High Resolution Semiconductor Wafer Measurements at Lower Costs
MTI's Proforma technology characterizes semiconductor wafers in terms of bow and warp, thickness, total thickness variation (TTV) and center thickness. Until recently, semiconductor wafer measurements at resolutions less than 100 µm were cost-prohibitive. Moreover, only expensive devices such as interferometers were capable of these measurements. Today, the semiconductor industry can use capacitance gauges instead of laser interferometers to achieve high resolution at fraction of the cost. Much like affordable CCD cameras transformed and expanded the market for video, cost-effective capacitance is disrupting the semiconductor wafer measurement market and creating new opportunities for quality testing and validation. The [...]
Medical
Medical The following example case studies demonstrate how GaGe products and services have been successfully applied in various data acquisition medical applications. We encourage you to contact us and discuss your application in more detail with our engineering team. GaGe can provide tailored custom hardware and software solutions to meet specific application requirements. Did You Know? GaGe Digitizers in Medical Applications View Article Did You Know? GaGe Digitizers in Imaging & Ultrasound Applications View Article Did You Know? GaGe Digitizers in Cancer & Diagnostic Applications View Article Did You Know? [...]
Measure Wafer Bow, Warp and TTV with Capacitance
The flatness of silicon wafers used to manufacture integrated circuits is controlled to tight tolerances to help ensure that the whole wafer is sufficiently flat for lithographic processing. To ensure your wafer manufacturing process is within tolerance, you need to measure the wafers being produced. Various measurement techniques exist to verify process tolerances and eliminate expensive scrap wafers. Non-contact capacitive sensing is a highly precise and cost-effective means to measure wafer flatness, bow, warp, and total thickness variation (TTV). MTI Instruments’ Proforma 300i and 300iSA systems use capacitance sensors to improve yields while reducing costs through better dimensional control of [...]
Laser Scanning for Eye Diseases
Laser Scanning for Eye Diseases Customer Case In scanning for non-ablative eye diseases, the customer has a requirement for high vertical resolution while remaining cost effective. By shooting a low-powered laser into the eye (low enough to not cause lasting damage), they are able to determine whether there are any problems in the eye cells. The laser does cause minute damage that is repaired by the antibodies of the eye. The requirement is to capture laser reflections and analyze them. The scan takes place over the entire eye and there are therefore multiple acquisitions. The main obstacle is that [...]
How to Measure Dielectric Separator Thickness in EV Batteries
The International Energy Agency predicts that as many as 125 million electric vehicles (EVs) will be on the road by 2030. At the heart of these electric cars, trucks, and buses is the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, a type of rechargeable battery with high energy density and low self-discharge. The plates in Li-ion batteries consist of lithium compounds that are applied to either a copper plate substrate (cathode) or an aluminum substrate (anode). In turn, these two plates are separated by a dielectric separator. All of the layers in an EV battery are extremely thin. In fact, the cathode and [...]
Echocardiography Experiment
Echocardiography Experiment Customer Case This customer is involved in an Echocardiography experiment. The customer already has an ultrasound imager with a built-in A/D converter which can output 12-bit image data which must be analyzed with the customer's proprietary algorithms on a PC platform. In order to accomplish this, it is required to bring 12-bit digital data at 35 MHz clock rate into a PC. This data is arriving in a burst mode with a repeat frequency of 12.8 KHz with 1000 samples arriving in 28 us followed by no data for the next 50 us. There are 512 such [...]
Ultrasound Imaging
Ultrasound Imaging Customer Case This customer's application involves capturing ultrasound echoes from a medical imaging system, to be used in bedside monitors, defibrillators, intervascular ultrasound, ECG, etc. The live imaging rate is 30 frames per second (fps). Each image frame depicts a full 360-degree circular section. A frame is 240 echoes, so the pulse repeat frequency (PRF) is 7200 Hz, or one echo every 140 us. The customer anticipates signals at 50 MHz with a 50% bandwidth (the passband must extend to at least 75 MHz). The echo duration is 15 us; the signal size is roughly +/- 70 [...]
SEPTA Case Study: Major Metropolitan Transit System Uses Vitrek Power Analyzer to Monitor High-Power DC Feeders
- - - Challenges Personnel needed a reliable, portable instrument to accurately measure and record the current on each feeder over a selected time period. - Overview The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operates the transit system throughout the city of Philadelphia, extending into the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania and across the Delaware River into New Jersey. A major component of this system is the network of subways and commuter trains. Power for the operation of these trains is provided by an array of substations distributed throughout the region. One [...]
Ultrasonic Imaging
Ultrasonic Imaging Customer Case The customer is digitizing signals returned from an ultrasonic transducer used in the study of cardiac phenomena. At the moment, a 5 MHz transducer is being used, but the customer wants to upgrade to a 10 MHz transducer in the near future. This transducer will give him better spacial resolution. The customer needs one channel of very fast (100 MSPS), preferably 12-bit A/D conversion which is controlled by an external trigger signal. Bandwidth of the analog front-end of the A/D card or system must be very flat up to 15 or 20 MHz. The application [...]
Capacitance Sensing Provides Two Ways to Measure EV Battery Plate Thickness
MTI Instruments has released an application note that explains how to use capacitance to measure the thickness of the lithium battery plates in electric vehicles (EVs). Manufacturers need to check these plates for thickness before calendaring them together to ensure that the overall battery diameter is within specifications. In EV batteries, lithium ion compounds are applied to either a copper plate substrate (cathode) or an aluminum substrate (anode plate). These conductive plates are separated by a dielectric. MTI Instruments, a global supplier of precision measurement solutions, makes capacitance sensors that can measure thicknesses materials down to nanometers. Moreover, MTI [...]



