Technologies for HORIBA STEC

Author: Soji Sakamoto – This article discusses an application of helium microwave-induced plasma emission spectroscopy (He-MIP) for analysis of unidentified particles in diesel exhaust that may affect human health. He-MIP can detect light elements such as boron and carbon with adequate sensitivity. Horiba has studied the applicability of particle analysis using the He-MIP technique. The article describes the principles and characteristics of this sensitive analysis procedure. (Same content in Japanese is in Readout No.15-Japanese edition-.)

Author: Juichi Saito; Takashi Nagano – In the mid-1960s HORIBA introduced automotive emission analyzers to the US market soon after the commencement of their production in Japan. Engineering and production activities were initiated in California in 1970 and in Europe in the late 1970s. Today, HORIBA'S products in this field are developed and manufactured at the various facilities around the world following the philosophy of "Do it in the place where it will be done the best". Details are reported. (Same content in Japanese is in Readout No.15-Japanese edition-.)

Author: Shinji Takeichi; Atsuro Okada; Jeffery Fisher; HORIBA Instruments Inc. – This paper introduces a series of handheld pH meters that are immersion-proof rated JIS C 0920 grade 7 (equivalent to IP-67 standard). The incredibly tough pH-sensitive glass membrane is 0.5mm thick and 1mm thick at the tip. The meter can be used for such multiple applications as pH-ORP, pH-ISE (selective ion), pH-COND (electrolytical conductivity), and pH-DO (dissolved oxygen) measurement with convenient plug-in sensors. (Same content in Japanese is in Readout No.15-Japanese edition-.)

Author: Hirokazu Kitaura – The Micropole System is one of the world’s smallest residual gas analyzers (RGAs). HORIBA STEC first obtained a license to an intellectual property right from Ferran Scientific Inc., (a U. S. company) and has developed this new system by adding the company’s own proprietary design elements. To control the “quality of a vacuum,” it isn’t sufficient to simply control the level of vacuum achieved with the use of an ion gauge or the like. It’s also important to monitor the vacuum quality, including the composition of gases that are present, by using a device such as an RGA. The RGA has quite a long history. By the 1950s its basis had already been established by Paul et al.[1] as quadrupole mass analysis technology. To this day, various manufacturers have continued to introduce RGAs developed by utilizing similar principles, although such RGAs are often employed only in high vacuum regions up to a maximum ambient pressure of 10-2 Pa in the operating environment. Under such circumstances, if RGAs that can be used in the intermediate vacuum region (for example, 10-1 Pa or above) become available, during certain processes it will not only be possible to measure the residual gases in a chamber (of manufacturing equipment) evacuated to a vacuum but also to conduct continuous measurement, even during the process. Based on the development discussed in this article, we have commercialized a product by carrying over the concept of an “RGA that can measure even in the intermediate vacuum region”[2, 3], as demonstrated in Ferran Scientific’s miniature RGAs, while improving quality and reliability and incorporating many user-friendly features, including “PC-free (without using a personal computer) usability,” that have not been available in previous RGAs.

Author: Takehisa Hataita – Sensing technology, which captures data on physical phenomena and states and converts them into signals, is one of the most fundamental and important contemporary industrial technologies for today’s multi-functional, highly advanced and complex industrial products. In particular, manometers are an essential and integral part of manufacturing processes for semiconductors, flat panel displays (FPD), light emitting diodes (LED) and solar panels, as a wide range of gases and liquids must be controlled during these processes. HORIBA STEC Co., Ltd. has developed a compact, low-cost, highly reliable capacitance manometer that can be mounted on mass flow controllers and many other types of flow and pressure controlling devices.

Author: Akito Takahashi – Considering the gas-supply lines of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, demand has increased for the use of the system configuration from which line regulators, pressure sensors and filters are eliminated for the purposes of cost reduction and integration. We at HORIBA STEC have developed the SEC-Z700 series as a flow-rate control device that can support such system configurations. The following features are described in this article: higher precision in the actual flow rate; high-speed response (performance) for all specified flow rates; improved control of pressure fluctuation; a monitoring function that prevents any unexpected shutdown of the gas control system; and configuration software that allows the user to easily modify the specifications.

Author: Tadahiro Yasuda – As semiconductor processes are being scaled to ever smaller sizes, there is a demand for greater accuracy. Wide rangeability is also required for the sake of lower prices. To meet such needs, we have developed a pressure-based mass flow control module utilizing a new technique. A laminar flow element (resistive element) has a property in which more pressure is lost at a lower pressure and lower flow rate. The Criterion D200 Series utilizes this property to change the error in the flow rate when converting the pressure into the mass flow rate. By doing so, higher pressure sensor output can be maintained when measuring a low flow rate, thereby increasing the flow rate accuracy in the low flow rate region and providing better rangeability. By collecting the data of complex properties of the element and performing numerical calculations, the flow rate can be controlled to a minimum controlled level of 0.3%, achieving six times greater range than with the minimum rate of 2% in the previous MFCs. The new mass flow module is more resistant to variations in supply pressure, because the pressure sensor provides fast response. It meets all the required performance demanded by the next generation processes. The Criterion D200 Series is also equipped with a diagnostic mechanism that utilizes the relationship between pressure and flow rate based on the internal volume of the MFC.

