PROCESS TRANSFERT FROM A RESEARCH LABORATORY :

The case of Microelectronic sensors

G. SARRABAYROUSE

LAAS-CNRS7, Avenue du colonel Roche – 31077 Toulouse cedex 4 – France

sarra@laas.fr

Outline

OUTLINE

- Presentation of LAAS

- Technology platform: structure, organization

- Integrated microelectronic sensors

- Technology transfert

- Practical case:MOS dosimeter

- Problems, results,

- Conclusion

LAAS-CNRS

Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of

Systems

197 Researchers and Faculty members

• 80 CNRS researchers

• 101 Faculty members

• 16 Visiting researchers

40 Post-docs

248 PhD students

110 Engineers, Technicians and administrative staff

• 70 engineers and technicians

• 40 administrative clerks

• Research unit of CNRS

• Associated with 3 institutions: UPS, INPT, INSA

Staff

Objectives

• Study, design and control of complex

heterogeneous systems, in interaction with

other systems and humans.

• Applications to real world problems.

Information, Communication and Systems Science and Technology

IIInformatics

and Instrumentation

Direction

17 Research Groups

Support and

Administration

Services

TEAMTechniques

and Equipements

For Microelectronics

MINAS RIA SINCMOCOSY

4 Areas

Micro Nano Systems Systems Modeling,

Optimization

and Control

Robotics and

Artificial

Intelligence

Critical Computer

Systems

A-M. Gué L. Travé-Massuyès R. Alami J. Arlat

R. Chatila, J-L Sanchez

2 Technical Services

ISI

TS

F

OL

C

RA

P

RIS

GE

PE

TT

O

MR

S

MO

GIS

A

MA

C

DIS

CO

N2IS

M2D

NB

S

PH

OT

O

MO

ST

MIN

C

ISG

E

Organization

MIcro and NAno Systems

Biology, ChemistryPower

management

VCSEL/detector

Telecom

Technology

Platform

MiscellaneousAeronautics, Space, Automotive, Medicine

Nuclear plants, domotics….

Characterization

Platform

Design

Platform

Technology Platform (1)

30 Engineers and

Technicians

Supports endogenous and exogenous research projects

1500 m2 clean room from class 10000 up to class 10

7.5 M€

Equipments

25 M€

Technology Platform (2)

To Characterization

Optical photolithography

PVD

CVD

M.B.E.

Wet Etching

Dry Etching

Electrochemical deposition

Ion implantation

Electron lithography

Packaging

From Mask fabrication

–Flexibility• Manuals / Semi-automatic /Automatic equipments

– Si and III-V technologies

– New materials (GaN, Diamond, polymers etc.)

– 4’’ Si wafers (upgradeable to 6 ’’)

– Development of alternative technologies

Chemistry

Thermal processes

DWB

Ink jet Printing

Screen Printing

Clean Room Structure

•Specific rooms

ZONE FOURS

ZONE

GRAVURE

ZONE

GRAVURE

METALLISATION

ZONE

METALLISATIONZONE

CHIMIE 1

ZONE

CHIMIE 2

ZONE

CARACTERISATION

ZONE

EXTENSIONBATIMENT G1

SALLE BLANCHE 400m2Cl: 10 000

BATIMENT F

SALLE BLANCHE 800m2

Cl: 10 000

EXTENSION

BATIMENT G2

SALLE BLANCHE 300m2Cl: 10 000

IMPLANTATION

IONIQUE

ZONE MBE

ZONE

CARACTERISATIONMICROSCOPES

ELECTRONIQUES

ZONE

ASSEMBLAGE

SAS

Entrée

matériel

ZONE ASSEMBLAGE

SOUS FLUX

ZONE NANO

Ban

c

Com

bin

ais

on

s

S. B

.

SAS ENTREE

SALLE BLANCHE

ZONE MBE

ZONE MBEZONE MBE

ZONE FOURS

CENTRALE TECHNOLOGIQUE DU LAAS1500m2 DE SALLE BLANCHE Cl : 10 000 ET 100

ZONE

PHOTOLYTHOGRAPHIE

SAS ENTREE

75 m

20m

FABRICATION

MASQUES

Finger gloves structure Specific rooms

•In charge of running the infrastructure– Adaptation, development and maintenance

– Commun interest actions (security, consummables products…)

