Semiconductor Manufacturing Application Overview

Vitrek offers a variety of products supporting the semiconductor industry for quality control of the fabrication process as well as testing and verification of semiconductor devices’ operational performance as well as supporting the performance of capital equipment use in the semiconductor manufacturing process.  Some Vitrek product applications include:

Semiconductor Wafer Metrology

  • Monitoring wafers during preparation stages to check thickness for compliance with minimal bow, warp and total thickness variation (TTV).
  • In-process monitoring of solar/photovoltaic wafer measuring for multi-channel thickness, TTV & bow measurement.
  • Ultrasonic, non-destructive inspection of wafers for potential flaws or manufacturing defects.

Semiconductor Test & Characterization

  • Operational testing and characterization of packaged semiconductor devices.
  • Software utilized in high-speed PASS/FAIL testing systems.
  • Signal simulation for calibrating data acquisition systems and providing precision voltages for device testing.
  • Real-time acquisition and analysis of storage media read-and-write head signals in manufacturing.
  • Real-time ultrasonic characterization of semiconductor die adhesion in manufacturing.

Semiconductor Fabrication Capital Equipment

  • Sensors used in the high-resolution focusing of complex lens systems used in photolithography tools.
  • Sensors utilized to deliver precise measurements of displacement, active vibration, position and distance.
  • Digitizers used in real-time process control allowing for characterization of fabrication processes and short data latency to enable fast device control loops.
  • Design and production testing in a wide range of fabrication gear.

We support the CHIPS Act!

The CHIPS Act, or the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America’s Future Act, is a pivotal piece of legislation in the United States aimed at bolstering domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Introduced in 2021, it represents a bipartisan effort to address the growing global semiconductor shortage and enhance national security.

This act provides substantial financial incentives and investment in semiconductor research, development, and production capabilities within the United States. It allocates funds to support research and development programs, incentivizes semiconductor manufacturing through grants, and creates a framework for partnerships between the government and private sector.

The CHIPS Act recognizes the critical role of semiconductors in modern technology, affecting industries from automotive to healthcare. By investing in domestic semiconductor production, the United States aims to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers, particularly in Asia. This not only safeguards the supply chain but also enhances national security by ensuring access to vital components for defense systems.

Overall, the CHIPS Act represents a significant step toward strengthening the semiconductor industry in the United States, promoting innovation, and securing the nation’s technological leadership in an increasingly competitive global landscape.

How is Vitrek Supporting the CHIP Act?

Vitrek is a US-based company. We design, build, calibrate, repair, and support all our products right here in North America. Our parts have full traceability, and we only use authorized components in all our products.

Vitrek has been serving the Semiconductor market for decades and our reputation for quality and reliability is well known in the industry. To this point, we look forward to serving all Semiconductor manufacturers that are looking for US-based suppliers that can meet their most demanding capability needs. We look forward to accelerating their buildout efforts around Semiconductor Research Centers and Manufacturing plants in the United States.

Test & Measurement Technologies Flyer for the Semiconductor Industry

Whitepaper: Semiconductor Wafer Measurement for Increased Productivity

Products for the Semiconductor Industry

Accumeasure
Capacitance Sensors

Application: Semiconductor Fabrication Capital Equipment

MTI Instruments Accumeasure Capacitance Product Family

Capacitance sensors play a crucial role in semiconductor manufacturing processes for various for various applications. They are utilized for measuring and monitoring parameters such as film thickness, displacement and wafer-to-wafer uniformity.

MTI Instruments’ Accumeasure product line features capacitive sensor products for high resolution gap and displacement measurements that require a high level of accuracy that is both stable and repeatable. Capacitive measurements can be performed in a multitude of environments using non-contact passive capacitance probes that are not affected by magnetic fields, temperature, humidity, nuclear radiation or pressure.

Extremely high-precision and high linearity amplifiers make these systems ideal for critical measurements in X-Y stages, rotating spindles, shaft position,
armature gap, disk position, and piezo electric positioning applications. MTI’s Accumeasure product line delivers a highly stable, accurate, low noise amplifer with a fast response time.

Proforma 300iSA
Semiconductor Metrology System

Application: Semiconductor Wafer Metrology

Wafer metrology systems are critical tools in semiconductor manufacturing for measuring and characterizing various properties of wafers at different stages of the fabrication process. These systems enable precise and accurate measurements of wafer dimensions, surface topography, film thickness, and other critical parameters.

Customized data reporting, multi-format data export and full network capability are just a few of the advanced features of the MTI Instruments Proforma 300iSA Semi-Automated Semiconductor Metrology System. The Proforma 300iSA is a desktop, semi-automated wafer measurement system for semi-conducting and semi-insulating materials. The unit delivers full wafer surface scanning for thickness, thickness variation, bow, warp, site and global flatness. The quick and easy to use Windows-based control system performs complex data analysis and provides output in tabular and 3-D graphical formats which can be exported to spreadsheets and word processing programs.

