A Low-Cost Hands-On Laboratory to Introduce Lithography Concepts

A lithography lab course has been developed that is applicable to students from the middle-school level up to college students. It can also be inserted into electronics technology or similar courses in two- and four-year colleges, or used to demonstrate applications of polymers in chemistry classes. Some of these techniques would enable research projects that involve photolithography for those who lack access to a research lab. The major contribution of this course is the innovative methodology, which allows students to have a hands-on experience of lithography without using expensive equipment typically found only in a clean room. Optical lithography, microcontact printing, and embossing can be performed using basic equipment. The appendix of this paper provides a comprehensive list of this equipment. The photolithography results are comparable to those obtained with standard research tools.