Dr Bruce Smith '86, '89, '95 - 2013 rit innovation hall of fame

SMITH: MICROLITHOGRAPHY IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF BUILDING A MICROCHIP, WHICH IS YOUR COMPUTERS, YOUR IPHONE, YOUR CAMERA AND SO FORTH. IT’S WHAT PROVIDES THE FUNCTIONALITY FOR YOUR ELECTRONICS AND MICROLITHOGRAPHY IS WHAT DOES ALL THE PATTERNING, WHAT DOES ALL THE CREATION OF THOSE SMALL TINY FEATURES WITHIN THOSE DEVICES. THE WORD LITHOGRAPHY MEANS PATTERNING, SO MICROLITHOGRAPHY MEANS DOING THIS REALLY SMALL. MICROLITHOGRAPHY GENERALLY MEANS MAYBE ON THE MICRON SCALE SPLITTING A METER A MILLION TIMES. NANOLITHOGRAPHY IS SPLITTING IT ANOTHER THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN THAT. RYNE RAFFAELLE: HE PRACTICALLY WROTE THE BOOK, I GUESS HE DID WRITE THE BOOK ON MICROLITHOGRAPHY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. BRUCE’S WORK HAS BEEN TRYING TO MAKE THOSE LINES SMALLER AND SMALLER AND SMALLER AND DEVELOPING THE TECHNIQUES AND THE MATERIALS TO ENABLE THAT. SMITH: THERE IS SOME LIMITATION TO JUST HOW SMALL YOU CAN MAKE THE FEATURES THAT ARE IN YOUR MICROCHIP AND YOU’RE GOING TO HIT THE LIMITS OF PHYSICS, THE LIMITS OF HOW SMALL YOU CAN OPTICALLY MAKE SOMETHING. WELL, ONE WAY TO EXTEND THAT IS TO START USING WAVELENGTHS THAT ARE SHORTER THAN OPTICAL HEADING TOWARDS THE X RAY. EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET LITHOGRAPHY, WHAT WE CALL EUV, IS ACTUALLY PART OF THE X RAY SPECTRUM, USING X RAY WAVELENGTHS, X RAY LIGHT IN ORDER TO PRODUCE VERY SMALL FEATURES. RAFFAELLE: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKES BRUCE AN INNOVATOR IS HIS ABILITY TO LOOK AHEAD, NOT JUST LOOK AT WHERE THE INDUSTRY IS TODAY. YOU KNOW, IF UV’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, I THINK I’M GOING TO WORK ON DEEP UV MATERIALS AND IF DEEP UV ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH, YOU KNOW WHAT, IF AIR’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, LET’S WORK ON IMMERSION LITHOGRAPHY. SMITH: WELL WATER IMMERSION LITHOGRAPHY IS SOMETHING THAT MY STUDENTS AND I HAVE WORKED ON FOR A LONG TIME NOW, ABOUT 12 YEARS OR SO, WHERE WE’VE USED FLUIDS, IN THIS CASE WE’VE USED WATER, AS AN IMAGING MEDIA TO EXTEND THE RESOLUTION CAPABILITY OF PATTERNING AND NOW IMMERSION LITHOGRAPHY AS WE FIRST ENVISIONED IT IS EMPLOYED IN EVERY SEMI CONDUCTOR PROCESS, HIGH END SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS IN THE WORLD. RAFFAELLE: BRUCE WAS ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE A TOOL THAT COULD PRODUCE THESE KINDS OF SMALL LINES USING IMMERSION LITHOGRAPHY WHICH WAS MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE THAN SAY ANY COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURER. IT WAS SUCH AN INNOVATIVE IDEA THAT HE THEN WENT AHEAD AND PATENTED THE IDEA AND ESTABLISHED A COMMERCIAL VENTURE, WHICH I’M PROUD TO SAY ACTUALLY GOT ITS START OUT IN OUR VENTURE CREATIONS INCUBATOR. SMITH: RIT IN THAT SORT OF WAY, JUST HISTORICALLY WHAT WE’VE BEEN FOR MANY, MANY, MANY DECADES HAS BEEN A GREAT PLACE FOR INNOVATION, FOR COMING UP WITH SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS. IN THE PAST THERE HAVE BEEN FAIRLY LARGE LEAPS IN TECHNOLOGY. WHAT WE’RE DOING MORE NOW IS LOOKING AT SUBTLE DIFFERENCES, SMALL CHANGES, THAT WILL STILL HAVE ENOUGH IMPACT TO ALLOW THE INDUSTRY TO MAKE CONTINUAL ADVANCES. THE BEST WAY TO MOVE ANY TECHNOLOGY FORWARD IS NOT THROUGH REVOLUTION, IT’S THROUGH EVOLUTION. JUST SMALL AMOUNTS OF LATITUDE, A PERCENT OR A FRACTION OF A PERCENT, BEING ABLE TO MAKE THAT MUCH IMPROVEMENT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A LOT, BUT THAT COULD BE ENOUGH TO REALLY CHANGE THE WAY THAT YOU’RE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING. I THINK RIT IS A GREAT PLACE TO DRIVE INNOVATION AND INVENTION AS WELL AND IT COMES DOWN TO WHAT RIT HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN FOR A LONG TIME AND THAT’S A UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED PRACTICE, APPLIED ENGINEERING IN THE ENGINEERING FIELD BECAUSE WHAT WE DO WITH OUR STUDENTS IS WE FORCE THEM TO THINK ABOUT HOW THINGS WORK AND DO IT THEMSELVES. WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH OUR STUDENTS IN THE LAB, HANDS ON KIND OF EXPERIMENTS AND TO SEE THE IMPACT THAT THEY ARE MAKING, THEY BECOME KEY PLAYERS IN THIS FIELD. RAFFAELLE: IT'S NOT THAT HE'S TRAINING STUDENTS TO BE GREAT ON DAY ONE, HE’S REALLY TRAINING THEM TO BE GREAT ON DAY 101 AND 1,001 AND 10,001. SMITH: I CONSIDER MYSELF REALLY QUITE LUCKY IN THAT WHAT I DO AND WHAT I LOVE TO DO AND WHAT I LOVE TO WORK WITH STUDENTS ON, HAPPENS TO BE NEEDED TODAY AND OVER THE PAST TEN OR FIFTEEN YEARS THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE DONE HAVE BEEN NEEDED IN THIS SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY. IF WE LOOK AT TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY IT’S INSPIRING TO SEE WHAT WE CAN HOLD TODAY THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE EVEN IMAGINED A FEW YEARS AGO AND IT CERTAINLY HAS BEEN A LOT OF FUN TO BE INVOLVED IN THE INNOVATION THAT HAS TAKEN US THIS FAR TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY. AND THERE WILL BE SOMETHING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION AND GENERATIONS AFTER THAT. SO I THINK THERE’S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR YOUNG STUDENTS AND NEW STUDENTS AND STUDENTS FOR GENERATIONS TO COME TO BE INVOLVED IN NEW INNOVATIONS THAT WE CAN’T IMAGINE TODAY.