Volume 3, Issue 5 June/July 2003

2003
2002
2001

1962: Opening of the UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory, the first university facility of its kind by David Pescovitz Printer-friendly version For over forty years, the Microfabrication Laboratory has been the site of innovative and cutting-edge research. Bart Nagel photo From microcircuits and MEMS to bioengineering and nanotechnology, the UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory in Cory Hall is the hub of some of the College of Engineering's most innovative research efforts, as well as supporting research across the entire campus. The University's pioneering microelectronics research and instruction began at the dawn of the digital age, just a few years after the invention of the silicon chip. With an H6 hazard classification, the new Microlab will safely accommodate a wide variety of gases, chemicals, and processes, ensuring the facility's future flexibility as a laboratory for many disciplines — from electrical engineering and computer science to materials science, bioengineering, chemistry, and physics. It was in 1962 that the first 1,200 square-foot laboratory opened its doors and researchers produced the first 3/4-inch diameter silicon wafers. The Microlab itself was part of the experiment, an effort to demonstrate the feasibility of integrated circuit research in a university environment. In the 1960s, the Microlab not only proved itself an educational success, but helped drive the emerging semiconductor industry forward. Research led by professor Donald O. Pederson — whose lobbying was instrumental in making the Microlab a reality to begin with — led to the Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE), a tool for circuit design. SPICE or one of its myriad derivatives has been wielded in the design of every integrated circuit developed in the last 25 years. Microlab research in the 1970s blazed trails in Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) devices and spawned now-ubiquitous circuits such as switched capacitor filters and the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuits used in today's mobile phones. As the semiconductor industry continued to gain steam, UC Berkeley kept pace. Construction on a new adjacent microfabrication facility began in 1981 while work continued in the original laboratory. In 1983, the two sections were joined and the present 12,000 square foot microlab went into operation. Nearly half of that space is devoted to a clean room where the air quality, temperature, and humidity are regulated to protect the sensitive equipment and processes. Have a story about the Microlab you'd like to share? We want to hear from you... While research pushes onward in the Cory Hall facility, the Microlab team is preparing to make history yet again with a new laboratory. The new Microlab, boasting an 18,000-foot two-story clean room, will be integrated within a building slated for construction to house the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). With an H6 hazard classification, the new Microlab will safely accommodate a wide variety of gases, chemicals, and processes, ensuring the facility's future flexibility. The lower story of the Microlab will exceed the highest-vibration control standard, enabling the employment of the most delicate fabrication techniques. The current facility in Cory Hall will continue operating until the new Microlab is completed, estimated for the third quarter of 2006. Whether the goal is a revolutionary microprocessor architecture like VIRAM or micromechanical marvel like Smart Dust, researchers in UC Berkeley's Microfabrication Laboratory not only keep up with silicon technology's state-of-the-art, they define it. The UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory 1972: The Release of SPICE Lab Notes is published online by the Public Affairs Office of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. The Lab Notes mission is to illuminate groundbreaking research underway today at the College of Engineering that will dramatically change our lives tomorrow. Editor, Director of Public Affairs: Teresa Moore Writer, Researcher: David Pescovitz Designer: Robyn Altman Subscribe or send comments to the Engineering Public Affairs Office: lab-notes@coe.berkeley.edu. © 2003 UC Regents. Updated 5/30/03.