Submicrometer and nanometer technology

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

This course has no official prerequisites. However, we do assume a very thorough knowledge of the 1st-year basic sciences and a solid grasp of the EE or ME undergraduate curriculum. The class makes use of elementary concepts from optics, mechanics, special relativity, Fourier transforms, and chemistry.

Collaboration is permitted (but not necessarily encouraged) on all assignments except the final assignment. This collaboration should take the form of discussion of problem approaches and solutions, but each student should write up his or her own solutions individually, without consulting others. The completed assignment should indicate if anyone outside of the teaching staff was consulted, and if so, who.

The final assignment should consist of strictly individual work.

Prior year's lecture notes of other students may be consulted, however prior year's work on assignments may not be consulted.

Student's performance will be assessed primarily based on their performance on the final homework assignment (distributed in Ses #20, and due in Ses #26). This assignment will comprise at least 50% of the course grade. The remainder will be made up of the remaining homework assignments (of which there will be 13). The final assignment will be weighted more heavily in instances where the student's performance on it differs markedly (either positively or negatively) from their performance in the remainder in the class.

There will be no final examination for this class.

Upon completion of 6.781J/2.391J, students will know, and understand the principles of nanofabrication and materials analysis methods including:

Students will understand the concepts of lithographic and microscopic resolution, and be able to apply this knowledge to calculate resolution limits for lithographic and imaging/inspection tools. They will be able to define the concept of contrast and a transfer function for an optical system, and explain their role in both microscopy and lithography. They will know the factors that establish practical resolution limits for major microscopy and lithography approaches and explain the impact of these factors. Students will also be able to comprehend, evaluate, and critique articles on nanolithography and microscopy from the recent literature. Students will understand how nanofabrication tools are applied to fabricate nanostructures in materials and be able to analyze and evaluate proposed approaches to material processing.

First, please note an important conceptual point about the class schedule: We distinguish a class (which occurs on a set date and time) from a lecture (which is a discussion of a single conceptually related set of topics). A class can contain a single or multiple lectures covered in whole or in part. Similarly, a lecture can span multiple classes.

Assignments 1 and 2 due

Assignment 3 handed out

Assignments 3 and 4 due

Assignment 5 handed out

Assignment 6 due

Assignments 7 and 8 handed out

Assignments 7 and 8 due

Assignments 10 and 11 handed out

Assignment 11 due

Assignments 12a 12b handed out

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