Semiconductor Measurement Tech
A domestic research team developed a technology which can noticeably decrease defect rates and improve the performance and the quality of wafers used in semiconductors and LEDs.
The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) announced on September 26 that Dr. Kim Chang-soo and his team from the New Functional Materials Metrology Team established a new theory for surface angle measurement technology of single crystal wafers, and through this developed a metrological material.
The research team’s recently-developed measurement technology can entirely get rid of errors due to axis eccentricity (an unbalanced condition) of the measuring equipment. The new method is about 10 times more accurate than the original measurement technology, allowing higher quality of production and lowering defect rates.
A surface angle measurement calculates the angle at which the arranged cells of a certain crystal surface and the wafers meet for any single crystal wafer. The device characteristics and structural defects of semiconductors, LEDs and other electronic products are made based on single crystal wafers depending on the size of their wafer angles.
The current American Society for Testing and Materials’ measuring technology used the most in the industrial fields do not consider the axis of the equipment, which leads to inaccurate values and large errors.
Dr. Kim said, “This research will not only accomplish production of high quality semiconductor materials and devices, but also become a new standard for future surface angle measurements.”
The results from this research have been applied for an overseas patent, and will be published in the October edition of the “Journal of Applied Crystallography.”