ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

MESFET FABRICATION PROCESS STEPS

Given substrate is GaAs

200 A0 of n+ GaAs ( Top layer )

1000 A0 of n GaAs ( Middle layer )
5000 A0 of semi insulating GaAs ( Bottom layer )

Cleaning
1. Dip the sample in acetone beaker.
2. Pour water in ultra sonicator and Put the acetone beaker in ultra sonicator.
3. Switch ON ultra sonicator, and keep the beaker for 10 min.
4. Ultra sonicator generates mechanical vibrations and this reduces the forces between dust
and sample.
5. Take out sample from acetone beaker and dip in iso-proponal which makes the surface
hydrophobic.
6. Then dip in water beaker and clean with running water.
7. Blow the sample with nitrogen gun.
8. Then dry for 10min.

Spin coating
1. Place the sample on vacuum chuck. Program it, 500rpm up to 5sec for uniform coverage
then higher speed (say 4500rpm) up to 30sec for required thickness.
2. Switch ON vacuum pump.
3. Put one drop of photo-resist on sample.
4. Close the lid and switch on I/O. After 35sec it will switch off automatically
5. Switch off vacuum pump and take out sample, dry the sample for 20min.
Aligner Mask 1
1.
2.
3.
4.

Place the mask on upper vacuum chuck.

Place the sample on lower vacuum chuck.
Close the switch
Using theta stage, X and Y stages, align the sample to the mask.
1|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

5. Rotate the knob towards up direction until mask and sample close contact.
6. Now click on expose in monitor display. UV light will expose on sample.
7. Rotate the knob towards down direction.
8. Open the switch.
9. Take out the sample
10. Development
a. Dip the sample in developer for 1min.
b. Then dip the sample in water.
c. Blow on sample with nitrogen gun.
d. Using microscope, observe mask pattern on sample.
e. Measure the photo resist thickness using surface profile meter.

Fig: Mask 1 Aligner, after develop photo resist

Plasma cleaning and Metal Deposition

Plasma cleaning:
1. Put the samples on sample holder and switch on vacuum pump.
2. Wait until vacuum reaches to around 3x10-6 mbar.
3. For plasma cleaning bring the vacuum back to 1x10-1 mbar by allowing oxygen gas
slowly.
4. Make sure the motor speed 300Hz.
5. Switch on HT (High Tension-high voltage 5KV, low current).
6. Switch on circuit breaker.
7. Apply current of 0.9A.
8. Then oxygen will ionize and sputtering will occur.
9. If moisture presents in the oxygen gas, we will observe pink color in chamber.
2|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

10. After 10min, we will observe green color because of oxygen.

11. Residues will remove and send out outlet.
12. Then reduce the current, switch off circuit breaker and HT.
13. Then bring back vacuum to 10-6mbar.
Metal deposition:
a. Chromium (Cr) deposition through EBM.
b. Gold (Au) deposition through Evaporation.
Cr deposition:
Specifications:
Density =7.2kg/m3
Acoustic Impedance=28.95 Ns/m3
1.
2.
3.
4.

Switch on power supply (7KV,3KW)

Switch on current supply and increase up to 10mA
Wait until thickness of deposited Cr metal is 2000A0.
Then reduce the current to 0A and switch off power supply.

Gold deposition:
Specifications:
Density =19.3kg/m3
Acoustic impedance=23.18 Ns/m3
1. Switch on LT (Low Tension- Low voltage 250V, High current).
2. Switch on circuit breaker.
3. Apply a current of 8.8A for primary winding. Then we will get a current of 122A in
secondary.
4. Wait until thickness of deposited Au metal is 300A0, but Au deposited thickness of
153A0, because quantity of Au was not sufficient (for 0.1gm Au, we will get thickness of
500 A0).
5. Switch off the power supply.
6. After 15min take out the sample.
7. Dip the sample in Acetone. Metal and photo resist in unexposed regions will etch.
8. Then place the sample under running water
9. Blow the sample with nitrogen gun.
10. Observe the mask patterns on sample in microscope.
3|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Fig:Mask1 Aligner, after Lift off

Spin coating
1. Place the sample on vacuum chuck.
2. Program it, 500rpm up to 5sec for uniform coverage then higher speed (say 4500rpm) up to
30sec for required thickness
3. Switch ON vacuum pump.
4. Put one drop of photo-resist on sample.
5. Close the lid and switch on I/O. After 35sec it will switch off automatically
6. Switch off vacuum pump and take out sample, dry the sample for 20min.

