Metrology services
The exploration of next-generation semiconductor technologies – including advanced logic, memory and interconnect – necessitates metrology tools and techniques that offer increasingly precise measurements of electrical and physical properties of materials and components.
It’s therefore one of the NanoIC pilot line’s goals to make sure innovators such as research centers, SMEs and high-level academia find a short and effortless path to Europe’s unique offering of advanced metrology expertise.
This page provides a comprehensive overview of metrology services available at European research centers and universities.
Metrology services at Tyndall
Tyndall is one of Europe’s leading research institutes in microelectronics and photonics. It offers these metrology services:
- Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
- Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
- Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS)
- Energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
- Bright-field high-resolution transmission electrode spectroscopy (bright-field HRTEM)
- Selected area electron diffraction analysis (SAED)
- High-angle annular dark-field imaging (HAADF)
- High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM)
- Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM)
- X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD)
- Raman spectroscopy
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
These are located in three of Tyndall’s facilities/research programs:
Open Access Characterization
This state-of-the-art facility offers both wafer-level characterization of CMOS/MEMS test structures and precision measurement of impedance, capacitance, frequency spectrum, high voltage and high current.
CMOS++ Materials & Devices
This research program is geared to advancing future computing applications, such as quantum and neuromorphic, through innovative materials and devices.
Precision Measurement Services at CSSNT
The Center for Surface Science and Nanotechnology (CSSNT), part of the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest (UPB), founded in 2011 by Professor Dr.rer.nat. Marius Enachescu, is a relatively young research facility, operating at the forefront of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
CSSNT houses 25 research and development laboratories, each of them centered on a piece of high-performance equipment or a group of equipment, with functionalities that satisfy the most demanding requirements of nanotechnology, but also many other related fields.
As of today, the Center offers multiple metrology services, in line with industry requirements, including:
- HR morphological properties studies via AFM (up to 300 mm)
- HR/UHR morphological properties studies via SEM (0.7 nm resolution) and STEM (0.14 nm resolution), obtaining three different image types at the same magnification in the same location, namely co-localized electron images through three different signal types: secondary electrons (SEM), incoherently scattered electrons (ZC – atomic number), and transmitted electrons (STEM)
- HR elemental analysis via EDX and EELS (TEM-correlated)
- FIB-based TEM lamella preparation
- Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM)
- Characterization of electrically active devices and/or structures via a nano-manipulators platform – HR-SEM, C-AFM, EFM/KPFM, SSRM, etc.
- Micro-/nano-mechanical properties investigation via PinPoint AFM, AFM-based micro-/nano-indenting, AFM-based micro-/nano-scratching
- Topography-correlated nanoscale IR-based chemical imaging (‘nano-FTIR’, sub-10nm spatial resolution), etc.
- Local strain detection at the nanoscale in IR-active materials (e.g. silicon oxide)
- Magnetic properties investigation via MFM
- Defects and/or contaminants detection and evaluation (e.g. SPM methods)
- Structural properties studies via HR-XRD
- Determination of chemical composition, nanostructure/phase, deformation/stresses by analyzing vibrational information from the chemical bond of a sample through micro-Raman spectroscopy
- Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) can be used to determine the crystal symmetry of a material, local polar order, domain structure, and interface properties by probing broken inversion symmetry in non-centrosymmetric materials
Click for more details about CSSNT’s infrastructure
Specific services offered by CSSNT as part of the NanoIC project are:
- FIB-based TEM lamellae processing
- (Cryo-)TEM-SEM-ZC-EDX/EELS characterization, acquiring co-localized images at the same magnification in the same location using three different image types: SEM, ZC, and STEM images
- AFM-IR: topography-correlated nano-IR chemical imaging and spectroscopy
- Cryo-focused ion eabm (Cryo-FIB)
- Second-harmonic generation (SHG)
Advanced electronic microscopy
By using high-resolution electron microscopy, these equipment help to provide analyses at both academic and industrial levels.
Atomic force microscopy - nano-infrared (AFM nano-IR)
AFM-IR enables the simultaneous imaging of sample topography and chemical properties (nano-IR imaging) with a spatial resolution below 10 nm. It also provides ‘nano-FTIR’ spectra by accurately measuring the near-field optical response of the sample through mechanical detection.
For more information, send an email to General Manager Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Marius Enachescu or the Assistant Project Coordinator Cristina Pavel.