•Equipments– Running

– Maintenance

– Expertise and technical survey

•Support to laboratory projects– Development of basic and dedicated processes

– Réalization of processes

– Support to PhD students

•Support to exogeneous projects (RTB network)– Expertise/administration of demands

– Formation of external people

– Réalization of processes

TEAM : Staff Assignements

TEAM: Organization

30 Engineers, assistant-engineers and technicians

under the direct authority of LAAS Director

Responsible for mask

fabrication

Responsible for

photolithography

Responsible for

characterization

Responsible

•Equipments

•Process

•Training

Coordination of

LAAS projects

Coordination of

exogeneous

projets (RTB

network)

•Technological

management

•Processes

development

•Expertise

COMTEAM

Projects Management

• COMTEAM: Committee under the direct authority of the Director

• Analyse the implication of the technical staff on each project

• Report on the activity

• Discuss the feasibility of the projects proposed by the researchers

• Evaluates the equipment needs

Basic Technology Network

• UNIVERSITIES

Service Delivery

Process Development

Collaborations

• SMEs

Process Development

Collaborations++ Nanophotonique III-V et Si

++ Composants et circuits pour la spintronique

+ Composants optoelectroniques

++ nanoelectronique Si

+ Composants spintronique

++ Systems integration (Energy, RF & Photonics)

+ Micro & Nanosystems for biology, health & environment

++ Micro-nano-opto-electronique III-V

+ MEMS-NEMS RF

++ Micro-Nano Acoustique

+ Micro-Nano Optique

Lille

Orsay/ Marcoussis

Besançon

Grenoble

Toulouse

Integrated Microelectronic Sensors (1)

Highest demand and growth sectors for integrated microelectronic sensors are:

1 – Motor vehicles

2 – Process industries

3 – Consumer electronics

4 – Building sector

Sensor

Signal

Transduction &

Processing unit

Actuator

Power Supply

Sensing System

Sensor: Acoustic waves, chemical, biomedical, gas, inertia, optical, pressure, thermal, etc…

For these sectors MEMS technologies and smart sensors are at the focus of the current sensing

system development.

Integrated Microelectronic Sensors (2)

Innovation : system architecture, signal processing, functionalization of the system

R&D work made in the enterprise which will develop the product.

-Engineers, knowledge, tools, infrastructure

If innovation comes from the sensor technology, as a large market is addressed a big

enterprise is involved

it has human and financial ressources to develop the product from the research step or

to subcontract the development to a foundry. After licensing the technology, the research

laboratory acts as a consultant only.

Integrated Microelectronic Sensors (3)

Beside this, several application domains demand innovative specific sensors

- Aeronautics, space

- Medicine, biomedicine

- Environment

- Agriculture

-Military

-Nuclear energy

- Security

Each domain corresponds to a small market sector in general SMEs are involved.

Start-up, incremental innovation SME

Integrated Microelectronic Sensors (4)

These innovative systems mainly derive their added-value from innovation in the technology

of the sensor

- pressure sensors: stress-free membrane reliability and yield

- radiation sensor: original process to integrate the active layer performance

increase, new application fields

- gas sensors: integration of new materials sensitivity, selectivity, new gases

- chemical sensors: surface functionalization, µ-fluidic integration new

medical applications.

In general these innovations are the results of process studies performed in research

laboratories and universities and may be the starting point of a technology transfert.

Technology transfert (1)

Technology transfert is a complicated process with many difficulties :

- for the SME:

-funding

- risk: technology, market , short term forecasts,..

- knowledge of the research community , communication, trust

- bad or no knowledge of new technologies

-….

- for the laboratory

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERT

Once innovation is established further development concerns

1- the fabrication of a test-vehicle of the sensor

- apply the research result and realize the innovative sensing function

- study of the pertinent external parameters: sensitivity, selectivity, output signal,…

- evaluation of the feasibility of the sensor

2- the fabrication of a pre-prototype

- representative of the final sensor used in sensing system but fabricated in the

research lab « with a reasonnable yield »

- allows the enterprise to fabricate the sensing system

- evaluates the reliability,

3- the fabrication of a prototype: industrial fabrication of the prototype before mass

production

PROCESS TRANSFERT

Technology transfert (2)

Process transfert (1)

Important characteristics:

- No generic technology as for microelectronics

- pressure sensor: 3D µ-machining

- chemical sensor: polymers, chemical treatments of surfaces, selectivelayer deposition

- gas sensor: nanostructured materials, ncSnO2, nc-WO3,…

- radiation sensor: Gd, 10B, 6Li, control of trapping centers, t, ...- Quasi-industrial infrastructure, clean room

- Expensive and various equipments: LPCVD, PECVD, RIE, furnaces, e-beam, II,..