Mask 2 for Active area

1. Place the mask on upper vacuum chuck.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Place the sample on lower vacuum chuck.

Close the switch
Using theta stage, X and Y stages, align the sample to the mask.
Rotate the knob towards up direction until mask and sample close contact.
Now click on expose in monitor display. UV light will expose on sample.
Rotate the knob towards down direction.
Open the switch.
Take out the sample

4|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

10. Development
a. Dip the sample in developer for 1min.
b. Then dip the sample in water for 1min.
c. Blow on sample with nitrogen gun.
d. Using microscope, observe mask pattern on sample.

Fig:Mask 2, Active area Define, after liftoff Photo resist

Scribing
1. Place the substrate on vacuum chuck
2. Make sure that edge of the substrate and diamond tip should be aligned using translation
stage, fixed 900stage, and scribing stage.
3. Switch ON vacuum pump to hold substrate on vacuum chuck.
4. Using screw gauge rotating scale, move the substrate.
5. Move the scribing stage to make scratch on substrate using diamond tip.
6. Make the scratches on the same line for 5 to 7 times.
7. Using fixed 900stage, rotate the substrate the 900.
8. Make sure that edge of the substrate and diamond tip should be aligned, using translation
stage.
9. Using screw gauge rotating scale, move the substrate.
10.Move the scribing stage to make scratch on substrate using diamond tip.
5|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

11.Make the scratches on the same line for 5 to 7 times.

12.Blow on vacuum chuck holder to remove dust particles using nitrogen gun.
13.Switch of the vacuum pump.
14.Take out the substrate into paper and reverse the substrate and roll on substrate using steel
rod and apply a gentle pressure.

Mesa etch
We need to etch n+ and n GaAs completely and some thickness of semi insulating GaAs so that
the etch depth is 2000 A0.
Etchant is prepared in the following proportion,
1. 6ml ortho phosphoric acid
2. 2ml H2O2
3. 100ml water
Process
1. Put the sample in etchant solution for2min.
2. Put the sample in water for 10secto stop further reaction between etchant and the sample
surface.
3. Put the sample in acetone for 5sec
4. Put the sample in water then running water
5. Blown off with a nitrogen gun while holding the sample on a filter paper.
6. The etch thickness is determined by a surface profile meter. The obtained etch rate is 930 A0
per minute.
7. The second sample (not the one with active area) is taken and the process is repeated for
1min40sec. The obtained etch rate is about 1700A0 per two minutes.
8. From the etch rates previously determined, calculated the time required to etch a depth of
approximately2000 A0 (around 120 seconds). After repeating the process of etching, the
thickness is found to be 2250 A0.

6|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Mask 3 for Ohmic Contacts

1. The cleaned sample is spin coated with photoresist (same speed and time as before).
2. The sample is placed on vacuum chuck after which x, y and theta controls are used to align
the mask with the sample. Two alignment marks which were made earlier are used to ensure
that proper alignment has been done.
3. One alignment mark is along a line parallel to the length of the sample and the other to its
width
4. If proper alignment has not been made the alignment mark symbols appear partially
lackluster.
5. Then the sample is exposed for 10 seconds.
6. The sample is developed in tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide for 60 seconds.
7. The samples were loaded into vacuum chamber. It takes around 6 hours to achieve the
vacuum of the order of 1x10-6 mbar.
8. Then oxygen is pumped for plasma cleaning (removing thin layers of PR from exposed
areas).This is done for 20 minutes (Pressure for this is around 3x10-4 mbar).
9. Then electron beam deposition is used to deposit Au-Ge on the sample, Ni is deposited on
Au-Ge.
10. Thermal evaporation is used to deposit around 2000 A0 of Gold on the deposited Ni.
Au-Ge 1000 A0
Ni 250 A0
Au 2000 A0
11. And samples are taken out.
12. For lift-off the sample is place in acetone and agitated manually.
13. Acetone dissolves PR and the metal bonded to the PR is stripped off the sample surface
along with it.
14. The sample is dipped in isopropanol and then cleaned with water, and running water.

7|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Fig:Mask 3, Tx line after Develop photo resist

Fig:Ohmic contact after liftoff

Fig: Ohmic contact after Develop photo resist

Fig: Tx line, after lift off

Fig:After Annealing
8|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Contact Resistance Measurement:

1. We have to observe whether the formed contact is either Ohmic or schottky, for this we

2.
3.
4.

