20 February 2013

IET Innovation Award

Chemical and Biological Engineering student, Richard Hodgkinson and Lecturer, Dr Jonathan Howse have been short-listed for an Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Award.

The short-listing is for work developing imaging systems and analysis techniques for spin coating.

Richard, working alongside his supervisor Dr Jonathan Howse, has developed a way of using technology to monitor and capture the spin coating process, directly in real-time. Using an ultra-sensitive camera and an illumination technique they have been able to watch the spin coatings process while rotating at up to 3000 revolutions per minute.

Spin coating is the process in which a coating is placed on a base material which is then rotated at speeds of up to 10,000 rpm to be dispersed evenly across the surface to create a film. This thin layer is added to change the properties of the base material, for example in semiconductors the coating is used to improve conductivity or insulation. The process is also used in the fabrication of very small items where very fine layers of material are required, such as components of a microchip, where other methods would not be able to do the same job on such a micro-scale.

The new imaging technique uses very short light pulses, of about sixty milliseconds to ‘freeze’ the image of the rotating substrate. An extremely sensitive camera is used in combination with a very bright light source to capture the images as the they are so dark. An Andor iXON 897 camera is used. This camera is designed for looking at incredibly dark samples such as fluorescence and dim and distant galaxies.

Up until now the spin coating process has been very much a black art; as the rotations required are at such high speed it is impossible to observe this complicated process. This new and innovative technique allows the process to be monitored while it is happening rather than waiting until it is complete, allowing people to learn more about the spin coating process, how the rotating fluids move and behave, and how the final film is produced. This technique will impact upon future spin coating process developments for researchers and industry alike; making it easier to achieve the desired film, minimising cost and waste while improving process efficiency and device performance.

This is an on-going research project for Richard, who is currently studying for his PhD in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. The Innovation Awards took place in London on Thursday November 22 where Richard and Dr Howse attended.