Facilities

Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The Rensselaer, University of New Mexico (UNM), and BU facilities together provide a vertically integrated array of fabrication, processing, characterization, and system assessment tools that is unparalleled. Facilities for conducting SMART LIGHTING research include the 5,000 sq. ft. ERC Central Laboratories, located in Rensselaer’s George Low building, which include a wide array of semiconductor material growth, device fabrication and characterization tools, as well as instruments for systems research and testbed implementation. These facilities are complemented by the nano-growth and nano-fabrication capabilities at UNM, along with the optical communication system design and characterization at BU. In addition, a bio-imaging testbed is available at the Wadsworth Institute, in Albany, NY, for LED-based absorption and fluorescence microscopy applications.

The operation of the shared ERC Central Laboratories at Rensselaer will be guided by:

Rapid access to facilities and equipment by academic, government, and industrial partners, enabled by expedited training schedules;
Initial supervised usage of equipment by visiting personnel until they are fully cleared;
Stringent maintenance and high availability of equipment by skilled technical support personnel, including a laboratory manager; and
The further development of our shared technical capabilities.

ERC Central Laboratories

**Characterization Lab** (CII 7222)
X-Ray Diffractometer (Phillip XRD Diffractometer)	$X-Ray Diffractometer$
Sheet Resistance Mapping (Lehighton Contactless Measurement System)
Hall Measurements (Accent)
Scanning Probe Microscope

**Wafer Processing Lab** (CII 7208)
Process Cleanroom
E-beam Evaporator Thermal Evaporator
Sputter Deposition
Ion Beam Etcher
Dektek Profiler
Rapid Thermal Annealer
Karl Suss Contact Mask Aligner
Photoresist Spinner and Hot Plates Ultrasonic Cleaner
Optical Microscope
O₂ plasma Cleaner
Wet Chemical Bench

Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Etcher, and additional support for wafer processing are located in the Micro and Nano Fabrication Clean Room.

Future expansions:

LED Wafer Level Chip and Packaged Device Characterization Lab

Wafer Level Characterization ( Light-Current-Voltage, Spectra)

Packaged Device Characterization (Frequency modulation, Spatial modulation, Spectra, Color Rendering, Color Temperature, Polarization)
This will be a new lab located on east side of the 7th floor.

Chip Processing and Packaging Lab

Wafer cleaving or sawing

Chip bonding/heat sinking

Wire bonding

Phosphor application

Encapsulation
This is a new lab located on the east side of 7th floor in CII. Some equipment will be relocated from other labs and other equipment will be purchased.

In addition to these four labs, there will be three other labs located on CII 7th floor that will be used for testbeds, system demonstration and education and "Science You Can See” lab.