Want to know more about how our analysis methods can support your research in electronic engineering and semiconductor materials? Whether you’re a student, a researcher, or a professor, we’ve put together some relevant application examples of our solutions in semiconductor research and device processing.
The materials and analytical equipment used in these examples overlap with Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics and Applied Physics, so you may find additional information on those pages. Method abbreviations are explained at the bottom of this page.
Semiconductor research
Our applications in semiconductor research primarily involve high resolution X-ray Diffraction of epitaxial layers. Thin film growth by MBE, MOCVD or CVD are big research areas in Electronic Engineering and Physics departments. This is where we find the highest concentration of our High-Resolution XRD applications. There is a constant quest to develop new semiconductor materials and to overcome the many challenges of incorporating new materials into working devices. The table below provides a selection of application notes that exemplify typical measurements on semiconductor materials. Click on any of the links in the table to discover more!
Semiconductors Research | Method | Sample | Application Note Title (Link) |
|---|---|---|---|
Epitaxial layers - finding reflections | HR-XRD | GaN / InGaN alloys | Available reflections for coplanar and in-plane XRD of GaN and related alloys |
Epitaxial layers - rapid measurements | HR-XRD | InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells | Fast X-ray diffraction measurements on semiconductor structures |
Epitaxial layers - thermal stability | HR-XRD | AlInN/GaN/Sapphire | Studying the thermal stability of gallium nitride based high electron mobility transistor structures |
Epitaxial layers – strain, composition, and layer thickness | HR-XRD | Gallium Nitride and related compounds | XRD of gallium nitride and related compounds: strain, composition and layer thickness (booklet) |
Epitaxial layers - strain, composition, and layer thickness | HR-XRD | GaAs on Ge on Si | Semiconductor thin films. Analysis of III-V solar cells on silicon substrates |
Narrow bandgap (IR) semiconductors - film composition, thickness | XRF | InxSy films on glass | |
OLED polymers - molecular weight | GPC | Poly(phenylene-vinylene) (PPV) in Chloroform; 2) poly(fluorene-phenylenevinylene)(PF-PPV) in THF; 3) polythiophene (PT) in Chloroform | |
Perovskite semiconductors - defects | Reflection Topography | Perovskite LiTaO3 | |
Phase change materials - crystalline phase identification | XRD / XRR | Germanium Antimony Telluride (Ge2Sb2Te5) PCM | Combining XRR & XRD for in-situ investigation of phase change materials |
Thin films - In-plane methods | XRD / HR-XRD | Co films in hard disks, GaN on Sapphire | |
Thin-film solar cells - overview | XRD / HR-XRD | Solar cell materials, general | X-ray diffraction techniques for characterization of thin film solar cells |
Wide bandgap (UV) semiconductors - thin film quality | XRD / XRR | ZnO films on glass |
Device processing
Malvern Panalytical’s wafer analyzer is not often employed in university research, but it is worth showing here some of the process fabrication instances where it is employed to measure elemental composition and film thickness. Wafer cutting and polishing is also an important step in device processing and particle size characterization is important to control the quality of cutting and polishing slurries. Click on any of the links in the table to discover more!
Device Processing | Method | Sample | Application Note Title (Link) |
|---|---|---|---|
Dielectric films - composition, thickness | XRF | Borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) Dielectric films, Boron, phosphorous, Silicon | |
Diffusion barrier layers - composition, thickness | XRF | Cu/TaNx multilayers on Si wafers | |
Diffusion/bonding metallization - composition thickness | XRF | TiNx layers on Si wafers | |
Epitaxial layers -composition | XRF | Ge concentration in Si(1-x)Gex films | |
Ferroelectric/Dielectric films - composition, thickness | XRF | Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) films on Pt | |
Gate connecting layers - thickness | XRF | Tungsten (W) layers | |
Gate technology - layer thickness | XRF | WSix deposition on Silicon | |
Giant magnetoresistant multilayers - composition, thickness | XRF | Ta, NiMn, PtMn, CoFe, Cu, NiFe, Al2O3 thin films | Analysis of Giant Magneto Resistance GMR film stacks using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry |
Interconnect layers- composition, thickness | XRF | AlCu interconnect layers on S substrate | |
Passivation layers - thickness | XRF | Ni-Ta thin films on Si | |
Read/write heads for hard drives - layer thickness | XRF | CoNiFe films on hard drives | In-line process control of CoNiFe layers in the manufacturing of read/write heads |
Wafer cutting slurry - particle size and shape | Imaging | Silicon carbide - abrasive slurry | |
Wafer polishing slurry – particle size | ELS / DLS | Silica-based particles in ammonia salt solution, silica-based particles in KOH solution | Characterization of SiO2 Slurry Samples Used in Chemical Mechanical Polishing |
Wafer polishing slurry - zeta potential | ELS | SiO2 or Al2O3 particles | Zeta Potential Measurement of Highly Concentrated CMP Slurry Dispersions |
Abbreviations explained
Our products and technologies are described on the Products pages. Below you can find a quick reference to the properties measured by our instruments, together with the measurement name and its abbreviation. Click on each method to find out more about it!
Abbreviation | Method Name | Instrument(s) | Measured Property |
|---|---|---|---|
DLS | Zetasizer | Molecular size, hydrodynamic radius RH, particle size, size distribution, stability, concentration, agglomeration | |
ELS | Zetasizer | Zeta potential, particle charge, suspension stability, protein mobility | |
ITC | MicroCal ITC | Binding affinity, thermodynamics of molecular reactions in solution | |
DSC | Microcal DSC | Denaturing (unfolding) of large molecules, stability of macromolecules | |
GCI | Creoptix WAVEsystem | Real-time binding kinetics and binding affinity, label free with fluidics | |
IMG | Morphologi 4 | Imaging of particles, automated shape and size measurement | |
MDRS | Morphologi 4-ID | Imaging of particles, automated shape and size measurement, chemical identification and contaminant detection | |
LD | Mastersizer
| Particle size, size distribution | |
NTA | NanoSight | Particle size, size distribution, and concentration | |
SEC or GPC | Size exclusion chromatography / | OMNISEC | Molecular size, molecular weight, oligomeric state, polymer or protein size and molecular structure |
SPE | Le Neo
| Fused Bead Sample preparation for XRF, Peroxide solution preparations for ICP, Flux weighing for beadmaking | |
UV/ Vis/ NIR/ SWIR | Ultra-violet / visible / near infra-red / short wave infra-red spectrometry | LabSpec
| Material identification and analysis, moisture, mineral, carbon content. Ground truthing for airborne and satellite spectroscopic techniques. |
PFTNA | CNA | In-line elemental analysis | |
XRD-C | Aeris
| Molecular crystal structure refinement, crystalline phase identification and quantification, crystalline to amorphous ratio, crystallite size analysis | |
XRD-M | Empyrean
| Residual stress, texture | |
XRD-CT | Empyrean | 3D imaging of solids, porosity, and density | |
SAXS | Empyrean | Nanoparticles, size, shape and structure | |
GISAXS | Empyrean | Nanostructured thin films and surfaces | |
HR-XRD | Empyrean
| Thin-films and epitaxial multilayers, composition, strain, thickness, quality | |
XRR | Empyrean
| Thin films and surfaces, film thickness, surface and interface roughness | |
XRF | Epsilon
| Elemental composition, elemental concentration, trace elements, contaminant detection |