[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 165 (Wednesday, August 26, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 45467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22881]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Announcement of an Opportunity To Join a Cooperative Research and 
Development Consortium for Single-Crystal Reference Materials

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology invites 
interested parties to attend a meeting on September 15, 1998, in the 
Santa Clara, CA area or on September 29, 1998 in the Gaithersburg, MD 
area to discuss setting up a cooperative research consortium. The goal 
of the consortium is to achieve commercially available reference 
standards to support CD-metrology below 0.25 microns. Parties 
participating in the consortium will be loaned a pre-measured prototype 
sample for evaluation.
    The program will be within the scope and confines of The Federal 
Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-502, 15 U.S.C. 3710a), 
which provides federal laboratories including NIST with the authority 
to enter into cooperative research agreements with qualified parties. 
Under this law, NIST may contribute personnel, equipment, and 
facilities--but no funds--to the cooperative research program.
    Members will be expected to make a contribution to the consortium's 
efforts in the form of personnel and funds to cover operating expenses. 
This is not a grant program. Interested parties should contact NIST at 
least one week prior to the meeting to confirm their interest at the 
address, telephone number, or FAX number shown below.

DATES: The meeting will take place on September 15, 1998, in the Santa 
Clara, CA area or on September 29, 1998 in the Gaithersburg, MD area. 
Interested parties should contact NIST to confirm their interest at the 
address, telephone number or FAX number shown below.

ADDRESSES: The meeting in the Santa Clara area on September 15, 1998, 
will be held at the Hotel Sofitel, San Francisco Bay, 223 Twin Dolphin 
Drive, Redwood City, California 94065-1514. The meeting in Gaithersburg 
on September 29, 1998, will be held at the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology (NIST), Technology Building (225) Room A-362, 
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Michael W. Cresswell, Building 
225, Room B360, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001, Telephone: 301-975-2052, FAX: 301-948-
4081, Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST and Sandia National Laboratories, with 
assistance from SEMATECH, have successfully fabricated and tested 
prototypes of a new class of reference materials to support CD-
metrology below 0.25 microns with eventual application to 0.10 microns. 
This work has the long-term goal of the commercial availability of 
certified physical standards traceable to NIST. As a result of the 
multiple requests for sample prototypes for evaluative purposes that 
they have received, NIST and Sandia management have proposed a 
consortium to maximize the benefits of exchanging measurement results 
made independently by a diverse group of participants, each of whom 
will be loaned a pre-measured prototype sample for evaluation. This 
consortium is an extension of a previously organized consortium in 
which test samples fabricated by a Separation by the Implantation of 
Oxygen (SIMOX) technique were evaluated. The proposed consortium will 
utilize test samples fabricated by the Bond and Etch-back Silicon-On-
Insulator (BESOI) technique which are expected to yield superior 
results. The purpose of the above meeting is to describe the chip 
layout and reference-feature construction, to review the CD-measurement 
results already extracted from previous test chips by NIST and Sandia, 
and to explain the CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development 
Agreement) rules which will apply to the consortium. Each participating 
organization will be requested to make an illustrated presentation of 
its CD-measurement results at a closed meeting to be held at an agreed-
upon meeting location and time.
    Organizations will be asked to contribute a nominal fee in order to 
participate.

    Dated: August 20, 1998.
Robert E. Hebner,
Acting Deputy Director.
[FR Doc. 98-22881 Filed 8-25-98; 8:45 am]
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