Why Disc Geometry Matters In Wafer Production GalleryWhy Disc Geometry Matters In Wafer Production
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Why Disc Geometry Matters In Wafer Production
This is the first of three articles in Semiconductor Wafer Measurement for Increased Profitability. The second article examines the cost of failing to inspect semiconductor wafers. The third article describes the benefits of using semi-automated, fully-automated, and manual systems for wafer metrology and inspection. Semiconductor wafers are cut from cylindrical silicon crystals, or ingots. The flatness of these disc-shaped wafers is controlled to tight tolerances to ensure that the entire wafer surface is suitable for integrated circuit (IC) production. If disc geometry is out-of-spec after cutting, it may be possible to reprocess the wafer. Cutting is only the first [...]
Digital I/O ASIC Testing
Digital I/O ASIC Testing Customer Case A customer needs to generate stimulus to test his Application Specific Integrated Circuits and to capture response from that ASIC. The stimulus definition exists as an ASCII file with rows and columns of 1s and 0s. Each column corresponds to a different input pin of the ASIC and each rows corresponds to a different time tic (every 50 nanoseconds). The controlling baud clock runs at 10 MHz. The requirement is to record the digital response from the separate output pins of the ASIC as another ASCII file of 1s and 0s. Again, every [...]
Modernizing a Passive Sonar that has a Beam-Former with Digital Output
Modernizing a Passive Sonar that has a Beam-Former with Digital Output Customer Case The customer's requirement is to capture 10 signals, lasting 0.6 milliseconds each. 120 such signals arrive sequentially from a multiplexer within a beam-former. The clock rate is 2 MHz. The beam-former creates 120 beams and the raw digital data (underwater acoustic signal) from each beam is present at the output port of beam-former with a clock rate of 2 Mhz. At a certain time, we get the digital raw data of one beam. We plan to get 120 x 10 12-bit data records. That is, we [...]
Neutrinos Study
Neutrinos Study Customer Case Neutrinos are said to be the most elusive and exotic particles in the universe. They are tiny neutral elementary particles that interact with matter via the weak nuclear force. Scientists are still trying to measure the mass and to characterize their properties. A customer who is studying neutrinos will be using photo multiplier tubes (PMT) coupled to a scintillating material to detect them. The PMT will produce a small electrical pulse when a neutrino is detected. These PMTs are located 2 Kilometers deep, in a mine located in Ontario, Canada. The customer is looking for [...]
Synchronizing Over A Wide Sampling Speed Range
Synchronizing Over A Wide Sampling Speed Range Customer Case The client has set up an experiment where he needs to generate a stimulus signal and apply it to a He-Ne Laser with some polarizing optics. The response signal is a measurement of the Faraday effect. The signal is noisy and requires averaging over a very long time. The stimulus and response must be synchronized over a wide frequency range. For synchronization, the application requires a wide band of sampling speed from, 1 KS/s to 50 MS/s. GaGe Case Solution While GaGe's CompuScope 14100 provides the required digitizer performance, it [...]
Time Resolved Spectroscopy of Protein Crystals
Time Resolved Spectroscopy of Protein Crystals Customer Case The customer is involved in Time Resolved Spectroscopy of protein crystals. This involves shooting a laser onto the protein crystals and measuring the pulses generated by the crystals (as they are projected out of the sample) and their decay over time. Due to the very noisy nature of the return signals, it is essential to average many pulses in order to recover the pulse shape and measure the decay. The decay takes place over many tens of milliseconds, so it is necessary to acquire very long records (in the order of [...]
How Capacitive Measurement Can Help Reduce Packaging Waste
Product packaging is often made of lightweight polymeric foams or plastic sheets and films. These materials are relatively inexpensive, but manufacturers still want to minimize waste and maximize yields. Across high volumes of low-cost materials, even a small per-unit savings can become significant, especially as the price of petroleum – a key ingredient in many polymers – continues to rise. For companies with environmental sustainability efforts, there are other important considerations as well. The excessive use of packaging materials can contribute to environmental pollution, especially with polymers that are slow to degrade. Yet, materials such as plastic sheets and [...]
Hyper Remote Laser Sensor
Hyper Remote Laser Sensor Customer Case The customer is at the prototype stage for building a hyper remote sensor which will fly over the ocean and be able to see 100 to 200 feet below the surface. The sensor is being designed in order to determine the composition of the ocean and the ocean floor. This remote sensor will be extremely useful in the detection of pollution and studying the way pollution is being distributed by ocean currents. It will also be useful to the military (navy) for creating mine-finding systems. A deep blue laser will be used to [...]
Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF)
Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) Customer Case A customer has developed a breakthrough technique for the application of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection to high performance liquid chromatography, capillary e lectrophoresis, sequencing and microbial analysis. The technique involves using fluorescence decay curves at multiple wavelengths simultaneously, leading to true 3-D fluorescence spectroscopy (i.e., fluorescence intensity as a function of wavelength and delay time relative to pulsed excitation). They have a requirement to increase the laser pulse repetition frequency (PRF) from 20-50 pulses per second to 500-1000 pulses per second. Basically, they want to collect and time resolve the fluorescence signal for [...]
Optical Spectroscopy
Optical Spectroscopy Customer Case A customer who is completing his doctorate in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology has identified the need to measure fast optical signals using fast photo-detectors. The signal pulse width is as short as 2ns. Signals will be acquired at a 1KHz repetition rate, with a record length of 1,000 to 10,000 data points. GaGe Case Solution The CompuScope 82G, an 8-bit, 2GS/s A/D and Scope card for PCI Bus, is the best solution for this customer. With relatively small record sets, the customer is able to keep up with the 1KHz Pulse Repeat [...]