LiveScience's Image of the Day

Micro-Electronic Champ

Tuesday December 4, 2007

More Images...

A 1957 classic sitting in a Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) clean room isn't a Chevy, but a Veeco vacuum evaporator.

Standing at more than six feet tall and five feet wide, the evaporator is still in use today and helps out with microfabricating tiny electronic circuits.

"It’s a very rugged machine and it’s gotten better with age," said Mike Harris, an GTRI engineer in the machine's laboratory. Harris said he first used the aging evaporator in 1972 as a student.

The system works by evaporating metals or other materials in extreme vacuum, then travel to finely etched semiconductors. Once they meet the silicon-laden pattern, the metal condenses to create a detailed circuit.

Because the 1957 system still runs well, Harris sees no reason to buy a new one.

"New systems like this probably cost between $700,000 and $1 million," he said. "And the new systems are designed primarily for throughput and that’s not necessarily best for a research environment."

—LiveScience Staff 

Credit: Georgia Tech Research Institute

Advertisement

From the Blogs

LiveScience Blogs
  1. The Bug Hunt Is On. Target: Marine Aliens
  2. HARPS Discovery - HD 40307 And Its Three Super-Earths
  3. Can This British Columbia Lake Tell Us Something About Life On Other Planets?
  4. Power Equals Positive Action But Only When Acquired Legitimately
  5. X Chromosome Gets Some Respect As An Evolutionary Tool
  6. Estrogen Therapy May Limit Strokes In Women - But The Timing Has To Be Right
  7. Reminder: Garth Sundem's Foolproof Equations On The Science Channel Tonight At 6PM
  1. 6.15.2008 | Tariq Malik
    Father?s Day on Earth, in Space
    t’s Father’s Day on Earth, and just in time for the seven-astronaut crew of NASA’s shuttle Discovery, which landed yesterday in... ...
  2. 6.14.2008 | Robert Roy Britt
    Cutting the Technotether That Ruins Your Life
    he deluge of office and personal email and IM and texting, along with web surfing, putzing with iTunes and so on has workers increasingly distracted... ...

Related Items from the LiveScience Store

  1. Go to Store
  2. Go to Store

More Stores to Explore