- Physical, electrical chemical characterization equipments

- Engineers highly qualified in various µ- nano- technologies.

None of these characteristics is generally existing in a SME and pre-prototyping cannot besubcontracted with a foundry because of excessive cost and availability of varioustechnologies.

Process transfert (2)

Consequently the research lab must participate to the process transfert from the research result

to pre-prototyping. In addition if necessary it must produce a small volume of sensors to

be used by the SME to enter the market before sub-licensing a foundry.

Within the last ten years we have made such process transferts and three of them were

successful.

A good example is that of radiation dosimeters made at LAAS.

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor transistor with a thick oxide specialy processed to be radiation soft

We have studied and implemented a unique process :

- Gate material

- Control of the trapping region in the insulator

- Control of the insulator-semiconductor interface

low threshold voltage, high sensitivity,

very low fading, low electronic noise

During 10 years for several applications we fabricated and sold the sensor to the users

-CNES (ARCENE, SPOT4, ISS, JASON, SAC-D)

-EDF ( nuclear plants)

- CERN (LHC)

-INTA (OPTOS)

-….

Practical case: MOS Dosimeter (1)

Practical case: MOS Dosimeter (2)

2000: A SME has been interested to develop a product based on the dosimeter devoted to

radiation protection for military application.

The expected number of device was too high to be fabricated at LAAS ; so we decided to give

a licence to the enterprise and we began the transfert process under contract.

It took four years to complete the process and several difficulties arose :

1- Communication difficulties with the engineers of the enterprise

2- Staff

3- Technical

4- Miscellaneous

Problems (1)

1- Communication:

-The enterprise was specialized in radiation protection systems development

- Was used to know the sensors integrated in the systems they developed onlythrough their data sheets that is as a black box.

- Did not know the MOS radiation dosimeter

-Had no engineer knowing microelectronic technology and processes

- Had no idea of the time constants and reactivity in a public institution

Two engineers were hired by the enterprise and posted to the laboratory during the whole transfert process

- They were in charge of collaborating to the process development and were trained by engineers of the clean room during one year. Both engineers were previously post-doc at LAAS and had some knowledge of silicon technologies.

Problems (2)

2- Staff

- the technical staff has additional constraints with no financial impact .

- research valorisation is not specially taken into account in career

advancement

- the use of equipments and clean room occupancy must be negotiated competitively

towards other research projects : priority given to the project ??

- legal status of the staff of the clean room.

Problems (3)

3- Technical, clean room organization

- No dedicated equipment: contamination, re-configuration

- proximity of various technologies and materials

- Expertise and implication of non-permanent people (students)

- Clean room scheduling, availability of equipments

- equipment maintenance and repair and reactivity of the staff

- batch processing

- Introduction and development of new control procedures

Problems (4)

4- Miscalleneous

-LAAS is a public research laboratory improvement of scientific knowledge

- It has an obligation of means and not an obligation of results: this is acceptable for

a research work but questionable here.

- a large part of funding (salaries, operational, equipments, buildings,…) comes from

the government or from other contracts.

Results

The pre-prototype of the MOS dosimeter has been processed

and qualified.

Automatic wafer level electrical characterization tools have

been developed

A prototype of the sensing system has been designed and

fabricated

During 3 years MOS dosimeters have been fabricated at

LAAS and used by the SME.

Then due to the market evolution of the product a sub-licence

has been given to a foundry.

Extension

2008: New transfert of the MOS dodimeter for medical application:

Dosimetry in radiotherapy

1 batch pre-prototype

Sub-licence to a foundry

Concluding remarks: some reasons of the

success

- A large expertise in microelectronics and MEMS technology:

1st clean room 1968, 2nd clean room 1980, 3rd clean room 2005-2009

All designed and operated by engineers at LAAS

Permanent engineers (since 1975 !): know-how

- Flexible clean room structure: adaptability, flexibility

- Clean room facilities as a service with its own direction assisted by a technical

committee reporting to the director of the laboratory. Selection/rejection of projects,

number of projects, technical compatibility,…

- Activity of the staff following the organization matrix presented: strong involvment ,

quality of the processes

- Valorisation of the research

- Club of Affiliates

- Recent incentives by the regional concil to support local economy