Detail of a wafer chamber
This image was photographed with a 55 mm macro lens at the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL), directed by Professor Martin Schmidt. This photograph shows a detail of the Endura PVD System, a fully automated Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) using single-wafer, multi-chamber design. The system deposits thin metal films used in interconnect metalization on 4” and 6” wafers used in semiconductor chips. The project is part of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) research on the design and microfabrication of integrated circuits, sensors, and actuators.

Etched groove in silicon
This photograph of an etched groove in silicon was captured on characterization samples prepared by Theodore Bloomstein, who works on developing advanced optical lithographic systems, as part of his MIT doctoral research. The image shows the micromachining of silicon using a focused argon-ion laser to locally heat a portion of the silicon substrate in a chlorine ambient. At the onset of melting, material is removed in the form of volatile silicon chlorides. Ripples form from a non-linear coupling between absorbed energy in the molten zone and position of the recrystallization front as the scanning rate of the laser beam approaches the maximum recrystallization velocity at the melt-solid interface.

Silicon microcantilevers
This array of silicon microcantilevers comes from Professor Martin Schmidt’s lab at the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories. His lab uses micro- and nanotechnology to create micro-scale devices. They have designed sensors with integrated circuit technology for use in consumer, automotive, and industrial goods and are creating devices applicable to disciplines such as biology.

Gel surface pattern
This photo captures one sequence in a series of changes in surface patterns that occur as gel absorbs water. These expanding gels were photographed using a stereomicroscope in the MIT lab of the late Professor Toyoichi Tanaka. His lab worked on polymer gels with applications to the technology of medicine, energy, food production, and manufacturing.

Array of monodisperse particles
Self-organizing colloids, pictured in this photo, are the work of Professor Paula Hammond, Professor Michael Rubner, and postdoctoral fellow Ilsoon Lee. The image demonstrates a way of creating large ordered arrays of monodisperse particles without lithographic methods, using only surface-particle interactions. When these particles are arranged on a 2D or 3D periodic lattice, new and unique materials may be created for use in functional templates and catalysts for chemical and biological processes, sensor arrays, masks for non-lithographic patterning of deposited species, and novel optical materials and photonic crystal devices.

Chip-embedded probe
This chip-embedded needle for hyperthermia cancer therapy was designed and built by Dr. Kenneth Szajda, a research affiliate of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. The work was part of a joint project at the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratory and the MIT Biomedical Engineering Center that involved designing a smaller, more accurate tissue characterization probe for measuring both cancerous and non-cancerous tissues.

Interdigitated square electrodes
This image of a chip with interdigitated square electrodes that diffract light (rendering color reservoirs) includes dust, part of its handling for the photo, which was later removed digitally. The chip was part of work conducted by Daniel Ehrlich at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. Ehrlich works on developing chip-based genome-sequencing machines that can sequence seven million DNA letters per day.

Fractured silicon dioxide film
Arturo Ayon's research at the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories is the source of this image of a fractured 10 micron-thick silicon dioxide film deposited on a single crystal silicon wafer. The deposited film, created through Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition, exhibited a compressive stress sufficiently high to promote cracking and flaking. Dr. Ayon works on advanced MEMS actuators for wireless communications.