| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Vacuum Technology | Thursday Sessions |
| Session VT-ThP |
| Session: | Vacuum Technology Poster Session (including Student Poster Competition with Cash Award) |
| Presenter: | M.-R. Padmore, Yale University |
| Authors: | M.-R. Padmore, Yale University E.I. Altman, Yale University V.E. Henrich, Yale University F. Walker, Yale University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Electronic devices are simultaneously decreasing in size while increasing in their importance to our everyday lives. Thin film crystalline growth is necessary for the production and integration of micro- and nanoelectronics. The Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) system is one of the most widely used methods of achieving this growth. As such, it is valuable to train students in the use and applications of MBE as early as at the undergraduate level. However, in using the system to train less-experienced users, the chance of system failure increases dramatically. Thus, a system must be built which can, through the use of preventative interlocks and user-friendly interfaces, easily and cost-effectively be incorporated into an instructional setting. A major problem with many preventative measures is that they are implemented using administrative and/or procedural controls. These types of controls block the transparency of the process by not allowing the students to interact with the system itself. This system is designed to be "hands-on", allowing the trainees to see the basic science behind the technology they are using, without reducing the reliability of the system. By using engineering controls such as automatic valves and computerized shutdown interlocks, the main failures which arise from: a.) the sample transfer mechanism; b.) the ultra-high vacuum requirements; and c.) the water cooling requirements; can be avoided without severely decreasing the transparency of the system's process and with an increase in ease of use. An evaluation of the transparency, user-friendliness, and reliability of the system were conducted by allowing a small group of students of various backgrounds to perform experiments mapping out surface phase diagrams on silicon surfaces. Preliminary results of this study show that an effective set of engineering controls can be designed. The conflicting problems between transparency and reliability addressed in designing this system are not specific to Molecular Beam Epitaxy, but to any educational institution whose mission is to create reliable training tools in all fields of engineering and technology.