RAITH Offline for the Holidays!! Plan to return to service January 5 for RAITH Champions and Jan 10th for All other users. SHUT DOWN AND START UP PLAN.

[James Conway]

*Happy Holiday Greetings to the Raith Community:

The Year in Review:
*
Well it was a wild ride for the RAITH community this last year with a 
great run of uptime through the first two thirds of the year;  followed 
by several upsets resulting in significant downtime during the later 
months of 2006.  However All-in-All the performance of the system has 
been superb and well within the system specifications.

2006 also saw the RAITH community grow to almost 150 members as some 
older Users migrating off the system as they graduate and a very large 
group of new users coming onto the system late this year.  In November 
alone we had 10 new users start on the system with only a few load lock 
errors encountered.
By my count I have now trained more than 160 users on the RAITH system 
to date at Stanford University.

In 2006 we also observed the first RIE etched EBL features coming off 
the RAITH system with line width features below 10 nm. In fact several 
structures were found for Single Pixel Lines with line widths, and and 
single shot Dot diameters,  in the 5 to 7 nm range.  This is world class 
Electron Beam Lithography results and everyone working in the SNF Ebeam 
Lab should feel a sense of being a participant in this effort. Good Job 
to everyone!

*Special Thanks to the following People and Groups:
*
I would like to thank the entire RAITH Community, especially the many 
RAITH Champions, for your efforts above and beyond the call of duty to 
keep the system up, help the many new Users come up to speed, and always 
being there to lend a hand when it was needed.  I would also like to 
thank all the members of Raith USA Inc. and RAITH GmbH in Dortmund, 
Germany for their constant encouragement and support as we have moved 
through several software upgrades and for responding to problems and 
support when we have needed it. Thanks also to Mike Santomango with Carl 
Zeiss SMT for many service responses and timely phone calls.

Finally a special thanks to Dick Crane, Ted Berg, and the entire 
maintenance group whom have worked tirelessly behind the scenes ensuring 
the facility stays up so our systems can also maintain uptime. Dick is 
retiring next month so say  'hello' the next time you see him in passing 
and _Thank Him_ before he leaves at the end of January.

Finally thanks to Mary Tang for her patience and gentle leadership; to 
Paul Jerabek and Ted Berg for continuing to take on and tame the Hitachi 
HL-700-F so I can concentrate on the RAITH. Finally Many kudos's also go 
out to all of our SNF Process Staff whom maintain a lab that we can get 
our work done with the highest quality. 

Overall I think 2006 was a great year!  I look forward to the same level 
of  engagement with all users on the RAITH tool in 2007.
 My hope in 2007 is to push the limits of what we can do on the RAITH 
system, improve the metrology and imaging equipment available to users 
working in the SNF Cleanroom and Ebeam Lab all the while creating 
pathways to everyone's success in their research in nanotechnology at 
the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility.

To each and every one of you, and to your families, a very Joyous 
Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

Safe Travels where ever you go,

James Conway
Ebeam Lab
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility


_*Schedule for Shutdown and Startup:*_

12-18-2006 12:00 Noon Lab and RAITH system are shut down and in Bake Out 
for the Holiday
NO USER ACCESS TO THE CLEAN ROOM.

01-04-2007 10 - 15:00 hours ZEISS Field Service comes in and brings the 
FE-GUN back on line.
NO USER ACCESS TO THE SYSTEM.

01-04-2007 10 - 15:00 hours to 15:00 01-05-2007:  FE_GUN run in and 
conditioning.

01-05-2007 10 AM Zeiss Field Service performs Electron Optics card 
adjustments and performs a preliminary system check out.
NO USER ACCESS TO THE SYSTEM.

01-05-2007 15:00 to 11:00 01-08-2007.  Possible access to the RAITH 
system if handed off for 'testing' by ZEISS Field Service.
_*RAITH Champion user access ONLY -- unless escorted by a RAITH Champion.


*_01-08-2007 12:00 to 01-09-2005 1800 hours SYSTEM off line to users for 
RAITH USA Inc. Field Service for some preventative service on the 
cooling section and Laser Interferometer Stage and Loader of the RAITH 
system. This will be followed by the RAITH Qualification for Performance 
as we have done in the past.

There may exist some periods over each evening when the RAITH may be 
available by Users to assist us in performance testing. We will do our 
best to return the system to all Users as soon as possible during this 
week once the system is qualified.


_* JWC's Request for 'Safe and Sane' *__*Coral *__*reservations:

*_To avoid massive jumbling and consequent grumblings during the start 
up of the RAITH system in January I am requesting you:

    * Please do not make reservations on CORAL for any time before
      January 5, 2007 at 15:00 hours. Likely there will be no system
      access until after this time at the very best.
    *  Only RAITH Champions may make Coral reservations for any time
      *before* WED. January 10, 2007 at 12:00 Noon. The Coral schedule
      will begin in earnest for all users at that time.
    * All Users are encouraged to 'Share the Ride' and optimize the
      operations time by working closely with the User before and after
      your session to hand off the system smoothly. This is in order to
      allow everyone a chance to come back onto the system in the first
      two weeks of operations in 2007! Users should start timing their
      writes to avoid idle time at the end of  their reservations time
      slots. Please strive to improve the throughput of the system now
      that we have so many users on the tool!


*Thank you for your support!

** **James Conway 415-412-4825 cell...

* I will be returning to SNF mid to late morning Monday 01-08-2007.
I will be unavailable except for emergencies from December 26, 2006 - 
January 2, 2007.








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