Electronic engineering and semiconductor materials

Find out how our analytical solutions can advance your knowledge of semiconductor materials, device processing, and electronic engineering

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

Zetium - Analysis of InxSy layers on glass using Stratos

OLED polymers - molecular weight

GPC

Poly(phenylene-vinylene) (PPV) in Chloroform; 2) poly(fluorene-phenylenevinylene)(PF-PPV) in THF; 3) polythiophene (PT) in Chloroform

Conjugated Polymer Analysis by GPC-PDA

Perovskite semiconductors - defects

Reflection Topography

Perovskite LiTaO3 

Reflection topography with PIXcel3D

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

In-plane diffraction

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

Comprehensive XRD investigation of ZnO thin films

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

Analysis of BPSG films

Diffusion barrier layers - composition, thickness

XRF

Cu/TaNx multilayers on Si wafers

Simultaneous analysis of Cu/TaNx stacks

Diffusion/bonding metallization - composition thickness

XRF

TiNx layers on Si wafers

FP Multi analysis of TiNx thin films on Si substrates

Epitaxial layers -composition

XRF

Ge concentration in Si(1-x)Gex films

Analysis of Si(1-x)Gex films

Ferroelectric/Dielectric films - composition, thickness

XRF

Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) films on Pt

Analysis of barium strontium titanate (BST) films on Pt

Gate connecting layers - thickness

XRF

Tungsten (W) layers

Analysis of W films

Gate technology - layer thickness

XRF

WSix deposition on Silicon

Analysis of WSix films

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

Analysis of AlCu films

Passivation layers - thickness

XRF

Ni-Ta thin films on Si

Zetium - Analysis of Ni-Ta thin films using Stratos

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

Analysis of wire saw abrasive slurries to facilitate recycling using the FPIA-3000 automated dynamic image analysis system

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

Explicação das abreviações

Nossos produtos e tecnologias são descritos nas páginas de Produtos. Abaixo, você encontrará uma referência rápida às propriedades medidas por nossos instrumentos, juntamente com o nome da medição e sua abreviação. Clique em cada método para saber mais sobre ele! 

Abreviação

Nome do método

Instrumento(s)

Propriedade medida

DLS

Espalhamento de luz dinâmico

Zetasizer

Tamanho molecular, raio hidrodinâmico RH, tamanho das partículas, distribuição de tamanho, estabilidade, concentração, aglomeração

ELS

Espalhamento de luz eletroforético

Zetasizer

Potencial zeta, carga de partículas, estabilidade da suspensão, mobilidade de proteínas

ITC

Calorimetria de titulação isotérmica

MicroCal ITC

Afinidade de ligação, termodinâmica de reações moleculares na solução

DSC

Calorimetria de Varredura Diferencial

Microcal DSC

Desnaturação (desdobramento) de moléculas grandes, estabilidade de macromoléculas

GCI

Interferometria acoplada a grade

WAVEsystem da Creoptix

Cinética de ligação em tempo real e afinidade de ligação, sem rótulo, com fluidos

IMG

Análise Automatizada de Imagens

Morphologi 4

Formação de imagens de partículas, formato automatizado e medição de tamanho

MDRS

Espectroscopia Raman Dirigida Morfologicamente

Morphologi 4-ID

Formação de imagens de partículas, medição automatizada da forma e do tamanho, identificação química e detecção de contaminantes

LD

Difração laser

Mastersizer

Spraytec

Insitec

Parsum

Tamanho das partículas, distribuição de tamanho

NTA

Análise de Rastreamento de Nanopartículas

NanoSight

Tamanho das partículas, distribuição de tamanho e concentração

SEC  ou  GPC

Cromatografia por exclusão de tamanho /

Cromatografia de permeação em gel

OMNISEC

Tamanho molecular, peso molecular, estado oligomérico, tamanho de polímero ou proteína e estrutura molecular

SPE

Preparação da amostra por fusão

Le Neo

LeDoser

Eagon 2

O OxAdvanced

M4

rFusion

Preparação da amostra fundida para XRF, preparações de solução de peróxido para ICP, pesagem de fluxo para preparação de amostra fundida

UV/Vis/NIR/SWIR

Espectrometria infravermelha de ondas curtas/ultravioletas/visíveis/próximas a infravermelho

LabSpec

FieldSpec

TerraSpec

QualitySpec

Identificação e análise de material, umidade, mineral, teor de carbono. Trégua de aterramento para técnicas espectroscópicas aéreas e por satélite.

PFTNA

Ativação de nêutron térmica rápida pulsada

CNA

Análise elementar em linha

XRD-C

Difração de raios X  (cristalografia)

Aeris

Empyrean

Refinamento da estrutura do cristal molecular,

identificação e quantificação de fase cristalina, relação de cristalino com amorfo, análise de tamanho de cristalito

XRD-M

Difração de raios X  (microestrutura)

Empyrean

X’Pert3 MRD(XL)

Tensão residual, textura

XRD-CT

Absorção de raios X  imagens por tomografia computadorizada

Empyrean

Imagens 3D de sólidos, porosidade e densidade

SAXS

Dispersão de raios X em pequeno ângulo

Empyrean

Tamanho, forma e estrutura de nanopartículas

GISAXS

Dispersão de raios X de pequeno ângulo com incidência oblíqua

Empyrean

Filmes finos e superfícies nanoestruturados

HR-XRD

Difração de raios X de alta resolução

Empyrean

X’Pert3 MRD(XL)

Filmes finos e multicamadas epitaxiais, composição, deformação, espessura, qualidade

XRR

Refletividade de raios X

Empyrean

X’Pert3 MRD(XL)

Filmes finos e superfícies, espessura do filme, rugosidade da superfície e da interface

XRF

Fluorescência de raios X

Epsilon

Zetium

Axios FAST

2830 ZT

Composição elementar, concentração elementar, elementos traço, detecção de contaminantes