Engelstad selected as SPIE Fellow

Professor Roxann Engelstad has been elected as one of 37 new fellows of SPIE The International Society for Optical Engineering. Fellows are members of SPIE who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the field of optics, photonics and imaging.

Engelstad, director of the COE Computational Mechanics Center, was recognized for her work in modeling and simulating the response of advanced lithographic masks during fabrication and usage.

The center's work focuses on evaluating next-generation lithographies (for making computer chips) that are more advanced than current optical lithography methods. Optical lithography is limited because it cannot create the ever-smaller feature sizes of chips needed to deliver more power, store more memory, and perform more tasks.

Engelstad and her colleagues at the center — including Professor Edward Lovell and Assistant Professor Gregory Nellis — use unique experimentation and computer simulations to analyze masks for extreme ultraviolet, projection electron beam, X-ray and projection ion beam lithographies. They study the accuracy and stability of these thin-film masks that act as templates for transferring patterns to computer chips. The masks respond differently to mechanical and thermal factors that affect clarity or distortion of the patterns. The masks are tested in a vacuum chamber to replicate manufacturing environments.

Engelstad's work is supported by SEMATECH (a consortium of semiconductor manufacturers that represents about half of the world's semi-conductor production), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.