Tuesday, July 11, 2006
I actually accomplished a lot today, considering I didn't go to work. I spent some time getting Dreamweaver installed and working on my computer so I can work on the website from the comfort of my own apartment. It turns out WSU is really anal-retentive about the formatting of their websites. They have a whole section on their website about the "Graphic Identity" of the university (http://www.wsu.edu/identity/identity-elements/index.html). Its just chalked full of useful information like "Circles. . . should be used to help create visual consistency, both within a single communications piece and across the spectrum of University communications." I mean, you know a com major sat in front of his computer for at least thirty-five minutes trying to string enough words together coherently enough to give the impression that what he does is important. There's also a big section about "Off-perpendicular camera angles" and how they should be used as often as possible in messages directed to external audiences. Apparently, WSU doesn't want to give the misleading impression that its students can hold a camera level. Useless bastards.
In any case, the website I've been working on for my MEMS job looks a lot better than the old one (in my completely non-biased opinion).
Tomorrow I get to go in and grow oxide layers and dope silicon wafers again. Pretty exciting stuff. The lab is about as far from automated as things get, at least when it comes to the furnace. Its basically a big box with a door on one end that covers the openings to two tubes. The tubes are made of quartz, and are wrapped with electric heating elements. On the back side of the tubes are hoses that supply nitrogen and oxygen that let you control the oxidation process. Basically, you put the wafers in to the tubes, then let them bake at 1100 degrees for a few hours, then take them out. It wouldn't be so bad, except that if you put the wafers in or take them out too fast, they'll break because of thermal stress. So you have to spend 10 minutes slowly pushing the wafer boat in at about an inch a minute with a 4 foot long quartz rod, then 10 minutes doing the same thing again to take them out, then wait a half an hour for them to cool sufficiently to do anything with. When you add in the suiting up and down at either end, you've basically spent an hour poking silicon wafers with a glass stick. It's not so bad I suppose. There are a lot of worse ways to make ten bucks.
Well, its getting on toward 3:00 AM, so I'm going to call it a day.
In any case, the website I've been working on for my MEMS job looks a lot better than the old one (in my completely non-biased opinion).
Tomorrow I get to go in and grow oxide layers and dope silicon wafers again. Pretty exciting stuff. The lab is about as far from automated as things get, at least when it comes to the furnace. Its basically a big box with a door on one end that covers the openings to two tubes. The tubes are made of quartz, and are wrapped with electric heating elements. On the back side of the tubes are hoses that supply nitrogen and oxygen that let you control the oxidation process. Basically, you put the wafers in to the tubes, then let them bake at 1100 degrees for a few hours, then take them out. It wouldn't be so bad, except that if you put the wafers in or take them out too fast, they'll break because of thermal stress. So you have to spend 10 minutes slowly pushing the wafer boat in at about an inch a minute with a 4 foot long quartz rod, then 10 minutes doing the same thing again to take them out, then wait a half an hour for them to cool sufficiently to do anything with. When you add in the suiting up and down at either end, you've basically spent an hour poking silicon wafers with a glass stick. It's not so bad I suppose. There are a lot of worse ways to make ten bucks.
Well, its getting on toward 3:00 AM, so I'm going to call it a day.
posted by Nick at 2:43 AM
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