5.

need to measure the contact resistance and the d vs R characteristics. This is done by
measuring the contact resistance by transmission line measurement method. We can
measure resistance between source and drain but scratches may happened so measuring on
transmission lines.
To get Ohmic contact we have annealed the sample at 4250C for 60sec by Rapid thermal
annealing.
Then using Device analyzer measured the resistance at different spacings. (gap between
two T patterns).
The graph between R and d is plotted, from this we can get contact resistance and
semiconductor resistance as, y intercept= 2*Rc and slope of the graph gives semiconductor
resistance.
Graph is linear, so we can say that the formed contact is Ohmic. The contact resistance is
41ohm, and semiconductor resistance is 10.8ohm.

Fig: Ohmic Contact resistance

9|Page

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Mask 4 for Gate Deposition

1. The cleaned sample is spin coated with photoresist (same speed and time as before).
2. The sample is placed on vacuum chuck after which x, y and theta controls are used to align
the mask with the sample. Two alignment marks which were made earlier are used to ensure
that proper alignment has been done.
3. One alignment mark is along a line parallel to the length of the sample and the other to its
width
4. If proper alignment has not been made the alignment mark symbols appear partially
lackluster.
6. Then the sample is exposed for 10 seconds.
7. The sample is developed in tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide for 60 seconds (same as
before). In the figure we can observe that the gate length is about 11um, and the gate to
Ohmic contact spacing is about 3um.
8. In order to have high depletion width at gate, we have to etch the cap layer (n+) about
2000A0 i.e.; up to n layer (shallow etch). So that we can have high depletion width at Gate
and n layer. This is done by etching in the diluted etchant (which is the same used earlier for
mesa etching), for 50sec.
9. The samples were loaded into vacuum chamber. It takes around 6 hours to achieve the
vacuum of the order of 1x10-6 mbar.

Fig:Circular FET, After develop photo resist

Fig:after develop photo resist

10 | P a g e

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Fig:Gate, after lift off

10. Then oxygen is pumped for plasma cleaning (removing thin layers of PR from exposed
areas).This is done for 20 minutes (Pressure for this is around 3x10-4 mbar).
11. Deposited Titanium+Palladium+Gold everywhere for gate.
Ti-325 A0 Electron Beam Evaporation
Pd-413 A0 Electron Beam Evaporation
Au-1890 A0 Thermal Evaporation
12. By placing the sample in acetone, the metal is lifted-off.

Mask5:Si3N4 Passivation:
1. Deposited 1000A0 Si3N4 everywhere by E-beam evaporation.
2. Photoresist cannot withstand with BHF (Si3N4 etchant), so we cannot get the proper
passivation. To get proper passivation, we have deposited the chromium about 1000A0 on
Si3N4.
3. Then sample is spin coated with photoresist (same speed and time as before).
4. The sample is placed on vacuum chuck after which x, y and theta controls are used to align
the mask with the sample. Two alignment marks which were made earlier are used to ensure
that proper alignment has been done.
5. Alignment mark is along a line parallel to the length of the sample and the other to its width.
6. If proper alignment has not been made the alignment mark symbols appear partially
lackluster.
11 | P a g e

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

7. Then the sample is exposed for 10 seconds.

13. The sample is developed in tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide for 60 seconds (same as
before) for passivation.
14. Put in Chromium etchant for 6 minutes to etch chromium
15. Put in BHF for one and half minute to etch Si3N4.
16. Stripped out the photoresist by put in the acetone for 1 minute.

Fig: After PR development

Fig: After HF

Characteristics
Output characteristics were determined using the probe station,
VGS was varied from -3.5V to +1V in steps of 0.5 V.
For each value of VGS, VDS was swept from 0 to 6V.
The readings were repeated 3 times to remove the stresses (between nitride layer and gate). The
observed drain current was in nA. About 100Mohms of resistance was observed between source
and drain.

12 | P a g e

ICNFT LAB REPORT

G. KRANTHI KUMAR

Then measured Ohmic contact resistance by placing two probes on gate contact. Observed
150Mohms of resistance. This is because the chrome layer or Si3N4 might not remove from the
ohmic contact regions.

Fig: MESFET Layout

13 | P a g e