SBIR-STTR Award

This research uill focus on the development of ultrahigh sensitivity chemical analysis of the surface and near-surface regions of solid materials. It will determine the feasibility of developing innovative mass spectrometry techniques based on laser ablation and subsequent nonresonant laser photoionization processes above the surface, coupled with high performance time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Two primary goals of this research are spatial resolution chemical imaging and sub-ppm sensitivity semiconductor surface impurity analysis. The potential applications of this research include a highly improved surface analytical instrumentation and the establishment of a dedicated analytical facility for material characterizations. Markets for this instrumentation include semiconductor manufacturers, environmental testing laboratories, and biological research institutions

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II project will develop an innovative technique for ultrahigh sensitivity trace contaminants analysis on the semiconductor surfaces based on laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). An important analytical capability that this proposed project addresses is the capability of performing high speed chemical mapping of whole wafers at mm spatial resolution. The technique will quantify trace contaminants on the top surface of the target materials by (1) desorbing surface contaminants with low power laser pulses, (2) ionizing the desorbed neutrals using a high power density pulse, and (3) measuring the photoions by a high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The goal of this Phase II research is to achieve detection limits of 108 atoms/cm2 and quantitative analysis over surface concentrations ranging between 108 and 10'? atoms/cm2 for a variety of technologically important elemental contaminants. This project will result in an ultrahigh sensitivity technique for trace contaminant analysis on semiconductor surfaces.