Jim Ellenson, a SEMATECH assignee from Hewlett-Packard, heads AMRC nano-imprinting project
Jim Ellenson, a SEMATECH assignee, heads an AMRC nano-imprinting project that could significantly improve traditional lithography.
As the first SEMATECH assignee posted exclusively to the AMRC, Jim Ellenson heads a project investigating the manufacturing potential of nano-imprinting, an emerging technology that creates chip circuits through direct contact rather than with traditional light-wave exposure.
"I believe in nano-imprinting," says Ellenson, an engineer from Hewlett-Packard, one of SEMATECH's member companies. "I think this is one approach that truly has the potential to make it into the semiconductor industry."
Ellenson should know about technical successes. As a process development engineer in the 1990s, he worked on Hewlett-Packard's ink-jet cartridge program, now a significant source of the company's revenue. He also had a hand in developing the step-and-flash technology that today is among the most promising new fields of lithography.
From there, Ellenson found himself drawn to nano-imprinting, a technique for creating semiconductor circuits by using a mold of a master design to imprint electronic material - comparable to the way inked type prints a page by coming into contact with paper. This method differs markedly from conventional lithography, which uses light waves with light-sensitive material to create circuit patterns.
"Nano-imprint is a non-traditional way of doing lithography," Ellenson said. "It's a more mechanical process, and I have more of a mechanical background, so it's a good fit for me. On my development team, we saw it as an opportunity to make very small features in new ways."
In gathering nano data, Ellenson's team made frequent trips to Austin - which he calls "the hub of imprint technology"- to consult with nanotech scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and at Molecular Imprints, Inc., a four-year-old startup company that works closely with UT.
"We found something new with every trip," Ellenson recalled. "Then my boss came up to three of us in my group and asked if we would be interested in working in Austin. I talked it over with my wife, and we agreed it was a great opportunity."
The offer transformed into an assignment at SEMATECH. Arriving in February 2005, Ellenson set up an office at UT's J.J. Pickle Research Center in north Austin, and began putting together a team of students and technicians to develop a standard process and template for nano-imprinting equipment.
"We're basically working on infrastructure," he said. "There are a lot of issues to address with respect to the technology: contamination, cost of ownership, particulates, and yield. We definitely have our work cut out for us."
Being engaged in a demanding project far from home is a little tough on a family man like Ellenson, whose wife, Kristin, and sons Luther, 10, and Hans, 6, remain in Corvallis, OR. He visits home once a month, and is grateful that his family will soon be joining him in Austin for the summer.
"I miss tossing the ball around with my kids, but this is a great opportunity for me as career education," he said. "I'm working with world-class technologists, and SEMATECH is the one company that can make nano-imprinting successful."
Ellenson holds a bachelor's degree in engineering physics from Oregon State University, and has worked at HP since 1995 as a process technician, process development engineer, and R&D engineer.