As microelectronic devices continue to shrink, submicrometer‐sized contaminants pose a serious threat to semiconductor yields and performance—and thereby to the profits of the nearly $200 billion a year industry. Chemical analysis of these tiny particles can suggest remedies for avoiding contamination by helping to pinpoint its sources. One of the most successful microchemical analysis tools combines electron microscopy with spectroscopic analysis of x rays excited in the target impurity by the microscope's electron beam. Unfortunately, the choice of x‐ray detector has traditionally involved a trade‐off between energy resolution and speed. So the semiconductor industry—where time equals a lot of money—has often had to supplement spectrometry with educated guesswork. Now, John Martinis, Kent Irwin, Gene Hilton and David Wollman, working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology facility in Boulder, Colorado, have developed an x‐ray detector that they hope will remove some of that guesswork.
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July 1998
July 01 1998
Microcalorimeters May Provide a Solution to the Big Problem of Small Contaminants
In a drive to help the US semiconductor industry, researchers are developing x‐ray spectrometers that will be able not just to identify any element in microscopic contaminants, but also to yield information about the element's chemical state.
Physics Today 51 (7), 19–21 (1998);
Citation
Ray Ladbury; Microcalorimeters May Provide a Solution to the Big Problem of Small Contaminants. Physics Today 1 July 1998; 51 (7): 19–21. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2805869
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