NIST/SRC $75K metrology grant awarded at Stanford

Electronic News, Feb 3, 1997

Research Triangle Park, N.C.--Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) and the Semiconductor Electronics division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are giving their new $75,000 fellowship at Stanford University to a graduate student who will be continuing his research into the metrology of ultra-thin dielectric films.

The first recipient of the NIST/SRC Fellowship is Charles Perkins, a doctoral student of Professor C. Robert Helms at Stanford. Mr. Perkins did his undergraduate work at Northwestern University.

In addition to supporting metrology research, the new fellowship will provide Mr. Perkins with tuition, a stipend and internship opportunities at NIST. It will build on an existing SRC-funded research contract at Stanford. That $140,000 contract, also directed by Professor Helms, investigates the same type of in-line metrology and surface engineering for ultra-thin gate insulator systems.

"Improvement in thin-film metrology is a high-priority objective for us," said David Seiler, the chief of NIST's Semiconductor Electronics division. "As we scale down the thickness of gate insulators for new generations of integrated circuits, it is critical that we accurately measure and characterize the roughness, thickness and composition of these films.

"The metrology of these films will help industry to better understand and design highly uniform, highly reliable advanced semiconductor devices. The industry-government-university synergy generated by this fellowship will speed progress in accomplishing our goals," Mr. Seiler said.

Larry Sumney, SRC president and CEO, said, "Through co-sponsored graduate fellowships, such as this one supported by NIST, SRC participants are able to support and expand research in areas of particular interest to them. As the fellows graduate and enter the semiconductor workforce, they also improve the transfer of SRC-funded research results to the industry."

NIST is the first government agency to co-sponsor a fellowship with SRC, a research consortium of nearly 50 semiconductor companies and government agencies. Counting this award, SRC supports a total of 36 fellowships, each designed to improve doctoral-level educational opportunities and to train graduate students in areas relevant to the semiconductor industry.

SRC notes it has invested and managed more than $340 million in semiconductor research since its formation by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in 1982. This research is performed at about 50 universities and research institutions in North America.