This grant is for a deep UV photolithography system to support the many research projects of the Semiconductor Device Laboratory at the University of Virginia. This laboratory is a world leader in the development of solid-state devices for low-noise, high frequency receiver applications. Although we have had great success with our current standard UV system, our ambitious plans for the next generation of high freuqency devices require feature sizes far beyond it's capability. Deep UV lithogrpahy is the most feasible technology for this work because it can achieve the required resolution (<0.5 um) at a modest cost in terms of both capital investment and maintenance. The new devices that will be developed with this system will help to revolutionize high frequency receiver technology in terms of both sensitivity and maximum operating frequency. This will benefit many researchers who rely on these receivers for work in such areas as radio astronomy, chemical spectroscopy, plasma diagnostics, atmospheric research and high frequency communications and imaging systems.
