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The 40th International Conference on Electron,
Ion and Photon Beam Technology and NanofabricationBizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest
“A good Micrograph is worth more than the MegaByte it consumes.”

Results Submitted by John Randall

The fields of research covered by this conference have been at the forefront of the drive to develop technology to make smaller and smaller structures. We have ventured into size regimes where we are often dependent on microscopes and the skill of microscopists to see the results of our work (and often what went wrong). To highlight the importance of micrographs to the field, the conference holds a micrograph contest. The entries were judged both from the technological and artistic standpoint. Six categories were defined:

• Best Electron Micrograph
• Best Ion Micrograph
• Best Photon Micrograph
• Best Scanning Probe Micrograph
• Most Bizarre
• Grand Prize

The rules included the following:

• Contestants must be registered 1996 conference attendees.
• Micrographs must be submitted as an 8 inch by 10 inch and must be accompanied by a completed entry sheet.
• Entries must be of a single image taken with a microscope and may not be significantly altered.
• There is no restriction with respect to the subject matter.
• Electron and ion micrographs must be black and white.

Over 40 entries were submitted. There were many outstanding micrographs. The work represented in the submitted micrographs covered a wide range of fields including micro mechanical and integrated circuit fabrication, chemical and dry etching, field emission tips, UV and x-ray optics, and of course e-beam, ion beam, x-ray, and photo lithography experiments. While the largest number of entries were electron micrographs, the grand prize winner was an optical micrograph (ironically of an e-beam experiment). Although there was a small number of scanning probe micrograph entries, the judges chose not to award a prize in that category. The panel of judges who selected the award winners consisted of:

Al Wagner
Research Staff Member, IBM Research
Evelyn Hu
Director of Quest, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Yasuo Iida
Research and Operational Planning Manager, Microelectronics Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation

Visitor count: accesses since June, 1997.

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Best Electron Micrograph

Title: Memory Town

Description: A low magnification view of some memory chips on a wafer. It looks like a street aligned with some buildings and large grounds behind those buildings.

Magnification: 50X

Instrument: Philips 525M Scanning Electron Microscope

Submitted by: Martin Verheijen and Frans Holthuysen, Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

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Best Ion Micrograph
Title: MEMS fabricated Ni Sprocket

Description: Secondary Electron micrograph from an FIB showing the Ni grain structure of an 80um tall gear formed through the MCNC Hi-MEMS Alliance. The Ni was electroplated up through 100um Thick PMMA resist that had been patterned using x-ray lithography.

Magnification: 1,000X

Instrument: FEI FIB 610

Submitted by: Terrence Stark, Analytical Instrumentation Facility, North Carolina State University

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Best Optical Micrograph

Title: “Hieroglyphics of porous silicon”

Description: Topography of porous silicon sample as seen by an optical microscope. These astonishing patterns appeared spontaneously during the electrochemical etching of porous silicon. No lithography has been performed.

Magnification: 50X

Instrument: Olympus

Submitted by: M. Vaez-Iravani, J.K. Rogers, and F.J. Seiferth. Rochester Institute of Technology. M. Vaez-Iravani presently with Tencor Instruments.

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Most Bizarre Micrograph

Title: “Micro Duck”

Description: The structure was produced by angled Chemically Assisted Ion Beam Etching (CAIBE). It looks like a duck floating on water with its head bent.

Magnification: 8,000X

Instrument: JEOL 6400

Submitted by: Chuan-Cheng Cheng, California Institute of Technology

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Grand Prize Micrograph

Title: Nervous Breakdown

Description: This sample was used in an experiment in which a potential bias was applied across a 0.5 um APEX resist layer. The bright area is a 0.1 um aluminum film, which was biased with respect to the silicon substrate. Between 1kV and 2kV, intermittent electrical breakdown occurred, vaporizing the aluminum in a pattern resembling interconnected neurons. The resist was not physically damaged in the process.

Magnification: 200X

Instrument: Leitz Ergolux

Submitted by: Tom Newman – Ultratech Stepper, Mark McCord – Stanford University, and Fritz Hohn – IBM Research.