Research engineer, Mark Helsel, volunteers his time to conduct a four-day Summer Science Lab, a program that gives high school students the rare experience to work in one of the state's premier research facilities. Helsel collaborates with Forest Ridge High School in Bellevue to facilitate the Summer Science Lab; however the seminar is open to all Puget Sound area summer school students in grades 10 through 12 interested in engineering and science.

Helsel is a Senior Staff Engineer in the MEMS Process Group for Microvision, Inc. This Bothell, WA company has been a client of WTC's Microfab Lab for six years. Helsel chose the Microfabrication Laboratory for the seminar because the facility provides the ideal environment for the students to experience high level research in action and work in a first-rate research facility.

"I've always had an interest in education and wanted to do something that would offer an entrée into the field of science," Helsel explains. "The Summer Science Lab is a way for the kids to see science and engineering applied to real-world applications."

Through the Summer Science Lab, the students learn about the technologies used to make silicon computer chips and experiment with photo lithography (a micron scale photo patterning technology) and plasma etching. Lab participants also complete a laboratory safety class as part of the program.

The Washington Technology Center's Microfabrication Laboratory is the largest public micro-electromechanical (MEMS) facility in the Pacific Northwest. Much of the equipment and processes contained in the laboratory would be difficult or too costly to access for most companies. State and private investment in the WTC Microfabrication Laboratory allows academic researchers and companies of all sizes to access the facility on a fee-per-use basis.

Mark Helsel, left, shows students Sean Yeung, center, and Michael O'Leary a photo mask in the photo lithography area of the Washington Technology Center Microfabrication Laboratory. Photo masks are used to print microscopic patterns on a silicon wafer. The printed patterns can then be etched into the wafer and through successive steps of depositing and etching materials on the wafer microscopic electrical and mechanical structures can be formed.

Mark Helsel, center, instructs Sean Yeung, left, and Michael O'Leary, right, on the process for cleaning the silicon wafers prior to performing a photolithographic process on them.