Facility User Education

Dr. Damon Smith
Phone: 512-232-3695
E-mail: damonsmith@mail.utexas.edu

The FNT building is home to a wide variety of state-of-the-art fabrication and characterization equipment. This specialized equipment is available to all interested parties after successful completion of a hands-on facility user education class. Registration for all of the facility user education classes is available online through the TX Class system. In order to enroll in these classes one needs an UT EID number. Persons not associated with the University of Texas System may obtain at UT EID number by following this link: click here.

Please use the following procedure to receive facility user education for CNM equipment and instrumentation:

* Click on one of the courses listed below to signup for the facility user education classes you would like to take.

Here is a list of current facility user education courses:

Course Number
Course Title
Class Hours
Course Prerequisites
NT201

General Clean Room Procedure for FNT This class will provide the student with an overview of the FNT clean room and practices. We will cover gowning and entry, allowed items, clean room protocol and safety practices to be followed inside the clean room. This course is a necessary prerequisite for entry into the FNT clean room and for the usage of any other shared instrumentation inside the cleanroom. Experience in another cleanroom will not substitute for this class.

1.00
OH101 OH201
NT203 FEI SEM/FIB Dual Beam Facility User Education This course is designed to teach the student how to operate the FEI SEM/FIB located in the FNT building.  It includes information on operating the electron microscopy and the ion beam portions of the instrument. This course is a prerequisite for using the Zyvex nanomanipulator and the Omniprobe gas injection system.
4.00
OH101 OH201
NT204 PhotolithographyThis course is designed to teach the student the basics of the photolithography equipment located in the FNT clean room.  Students must take ‘General Clean Room Facility User Education’ (NT 201) as a prerequisite for this class. Specifically students will learn how to operate: spin coater, mask aligner, stylus profilometer, and optical inspection scope.  Students will be provided with facility user education samples.
3.00
NT201
NT205 Electron Beam Lithography Facility User Education This course is designed to teach the student how to operate the Raith 50 electron beam lithography system located in the FNT clean room.  This class will include: focusing and stigmating the electron optics, writefield alignment, e-beam resist development and electron scattering. Students will be provided with facility user education samples.
4.00
NT201
NT209 Thin Film Deposition Facility User EducationThis course is designed to teach the student how to deposit thin films of materials (usually metals) on the CNM shared equipment in the FNT building.  Deposition techniques include: thermal vapor deposition, e-beam sputtering, and rf magnetron plasma sputtering. For the deposition tools that are located in a glove box one must also take NT 215 ‘Glove Box Facility User Education’, and for deposition equipment located in the clean room one must take NT 201 ‘General Clean Room Facility User Education.’
2.00
NT201
Oxford ICP Deposition and EtchingThis course will demonstrate the principles and operation of the Oxford Plasmalab 80+ located in the FNT clean room. We will cover both deposition and etching. The unit is currently configured to deposit: a-Si, silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitride. The etching mode can be done with either the Bosch or cryogenic methods.
2.00
NT201
NT213 Zyvex Nanomanipulator Facility User EducationThis course is designed to teach the student how to use the Zyvex nanomanipulator this is attached to the FEI dual beam system in the FNT building.  One must be a proficient user of the FIB before taking this class.  NT 203 ‘FIB Facility User Education’ is a prerequisite.
4.00
NT203
NT214 Omniprobe FIB Gas Injection Facility User Education This course is designed to teach the student how to use the Omniprobe gas injection system mounted to the FIB system in the FNT building.  The Omniprobe system is capable of depositing up to 4 materials simultaneously using electron or ion beam assisted deposition.
1.00
NT203
NT220 Zygo Interferometer This course is designed to teach the student how to operate the Zygo Interferometer located in the CNM cleanroom.  The course covers data acquisition as well as basic data analysis.
1.00
OH101 OH201 NT201
NT221 Agilent Atomic Force MicroscopyThis course is designed to teach the student how to operate the Agilent 5500 atomic force microscope in the FNT building.  Topics covered will include tip and sample mounting, contact mode AFM, tapping mode AFM, liqui environment imaging and image processing. Students can bring their own research samples or they will be provided with facility user education samples.
3.00
OH101 OH201
NT223 CNM FT-IR This course is designed to teach the student how to use various CNM characterization tools located in the FNT building.  Specifically this class will cover the Zeiss inspection scope, Cary UV-Vis spectrometer, and the FT-IR spectrometer.
1.00
OH101 OH201
NT224 CNM Flourimeter Facility User EducationThis course is designed to teach the student how to operate the CNM fluorimeter located in the FNT building.   Items covered will include: sample preparation, emission scans, excitation scans, and data interpretation.
1.00
OH101 OH201
NT227 CNM Electrical Characterization This course is designed to teach the student proper use of the CNM electrical characterization equipment located in the FNT building.  We have two parametric analyzers and two Suss probe stations for making electrical measurements.  Additionally one can also use the Zyvex nanomanipulator as an ultra small probe station.  Students wishing to connect electrical characterization equipment to the Zyvex nanomanipulator must take this course as well as NT 203 and NT 213.
1.00
OH101 OH201
NT228 Cary UV-Vis This course will explain how to operate the Cary UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer located in the FNT building. This instrument is a double beam instrument that can scan from 175 to 3300 nm. Both transmission and reflectance modes are possible.
1.00
OH101 OH201
NT230 Reactive Ion Etching This course is designed to teach the student how to use plasma etching and deposition equipment located in the FNT building.  Specifically the March 1701 reactive ion etcher will be discussed.  This equipment is located inside the FNT clean rooms students must take NT 201 ‘General Clean Room Facility User Education’ as a prerequisite.
1.00
NT201
NT231 CNM Ellipsometry Facility User EducationThis course is designed to teach the student how to use the J. A. Wollam spectroscopic ellipsometer located in the FNT clean room.  Specific topics include: sample alignment, data acquisition, optical model construction and finally regression analysis to adjust model to reflect collected data.
1.00
NT201
NT233 CNM Dicing Saw Facility User EducationThis course is designed to teach the student how to use the CNM Dicing Saw located within the FNT clean room. Specifically we have a Disco 321 dicing saw capable of handling up to 6 inch wafers. Students wishing to take this course must have completed the FNT clean room course (NT201) prior to this class.
2.00
NT201
NT250

Dimatix Materials Printer This course is designed to teach the student how to operate the FUJIFILM DMP-2800 Dimatix Materials Printer located in the CNM cleanroom.  The course covers ink optimization, pattern creation, and multilayer alignment procedures.

2.00
NT201

If a class is full, you may sign up on the waitlist. If someone drops out of the class, you will automatically be informed of your promotion.

You may also show up for the class if you are on the waitlist, but you will not be able to attend if all registered students/participants are in attendance.

  • Please show up for the class on time, if you are late you might lose your seat to persons on the waitlist.

It is your responsibility to make sure you get trained for equipment that you would like to use. You are only authorized to use equipment for which you have completed the appropriate facility user education class.