The cleanroom at the University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, is equipped with advanced machinery for training and research in semiconductor chip technology worth US$5 million.
Located in the nano and energy center at the university’s faculty of physics, the cleanroom spans more than 150 square meters. It is specially designed to train high-quality human resources and lead pioneering research in cutting-edge technologies such as semiconductor circuits, advanced materials, solid-state physics, and biosensor technology.
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In addition to graduate students and lecturers conducting research and experiments, undergraduates are also allowed to visit and learn about the equipment and production processes to better understand the field and plan their academic paths.
Everyone who enters is required to wear specialized clothing, gloves, masks, and shoes and pass through an air shower chamber to prevent dust particles from getting into the room and remove any remaining particles.
The cleanroom is divided into three areas with increasing levels of cleanliness: a changing room, a white room containing fabrication and analysis systems and a gold room. The cleanliness levels of these rooms are hundreds to thousands of times higher than the outside environment.
To sustain these high standards, the ceilings and floors are specially designed, and even have perforated flooring to facilitate air circulation and dust filtration.
The place is also equipped with a variety of high-tech systems for thin film fabrication and materials/component analysis, including sputtering systems, thermal evaporation, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), plasma oxygen processing, wet benches, electrical characterization stations, ellipsometers for film thickness measurement, four-point probe systems, sample cutters, and numerous auxiliary devices.
The total equipment value is approximately $5 million.
A graduate student works on the photolithography system, a key step in microcomponent fabrication. It is housed in the gold room, which has the highest cleanliness level.
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Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tran Thuat, who was tasked with designing the cleanroom in early 2012, said the facility plays a vital role in conducting complex manufacturing and testing processes for the development of semiconductor chips, biochips, infrared sensors, and advanced microelectronic structures.
The cleanroom also serves as an open lab, attracting faculty and students from other institutions such as the University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam-Japan University and Hanoi University of Science and Technology. It has also become a hub for academic exchange with international partners, including the University of Tokyo (Japan) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Douai (France).
