k-Space Associates, Inc., a leader in thin-film metrology tools for the semiconductor, compound Semiconductor and solar markets, has announced increased sales of 34% for 1st quarter sales of 2015 over 2014 for their patented kSA BandiT wafer and film temperature monitoring system. The kSA BandiT technology utilizes the inherent temperature dependence of a semiconductor’s bandgap to directly measure temperature. Because of its immunity to sources of measurement errors typical with pyrometers, and its ability to measure at temperatures below 200 °C, the kSA BandiT is a preferred temperature monitoring tool worldwide for both research facilities and epi-wafer manufacturers.
“Our customers place a high value on the information kSA BandiT can provide in real time during growth, especially in the low temperature regime where other temperature measurement methods fail,” commented Barry Wissman, Product Development Engineer at k-Space. “We are selling systems configured to measure a wide range of semiconductor band gaps, from GaN at approximately 380 nm to CdTe at approximately 830 nm, to our best-selling systems that operate in the near infrared for materials like GaAs and InP. ”
The kSA BandiT has recently been highlighted in several journal publications, such as Journal of Electronic Materials, Journal of Crystal Growth, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, and Optics Express. In these articles, scientists worked with materials such as GaAs, InGaAs, InAs, InAlAs, and HgCdTe, allowing real-time measurement of variables such as temperature, film thickness, surface roughness, and growth rate.
In Journal of Electronic Materials, Dr. Jan Wenisch of AIM INFRAROT-MODULE GmbH noted that for growth of HgCdTe on GaAs “it was observed that an increase in growth temperature of only 2°C led to an increase in the cadmium fraction of almost 5% for Cd rich compositions”, and that “the strong influence of growth temperature [on Cd fraction] shows that it is especially important to have an accurate and reliable temperature measurement system.” [1] This result demonstrates the power of the kSA BandiT for reliable, reproducible temperature measurements below 200°C.
[1] Wenisch, J., et al. in Journal of Electronic Materials (2015): 1-5.
