Microfabrication Cleanroom

The University of Washington Bothell Microfabrication Cleanroom is a multidisciplinary research facility established in 2015 to support student education and faculty research.

Cleanroom location at UW Bothell: Discovery Hall, room 262

The facility is a class 10,000 cleanroom, featuring equipment and resources that bring together the multidisciplinary researchers at the UW Bothell in order to accelerate the pace of engineering/science advancement, innovation, and excellence in education. The facility boasts modern microfabrication equipment and instruments used to fabricate not only CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) circuits, but also many electronic devices such as sensors and actuators.

The room is airlocked and researchers are in “bunny suits” (MSEE Alumna Malia Steward pictured suiting up to the right) to prevent contamination. A special yellow light illuminates the room to protect photo-sensitive material used to print a circuit on a silicon wafer. Bachelor’s and master’s degree students have a unique opportunity to prepare for industry and access a rare facility at UW Bothell, typically only available to Ph.D. students at a big research university given the huge investment.

Malia Steward wearing a blue bunnysuit and white mask prepping to go into a cleanroom.

The B EE 546 CMOS II and B EE 551 Introduction of MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) courses are developed and offered for graduate students in the Master of Science in Electrical &Computer Engineering so that students can work to characterize CMOS logic gates and MEMS sensors.

View equipment in the cleanroom

With more than 45 undergraduate and graduate degrees, options, certificates and concentrations, UW Bothell emphasizes close student-faculty interaction and critical thinking. UW Bothell is one of three University of Washington campuses, offering access to an excellent UW education to students from north King and Snohomish counties and the state of Washington.