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Photolithography Experiment - Student
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1.
Please identify the school at which you performed the Photolithography experiment:
(Required.)
2.
In what grade are you currently enrolled?
8th grade or younger
9th
10th
11th
12th
3.
After performing this hands-on activity, please rate how well you understand the following concepts:
Not at all
A little
Mostly
Very
Light is a spectrum having properties that are characterized by its wavelength. With shorter wavelengths, ultraviolet (UV) has sufficiently higher energy to be utilized to modify molecular structures of materials.
Not at all
A little
Mostly
Very
Materials have significant solubility variation depending on even small molecular bonding differences.
Not at all
A little
Mostly
Very
Photolithography is a key tool that enables engineers to make billions of transistors on a single 2 cm x 2 cm computer chip.
Not at all
A little
Mostly
Very
Please offer your explanation to the following four questions:
4.
There are a great number of benefits for designing and making products small, such as you did in this experiment: using less material, making more devices per area, yielding new functions, etc. As scientists and engineers, you must also recognize the compromises of fabricating small devices. Name at least two compromises/disadvantages when engineering small stuff:
5.
What is the purpose of the hot bath of ferric chloride in this experiment (bonus: name the chemical reaction)?
6.
Ultraviolet light (UV) was used to make a portion of the photoresist soluble, so only your designed metal line patterns remain after soaking in the developer. Explain how UV affects photoresist to make it soluble:
7.
Old-fashioned (non-digital) photography produces photographs similar to the photolithography process. Photographers go into a “yellow-room” to develop the photoresists on the photograph films, or negatives. Provide a reason why photographers will only use yellow light to see when developing the negatives?
8.
Identify any concepts that you might have better understood after performing this activity:
None
Microfabrication
Resistance
Wavelength
Oxidation-Reduction
Other (please specify)
9.
On a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means not at all and 4 means very much, rate the following:
Not at all
A little
Some
Very Much
Did you find the science you learned in this activity interesting?
Not at all
A little
Some
Very Much
Do you want to learn more about how to modify material properties?
Not at all
A little
Some
Very Much
How well can you explain the process of fabricating small “stuff” using light to someone who doesn’t know (perhaps a younger sibling)?
Not at all
A little
Some
Very Much
