The EDT group has established substantial facilities for research which are used by the staff and students in the centre. These facilities are also available for use by collaborators both internal and external to the university and industrial usage is encouraged.
The facilities can be split up into test and measurement equipment and fabrication facilities.
Test and measurement
The following is a list of the facilities available in the research group.
- A selection of microwave measurement equipment including several microwave network analysers with the ability to measure up to 325 GHz.
- A cryogenic microwave probe station which measures down to 4.2K and up to a frequency of 40 GHz
- A selection of low frequency and d.c. measurement apparatus including a state-of-art semiconductor parameter analyser and low frequency impedance analysers.
- A 27m3 anechoic chamber which is used for accurate, interference free antenna measurements.
- A microwave microscope
Anechoic chamber for antenna measurements
- A number of both closed cycle and liquid cryostats covering the temperature range 4.2K to room temperature. Most of these are configured for both low frequency and microwave measurements.
- A comprehensive range of microwave design software.
Fabrication facilities
The fabrication facilities are based around an industry-supported class 10,000 clean room and facilities include:
- Thin film manufacturing using sputtering, evaporation, laser ablation.
- Processing the thin films using a Karl Suss mask aligner and either wet etching or ion beam milling. A comprehensive range of ancillary equipment is available including spinners, ovens, hotplates and fume cupboards.
- For assessment of the circuits a surface profiler and a range of microscopes is available together with a comprehensive set of characterisation tools across the university (see below).
- For packaging the devices a Laurier M9 flip chip bonder is available together with a substrate saw, wire bonders and CNC milling for package production.
In addition to the facilities described above, which are available in the EDT centre, substantial facilities exist in the rest of the university, these are commonly used by members of the group through collaborative research programs. These facilities include:
- X-ray diagnostic tools for identification and characterisation of materials.
- A selection of microscopes including optical, scanning electron beam as well as transmission electron and atomic force.
- Direct write electron beam lithography and focussed ion beam milling and deposition.
- An STS reactive ion etcher for milling silicon substrates.
- Laser milling of metal.
The EDT clean room