X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) for Electronics & Semiconductors - Electronics and Computers - Semiconductors
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) serves as a versatile tool for the analysis of materials associated with electronics & semiconductors, offering crucial insights into their surface chemistry, composition, and electronic structure. Applications of XPS and surface analysis of electronic materials extends to flexible, organic electronics, displays and devices.
Surface composition analysis: XPS provides precise information about the elemental composition of a material’s surface. This is vital for ensuring the desired composition in semiconductor devices and electronic materials. Deviations from the intended composition can lead to undesirable properties or performance issues.
Chemical state identification: Beyond elemental composition, XPS can distinguish between different chemical states of an element present on the surface. This is crucial because the chemical environment of an element influences its properties. For instance, in semiconductors, the presence of impurities or dopants in specific chemical states can significantly impact conductivity or bandgap.
Interface characterisation: Many electronic and semiconductor devices rely on interfaces between different materials or layers. XPS can probe these interfaces to understand their chemical and electronic properties. This is essential for optimising device performance and reliability, as interfaces often dictate device behavior.
Surface contamination analysis: Contaminants or adsorbates on the surface of electronic materials and semiconductors can degrade device performance or interfere with processing steps. XPS can identify and quantify surface contaminants, enabling strategies to mitigate their effects and ensure device reliability.
Depth Profiling: XPS can provide depth-resolved information about the chemical composition of a material’s surface layers. This capability is crucial for understanding surface reactions, diffusion processes, and the effectiveness of surface treatments or coatings in electronic and semiconductor applications.
Kratos currently provides two ion sources for sample cleaning and sputter depth profiling. The Minibeam 4 is our high flux, monatomic Ar+ ion source, operating with a continuously variable beam energies between 500 eV and 4 keV. The Minibeam 6 is a multi-mode ion source which can operate in Arn+ cluster mode and Ar+/He+ monatomic ion mode as required. The development of gas cluster ion sources has opened up the possibility of depth profiling organic electronic materials with retention of chemistry throughout the profile.
Characterization of Thin Films: Many electronic devices involve thin films of various materials. XPS can characterize these thin films, providing information about their elemental composition, thickness, and chemical state. This is vital for quality control during thin film deposition processes and for understanding the properties of thin film-based devices. For ultra-thin films, with thicknesses less than the 10 nm sampling depth of conventional Al Kα excited XPS, non-destruction depth profiles can be generated from angle-resolved XPS (ARXPS) data.
Dopant profiling: In semiconductor materials, doping plays a critical role in controlling conductivity and other electronic properties. XPS can be used to profile dopant concentrations and distributions within semiconductor materials, aiding in the optimisation of doping processes and device performance.