need more information. 



Best,
Jing 

---------------------------------------
Jing Guo Ph.D.
Cleanroom Manager/Research Scientist
SEA Cleanroom (SST 017)
Rice University
Houston, TX 
jeanne.guo at rice.edu
713-348-8227

> On Mar 5, 2025, at 1:24 PM, Brian Baker <bbaker at eng.utah.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear Lab Network,
>  
> We are in the process of purchasing our first electron beam lithography (EBL) system, and we are reaching out to understand how different facilities staff and support their EBL tools.
>  
> For those of you who have an EBL system, we would appreciate any insights you can share regarding staffing:
> Do you have a dedicated staff member for EBL operations?
> If not, what percentage FTE is typically required to maintain the tool, develop processes, train users, and run jobs?
> Any additional insights on challenges or best practices for supporting an EBL system?
>  
> Your feedback would be incredibly valuable as we establish a sustainable support model for our system. 
>  
> Thank you for your time and insights,
>  
> Brian Baker
> University of Utah Nanofab Cleanroom Manager
>  
>  
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