Northeast Microelectronics Coalition award supports purchase of new equipment in Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility

At the Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility (TECF), external industry partners and faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering use a process called molecular beam epitaxy to develop materials for semiconductors, coatings, and more. Growing materials is a continual process of creating samples and testing them to ensure they have the right properties. While TECF has all the machinery to grow samples for Tufts researchers and partners across the region, until recently, they did not have adequate equipment to test them.

TECF users had to travel over an hour from Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus to access a high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) system to measure critical details about the crystal structure of the materials they created. Due to high demand, they often waited several days before an opening became available on the machine, significantly slowing down their progress. Now, thanks to a grant from the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC) SCALE Capital Grant Program, Tufts will purchase an HRXRD system for the Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility.

The new machine will be only a few feet away from the molecular beam epitaxy growth machines eliminating delays caused by time, cost, and travel. With the HRXRD system, users can measure the thickness of the films they grow with accuracy down to the atomic level and determine the composition of different alloys based on the spacing between atoms. The machine has unique capabilities that are only found in a handful of machines in the region. For example, it can adjust the sample temperature to test how their properties change under different conditions. Getting information about samples in a timely manner will allow researchers to make real-time adjustments and avoid wasting materials.

The purchase positions the Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility as a hub for molecular beam epitaxy and other materials research and development throughout the Northeast. Not only will the equipment accelerate the pace of microelectronics research at Tufts, but TECF also hopes to provide reliable HRXRD access to industry members and academic researchers at other institutions. Ultimately, this acquisition promises faster, more efficient, and sustainable materials development for semiconductor processing, quantum information technologies, and other applications.

Associate Professor Paul Simmonds of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering spearheaded the effort. Simmonds joined Tufts in 2023. His research lies at the crossroads of electrical engineering, condensed matter physics, and materials science. He looks forward to the work that he and fellow TECF researchers will be able to accomplish with the new machine. “With NEMC’s help, Tufts is making this cutting-edge HRXRD equipment available to users of the TECF. It will dramatically increase the ability of users to innovate in materials discovery and development, supporting efforts in diverse research areas from sustainability to quantum information technologies, and accelerating the ‘lab-to-fab’ pipeline where new ideas become commercial products,” he said.

The Supporting Chip Advancement from Lab to Enterprise (SCALE) Capital Grant program administered through NEMC invested $10.2 million to strengthen microelectronics technology and workforce development in Massachusetts. Tufts was one of ten institutions selected for a grant through the program. “Massachusetts is focused on bridging the gap between development and commercialization so that microelectronics companies based here can better compete globally. That starts with providing the equipment to advance projects and supporting training for new entrants in the industry,” said Governor Maura Healey in a press release on the NEMC website.

Learn more about the Tufts Epitaxial Core Facility.