White Papers
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Surface Characterisation in the Semiconductor Industry
Semiconductor & Electronics, Semiconductors
Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) is one of the most important characterisation tools in the semiconductor industry. SIMS has several key features which specifically benefit the industry.
Semiconductor device technology continues to advance with scaling to smaller dimensions, allowing for greater device density and higher switching speeds. As the technology has moved through the 130, 90 and 65nm nodes there has been a consequential demand for new materials to counteract the effects of shrinking dimensions.
At the same time, developments in solar research and optoelectronics have also produced a new range of compound semiconductorbased devices with complex thin layer structures.
CERAM has developed a range of analytical protocols using SIMS and other techniques to provide those in the semiconductor and related industries with solutions to problems in product development, process improvement, reverse engineering and failure analysis. This paper summarises a range of typical applications relevant to the semiconductor industry.Login or register to download this whitepaper
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Medical Devices - Cleanliness Validation
Healthcare, Medical Devices
Residues on the surface of medical devices can cause implant failure and poor device performance. The main source of these residues is from materials used in the manufacture of the device, although contamination during the storage, cleaning and handling of the device is also known to occur. Small amounts of these surface residues can cause deleterious effects in patients, because the residues are in direct contact with body tissues and patients often have compromised immune systems. In addition, residues may often alter the surface chemistry and geometry of the device, so even inert residues can be a problem. For example, small amounts of non-toxic cutting fluid on an implant limit the ability of surrounding tissues to attach to the implant.
In order to minimise contamination, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) stipulates that medical device manufacturers follow specific cleanliness validation procedures. Firstly, they must identify all possible residues present on the device and set an acceptable residue limit. Then, they must use a cleaning regime that reduces residue levels below this limit, without leaving significant levels of cleaning agent behind. Finally documentation to verify that residue limits are not exceeded must be submitted to the FDA before the device can go on the market.
Despite these procedures being in place, some medical devices are failing to meet FDA requirements for cleanliness verification and validation. Since 2001, 173 medical devices have been recalled, some due to contamination issues. In just one year of sterility inspections, more than 483 FDA observations related to validation deficiencies - more than any other deficiency.Login or register to download this whitepaper
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Surface Analysis ... Solving Problems in the PCB Industry
Semiconductor & Electronics
The complexity of PCB manufacturing has increased dramatically over the last three decades and, with this increase in complexity, the possibility of manufacturing defects has also consequently increased. Solving these failures quickly, so as to minimise downtime, is obviously critical. This is where surface analysis techniques come into play as they are able to provide high spatial resolution, low detection limits and molecular information that analytical equipment found in-house cannot provide. This white paper will discuss some of the surface analysis techniques available and give case study examples, showing where the techniques have been able to solve failure problems and help manufacturers to improve their processes.
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Surface Analysis Exposes Counterfeit Medicines
Pharmaceutical
Surface Analysis is assisting the pharmaceutical industry in a number of ways, including for example the optimisation and acceleration of new product development, evaluation of product and packaging stability, rapid identification of trace contamination and quality assessment of new manufacturing processes. And it is certain that Surface Analysis can illuminate much more about processes, and even origins, in this sophisticated marketplace – including by helping detect counterfeits. Developments at the forefront of Surface Analysis technology are so powerful that it is enabling an independent UK research centre to materially assist pharmaceutical companies in their battle against counterfeit drugs. Not only does this technology – the latest in X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Time-of- Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToFSIMS) in particular – afford a means of analysing the composition of various pharmaceuticals, recent work has also shown that it can even determine differences in the manufacturing processes involved, enabling the identification of previously undetectable chemical copies. Traditionally, one thinks of Surface Analysis as being concerned principally with the physical properties of surfaces – flatness, roughness, colour, reflectivity and so on. The state-of-theart in this area is ‘3D non-contact profiling’, where white light interferometry techniques allow examination of ‘microfeatures’. Areas from a few square microns up to the centimetre scale can be analysed with nanometre resolution.
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How Surface Characterisation is Helping the Aerospace Industry to Achieve Environmental Targets
Aerospace & Defence, Energy & Environment
The green agenda continues to dominate aerospace developments both from the regulatory perspective and from economic operating imperatives. The REACH directive and other regulatory pressures are targeting chromium removal by 2013 whilst fuel burn reduction is the main driver behind the use of composites as a means of light-weighting aircraft structures and components. In both these areas new material developments continue to hold the key to the successful achievement of the green objectives whilst maintaining, or improving, the other essential product performance requirements. Underpinning many areas of these technological advances is a need to understand surface and interface functionality from both a chemical and physical standpoint. In this paper we give examples of where surface characterisation techniques are continuing to make a major contribution to these endeavours to reduce the environmental impact of the aerospace industry in the future.
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