International Business Machines Corporation

Howard Arthur Froot

Timothy W Carr

To detect residual glass, such as appears at semiconductor chip pads and via holes during the fabrication of alumina/glass ceramic substrates that are used as supports for the semiconductor devices, the glass used for forming the ceramic substrates is doped with a rare earth oxide. During the manufacturing process, the ceramic structures are irradiated after firing with radiation of wavelengths in the range 350-500 nanometers to induce the glass to fluoresce, thereby revealing the residual glass on the surface of the metallic interconnector pads. If residual glass is present, the parts are reworked, or scrapped if necessa

Fabrication of semiconductor modules with ceramic substrates and

A system for detecting and identifying the composition of a material, such as semiconductor wafers and chips, subject to one or more stages of processing. The material is laser irradiated to induce molecular fluorescence with means to detect the decay rate of the fluorescence. The decay rate is then compared with a decay record of fluorescence of acceptable modifications of the material, inclusive of amalgamated contaminants or impurities (e.g. doped regions) to determine the state of the modification of the material.

Microanalysis by pulse laser emission spectroscopy

A rapid, non-destructive system and method for insitu detection and identification of luminescent organic particulates or films on non-luminescent devices, such as semiconductor wafers and chips. The major optical components of the system comprises a luminescent vertical illuminator, an image device and a detector. The method is based on the principle that a very large number of organic materials luminesce when excited by ultraviolet radiation. By scanning the luminescent emission spectra of the known organic materials used in manufacture, a characteristic curve of intensity versus wavelength is obtained and matched to curves of known organic materials, thereby permitting detection and identification of the particulates.

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Hopewell Junction, NY, United States of America

Howard Arthur Froot