Features:
• Non-contact full wafer scanning
• 3-D mapping of thickness and shape
• Measures semi-conducting and semi-insulating wafers
• Standard Windows-based user interface
• Powerful software & graphics package
• Customized data recording
• Upgradeable to fully automated system
• Up to 1000 μm measurement range
• Remote data analysis and recipe creation

Proforma 300i
Manual Semiconductor Metrology System

Application: Semiconductor Wafer Metrology

Proforma 300i

Supported Wafer Sizes: 3”-12”
Wafer Materials: Si, Ge, InP, GaAs
Measurement Features: Thickness; Bow;

When you need a cost-effective alternative to a fully-automated wafer measurement and inspection system, the MTI Proforma 300i is the solution for you! The 300i can provide measurements of thickness and bow of all wafer materials including Silicon, Gallium-Arsenide, Indium-Phosphide and sapphire or tape.

The Proforma 300i wafer thickness gauge is a capacitance based, differential measurement system that performs non-contact thickness measurements of
semiconducting and semi-insulating wafers. By utilizing MTI’s Push/Pull technology, the Proforma 300i does not require the wafers to have a consistent
electrical ground, resulting in exceptional accuracy and repeatability for most wafer types. The Proforma 300i system includes full remote control operating
software and Ethernet network interface capability.

PA Series
Power Analyzers

Application: Semiconductor Test & Characterization

Power analyzers are essential tools in semiconductor manufacturing for measuring and analyzing electrical power parameters of semiconductor devices, circuits, and systems. They provide valuable insights into power consumption, efficiency, and performance, enabling engineers to optimize power usage, diagnose issues, and ensure the quality of their semiconductor products. Vitrek’s precision harmonic power analyzer, the PA920 is the most accurate power analyzer available on
the market today (0.024%). The PA920’s modular design can hold up to 4 channels of power measurement in any combination of different channel card types. It is flexible, easy-to-use and provides high-performance — at a price that won’t break your budget.

The PA920 is the workhorse of power analyzers. It can operate from uW to MW. It’s six test instruments in one: 1) Power Analyzer, 2) Oscilloscope, 3) Data Logger, 4) Conducted Emissions Analyzer, 5) Spectrum Analyzer and 6) Phase Meter. It is also small, light, accurate and easy-to-use.

DL Series
Electronic DC Load

Application: Semiconductor Test & Characterization

Vitrek’s DL Series of DC Electronic Load devices are the ideal choice for testing and characterizing DC power sources, power supplies, and semiconductor devices. They provide a controllable load that simulates real-world operating conditions, allowing engineers to evaluate the performance, stability, and efficiency of their designs. The DL Series is equipped with an easy-to-read color display and is a combined load, four five-digit meters, an oscilloscope and a datalogger in one compact, easy-to-use instrument.

The design utilizes high performance semiconductors with high speed and high accuracy, and wide dynamic range of loading from 10 µW to 14.5 kV. The DL Series
offers transient and non-linear loading capabilities and sweep feature. The highly accurate (0.035% base voltage and current accuracies) enables use in a wide range of applications from production line settings to the engineering bench.

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High Speed
Digitizers

Application: Wafer Metrology, Test & Characterization, Fabrication

High-speed digitizers, also known as high-speed data acquisition systems or oscilloscopes, are essential tools used in semiconductor manufacturing for capturing
and analyzing fast electrical signals with high fidelity. They enable engineers to observe and measure the behavior of semiconductor devices and circuits in real-time, facilitating design validation, performance analysis, and troubleshooting.

GaGe high-performance digitizers are renowned for sustaining the maximum effective number of bits (ENOB) over a wide signal frequency range with quality signal conditioning and signal fidelity features.

With sampling rates up to 6 GS/s and very deep onboard acquisition memory of up to 16 GB, our high speed PCIe and PXIe digitizers provide optimal combinations of high sampling speeds with 8-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, and 16-bit high resolution rates with large sampling memory options and high-speed data streaming capabilities.

1510A
Signal Simulators

Application: Semiconductor Test & Characterization

Signal simulators are essential tools in semiconductor manufacturing for testing and verifying the performance of semiconductor devices and circuits. They are used to generate and simulate electrical signals that mimic real-world conditions, allowing engineers to assess the functionality and reliability of their designs before fabrication.

The 1510A Signal Simulator is a sophisticated two-channel, battery-powered, microprocessor-controlled direct digital signal generator that can be used for calibrating data acquisition systems and providing precision voltages for device testing. It can generate a sine wave, a square wave, a sawtooth wave and triangle continuous signals on both channels as well as single pulse and odd pulses.

