On 9th November our Year 12 Chemistry students were visited by two PhD students from the University of Kent for a one hour workshop on photolithography to show a use of chemistry that they would not normally have the opportunity to see in school.

Miss May wrote:

The year 12 Chemistry students, Miss May and Mrs Smith all thoroughly enjoyed trying our hands at photolithography for the first time.

We learnt about its use in the past to create circuit boards as well as why it is no longer used commercially.  Only one of us managed to fully complete each stage of the process which clearly showed just how skillful we needed to be and how unpredictable science can be.

The method involved the controlled exposure of UV light to certain parts of a circuit board covered in a thin layer of copper in order to make patterns. The students were very creative with their designs and we all enjoyed speaking to the Canterbury Christchurch PhD students about their research topics.

The feedback from the students involved included :

“I really enjoyed the photolithography experiment as bringing in an outside educator to show A level chemists what we could be doing if we enter the field of chemistry was a really interesting experience. Working with PhD students was a rewarding experience in itself as well.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the photolithography experiment done by the two ladies from the University of Kent. We got the opportunity to be with people very qualified in the field of chemistry, to show our A level chemistry class the types of interesting experiments that the subject offers. Overall it was a great experience that they gave us, and it definitely made the class intrigued into discovering more about photolithography.”

“I found it very interesting how the photo was made with just U.V light and some chemicals.”