Literature review for open source hardware project on Mask Aligner

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Mask Aligner/Aligner

From Wikipedia:[1]

  • "An aligner, or mask aligner, is a system that produces integrated circuits (IC) using the photolithography process. It holds the photomask over the silicon wafer while a bright light is shone through the mask and onto the photoresist. The "alignment" refers to the ability to place the mask over precisely the same location repeatedly as the chip goes through multiple rounds of lithography."

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List of References

A Compact Low-Cost Low-Maintenance Open Architecture Mask Aligner for Fabrication of Multilayer Microfluidics Devices

Quang Long Pham, Nhat-Anh N. Tong, Austin Mathew, Roman S. Voronova

A custom-built mask aligner (CBMA), which fundamentally covers all the key features of a commercial mask aligner, while being low cost, lightweight, and having low power consumption and high accuracy is constructed. The CBMA is comprised of a custom high fidelity LED light source, vacuum chuck and mask holder, high-precision translation and rotation stages, and high-resolution digital microscopes.

Keywords: mask aligner, photolithography, microfluidics, microfabrication, multi-height

Creating a Mechanical Mask Aligner workaround to be used with Photolithography

Mateusz Klimkiewicz, WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

A machine like that would be very useful for research purposes due to the uses of photolithography in micro builds and circuits. The purpose of this MQP was to build a mechanical workaround for the old mask aligner system and allowing the machine to be revived in the future.

The holographic mask aligner

Published in: 1993 Fourth International Conference on Holographic Systems, Components and Applications S. Gray, F. Clube, D. Struchen INSPEC Accession Number: 4577690

Total internal reflection holography has successfully been implemented into an exposure tool for microlithography. The operation of this system, the world’s first holographic mask aligner, is described, and the key components (focus, alignment, and the holographic mask) are discussed.


A novel shadow mask aligner based on three points levelling for wedge error compensation

Pankaj B Agarwal, Deepak Kumar Panwar, Bijendra Kumar, and Ajay Agarwal Engineering Research Express, Volume 2, Number 1

This paper reports a novel shadow mask aligner, which is capable of aligning planar with ~1 μm alignment error as well as provision to compensate the wedge error by using movements of three precision linear actuators, spotted under an optical microscope. The use of three points leveling also overcomes the common error of the upper assembly bending, which could occur with time after its continuous use.

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