Resources

CHIPS Act

CHIPS for AMERICA CHIPS: Investments in innovation, resilience, and a more competitive American future. Vitrek Supports US Semiconductor Manufacturers! Vitrek brands have supported semiconductor manufacturers like Intel, NVIDIA, Samsung, Qualcomm and others for [...]

  • Semiconductor Wafer Measurement

The Cost of Failing to Inspect Semiconductor Wafers

This is the second of three articles in Semiconductor Wafer Measurement for Increased Profitability. The first article in this series explains why disc geometry matters. The third article describes the benefits of using semi-automated, fully-automated, and manual systems for [...]

Semiconductor Industry Applications

Semiconductor Manufacturing Application Overview Vitrek offers a variety of products supporting the semiconductor industry for quality control of the fabrication process as well as testing and verification of semiconductor devices' operational performance [...]

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Capacitance Sensors Facilitate 3D IC Construction

Capacitance Sensors Facilitate 3D IC Construction Semiconductor, Research & Development 3D IC Construction Distance, Positioning, Displacement Description [Application Note 70518] To boost device performance, today's [...]

  • Setup for Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement

Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement

Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement Semiconductor Semiconductor Wafer Manufacturing Displacement Description Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement This application note explains how MTI's Accumeasure [...]

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Thickness and TTV of Semiconducting Wafers

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Lithography Optics Position Focus

Lithography Optics Position Focus Semiconductor Lithography Optics Position Focus Positioning Description One specific area where capacitance systems excel is high resolution focusing of complex lens [...]

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Wafer Measurement – Ungrounded

Wafer Measurement - Ungrounded Semiconductor Wafer Measurement - Ungrounded Metrology Description MTI Instruments Inc. has developed a thickness measurement device that eliminates the effect of [...]

Wafer Thickness, Bow, Warp And TTV

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Tape Cartridge Movement

Tape Cartridge Movement Semiconductor Tape Cartridge Movement Positioning Description Researchers are presently working on drives with track widths in the 5 to 1 micron region. For [...]

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Wafer QA/QC After Slicing And Polishing

Wafer QA/QC After Slicing And Polishing Semiconductor Wafer Qa/Qc After Slicing And Polishing Surface Description Introduction: When wafers are sliced up with wire saws, they are [...]

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Wire Bonding

Wire Bonding Semiconductor Wire Bonding Level Description Introduction:  Machine automation frequently involves measuring small distances extremely accurately. Wire Bonding is one such application with some challenging [...]

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GaAs Substrate Thickness Measurement

GaAs Substrate Thickness Measurement Semiconductor Gaas Substrate Thickness Measurement Thickness Description Measuring Thickness of Wafers with Different Chemistries Introduction:  Silicon wafers are ordinarily highly conductive [...]

  • Microchips

Photolithography Using Capacitance Sensors

Photolithography Using Capacitance Sensors Semiconductor Photolithography Using Capacitance Sensors Positioning Description When it comes to photolithography, how accurate are our sensors? Accurate enough to measure [...]

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LED Substrate Thickness

LED Substrate Thickness Semiconductor Led Substrate Thickness Thickness Description Remember that old acronym, GIGO?  Garbage in garbage out, it can apply to raw materials as [...]

  • Silicon Carbide Wafer Demand is High

About Wafer Bow And Warp Measurement Systems

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LED SUBSTRATE THICKNESS

Industry Semiconductor Applications Photolithography Using Capacitance Sensors Measurement Type Positioning Description Remember that old acronym, GIGO?  Garbage in garbage out, it can apply to [...]

WAFER MEASUREMENT – UNGROUNDED

Industry Semiconductor Applications Wafer Measurement – Ungrounded Measurement Type Metrology Description MTI Instruments Inc. has developed a thickness measurement device that eliminates the effect [...]

LITHOGRAPHY OPTICS POSITION FOCUS

Industry Semiconductor Applications Photolithography Using Capacitance Sensors Measurement Type Positioning Description One specific area where capacitance systems excel is high resolution focusing of complex [...]

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 [...]

  • backup - Wafer-Manufacturing

Five Common Mistakes with Semiconductor Wafer Measurement

Semiconductor wafer measurement requires a high degree of precision. The right metrology equipment and inspection processes are important, but so is procedural consistency and attention to detail. If you’re not getting the results you [...]

Capacitance Guide for Industrial Applications

Accumeasure Digital Capacitance System D Series Gen 3 View Product Capacitance Displacement and Gap Measurement Probes View Product Accumeasure Analog Capacitance System View Product Basic Principles [...]

Laser Thickness Gauge System Principles

Microtrak™ 3 TGS The Microtrak™ 3 TGS system is specifically designed for thickness applications utilizing two lasers. The product can be used in a standalone configuration or easily interfaced with PLCs and PCs. Each module [...]