Author: Takayuki Ieki – As solar cells undergo rapid market expansion and production increases, a more stable supply of large volume materials is demanded. Solar cell manufacturing processes make heavy use of substances in liquid state at room temperature, which are then vaporized and injected into the manufacturing process. The vaporization system in this study makes use of bubbling and is able to heat and vaporize 100 L of liquid material by controlling the air bubble diameter to 1 mm during bubbling and by optimizing the heating configuration for the liquid. This paper introduces liquid vaporization technology and presents an explanation of the vaporization system together with experimental results.

Author: Jorge Pisonero – The development of new and innovative “soft ionization techniques” coupled to fast, simple, reliable and robust mass analysers is providing powerful instrumentation able to carry out direct analysis of inorganic/organic compounds on sample surfaces with almost no surface damage. This methodology could open new “research fields” in the direct analysis of semiconductor surfaces with little or no sample pre-treatment. In this project, in particular, an Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge (AP-GD) is proposed. Operating with He gas, it will generate a flow of He metastable species, that will be transported outside the discharge chamber and could be directed towards a sample surface. The reactions of the metastables with ambient gas constituents lead to the production of reagent ions that leads to desorption/ionization of the sample surface constituents. Generated ions are then transported into a Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TOFMS) able to detect both positive and negative ions permitting identification and quantization of the species. AP-GD-TOFMS could provide a fast, simple, reliable and robust analytical method, able to carry out direct analysis of inorganic/organic compounds present on the surface of semiconductor samples (i.e photovoltaic silicon). The spatial resolution could be in the order of ~mm2 allowing mapping of the sample surface, and limits of detection at femto-mol level could be achieved.

Author: Kenji Sakurai – The present research is concerned with the instrumentation required to achieve extremely high detection rates for trace elements using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), which is a powerful non-destructive technique for element analysis. In total-reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF), which is known as a metrology tool for gauging the contamination of semiconductor surfaces, the use of an energy-dispersive system typically with a Si (Li) detector has been the only way so far to analyze trace elements. For many years, it had been believed that the wavelength-dispersive method was unsuitable for trace analysis. This is no longer the case, because of the advent of the present highly efficient XRF spectrometer. By combining TXRF with brilliant synchrotron radiation at the SPring-8, detection power has been upgraded to at least 10 times the prevailing world record. The detection limit is in the 10^-16 g and/or ppt (10^-12 g/g) range.

Author: Shinya Ohno – We developed a new apparatus by combining surface differential reflectance (SDR) spectroscopy and reflectance difference spectroscopy (RDS), which enables us to observe thickness at submonolayer regime and interface strain at the atomic level in nondestructive manner with high surface sensitivity. We applied this new technique to observe initial oxidation process on silicon surfaces in real-time, and could obtain novel information on the growth modes and activation energies. We further investigated ingredients of exhaust gas, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO).

Author: Shinsuke Kunimura – A high power X-ray source was usually used for ultra trace elemental determination with total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis, and femtogram (10-15 g) detection limits were achieved with synchrotron radiation. On the other hand, we have developed portable TXRF spectrometers with a low low power (1-5 W) X-ray tube since 2006, and a 10 pg (10-11 g) detection limit was achieved with the present portable spectrometer. This result shows that using a low power X-ray tube in TXRF analysis makes it possible to perform ultra trace elemental determination. In the present paper, a summary of the present portable spectrometer is introduced.

Author: Soichi Oue; Takaaki Shindo; Itsuo Ito; Hiroki Nagaoka; Akiko Sakato – The Microsemi Series is a full model change of the LC-550 Automatic Blood Cell Counter and the LC-178CRP Automatic Blood Cell and CRP Counter, now significantly easier to use, with addition of a touch panel, and timer and quality control functions. Some examples of new technologies used are: 1) Cyanide-free lyse(reagent for erythrocyte lysis. 2) Reagent container and cooling unit permitting onboard use of CRP reagent (if a reagent is set to an instrument once it can be used while remaining installed in the instrument during the effective period of the reagent). 3) Reagent factors with reduced information for manual input. 4) A piercing probe with a new structure able to penetrate caps of sample tubes. Another improvement is a significant increase in the memory capacity of the instrument. It is able to record not only measurement data, but also self-diagnosis results at startup, and maintenance information such as detailed operation histories, permitting the user to quickly analyze the cause of any problems occurring with the instrument. This report focuses on the new technologies mentioned above.

Author: Masayoshi Shinohara; Yoshinori Otsuki – MEXA-2000SPCS and MEXA-2100SPCS continuously measure the number of solid particle in specified range of size, which is emitted from engines. MEXA-2000SPCS is designed to mainly measures particles emissions by being connected to a full-flow dilution tunnel. It covers requirements described in UN/ECE Regulation No.83, Rev.3, Amend.2, which has been adopted as a test procedure for Euro 5/6, latest regulations in Europe. MEXA-2000SPCS has been downsized to 1/3 of the conventional mode, MEXA-1000SPCS, by optimizing configuration to regulation requirements. The small dimensions make easier to install and transport system in or between laboratories. On the other hand, MEXA-2100SPCS is designed for direct sampling measurements without tunnel dilution. MEXA-2000SPCS series can be used for various test applications by such sampling variation and also prepared options.