IIT-Roorkee has established a nanofabrication facility to advance India’s semiconductor manufacturing ambitions. As the first of its kind in Uttarakhand, the centre was developed with an investment of Rs 150 million to facilitate advanced research and lab testing in the semiconductor domain.
The institute collaborated with leading institutions in Taiwan, renowned for its semiconductor expertise, to foster knowledge exchange. The project, initiated in 2019, was funded by the Department of Science and Technology.
Further, outfitted with the latest equipment, the facility includes a 50 kilovolt (kV) electron beam lithography (EBL) system capable of achieving 10nm resolution and an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) system, widely used in specialised semiconductor applications. The facility also features ultra-clean environments with Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms spanning 300 and 600 square feet, ensuring precise conditions for nanotechnology research.
Now fully functional, the centre is backed by five faculty members and has already trained 30 MTech students and research scholars. Additionally, 12 PhD scholars are utilising the facility for their research, while efforts continue to refine operational parameters to expand its capabilities. Research areas supported by the facility include quantum sensors, spintronics, photodetectors, memory devices, thin-film devices, photonic crystals, and quantum optics.
