New Cleanroom Centre For Microelectronics At ETH
ETH (Swiss Institute of Technology) is in the process of expanding its facilities at Hönggerberg in Zürich. Growing student and staff numbers created the need for new facilities. Further, concentrating several departments at one location allows optimised use of high value facilities such as cleanrooms. In this case, the university decided to concentrate its natural science activities at the new campus. The state-of-the-art building holds auditoriums and laboratories in its five wings, also called "fingers". These were based on the "ELEMENTAR" concept developed by architects Campi & Pessina. Three of these wings have been completed so far, comprising the new cleanroom centre. This has been in operation since January 2002. The next phase of ETH development will include the construction of two additional wings to finalise the education and research complex for chemistry.
An internal evaluation of the growing staff and student numbers and the research activities showed that the increasing needs for cleanroom space could best be satisfied by the construction of a dedicated laboratory with 900m2 of cleanroom resources and 900m2 of technical area. The cleanroom facility will mainly be used to research micro- and nano-science while being at the disposition of other departments if necessary. The new installation will be operated jointly by several departments allowing for optimal use and cost efficiency. This cross-disciplinary strategy has been chosen since developments in micro- and nano-science have a strong impact on several areas such as physics, electronics, biology and chemistry. Under the name of FIRST (Frontiers In Research: Space and Time), the centre for micro and nano science will aim at carrying out research to a high level, training PhD and diploma students as well as industrial collaborations. Work with other laboratories and companies will allow the propagation of know-how, new components and highly unique processes, securing an advanced level of micro- and nano-technology in Switzerland.
The first projects will focus on compound semiconductors, silicon for micro- and nano-mechanics and micro-sensors, nano-structuring of materials and surfaces, electronic and photonic devices, circuits and ICs, advanced packaging as well as nano-scale devices. Notably, FIRST's activities will include research on crystal growing for III-V-semiconductors (combining elements from the third and fifth groups of the periodic table). For this research, highly sophisticated technological equipment and specialities were chosen, such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) systems, high-resolution e-beam and atomic force microscope (AFM) lithography, optical lithography, etching and deposition, materials characterisation and device- and IC-processing.
The cleanroom centre represents a project volume of about EUR4.7mn comprising ISO cleanroom classes between 4 and 7 (corresponding to classes 10 to 10,000 according to US standards). The project was set up as collaboration between ETH, gp-i as general planner, Axima as general contractor and Dr Schicht, as expert for quality control. Axima (ex-Sulzer Infra), which now belongs to the Tractebel group, the energy arm of Suez, won this order against distinguished international competitors in March 2001 with the requirement, to accomplish the installation by the end of the same year. Due to the extremely short time span of just nine months, the highly complex project had to be thoroughly organised. The sales and senior project manager Daniel Zbinden coordinated the processes while the project manager Cornelia Kosin led the actual execution. A complete engineering location was created on site, keeping virtual and direct contact with colleagues at Axima as well as the customer, the general planner and the subcontractors. Excellent collaboration between all parties was vital to executing the project within the specified time frame.
The project was made especially challenging not only as a result of the intense time schedule, but also the high quality standards needed for the cleanroom centre. The facility was the first to be built in compliance with the new ISO 14644 standards. All parties verified compliance step-by-step even before the centre was handed over. This allowed rapid progress to installation. Qualification included completeness of supplied goods and services along with documentation, operability of the installation as well as control of the process gas, ultra pure water and cleanroom systems. In addition, the centre for micro- and nano-science was to be built along the lines stated by ETH, allowing continued use of the existing cleanrooms, with special installations for lithography, ultra pure gas and water and a possible extension in the future.
As general contractor Axima Engineering Contracting was responsible for the detail engineering and coordination as well as the supply, assembly and commissioning of the complete cleanroom installations including walls, ceilings, floors and lightning along with plastering. In addition, the complete building services - ventilation, heating, refrigeration, sanitation and electrical installations - were provided. In order to guarantee the diverse use and make highly specialised procedures possible, ultra pure water and ultra pure gas supply systems covering over 20 different gas systems including gas detection were installed along with a compressed air supply system. To round up the package, the cleanroom centre was equipped with a complete control system and general fire detection equipment.
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