Wafer Contact Angle Goniometer: SURFTENS HL

OEG produce the SURFTENS HL 200 manual wafer contact angle (Goniometer) and surface tension measurement tool used during semiconductor fabrication to analyze and control the adhesion, planarization and homogeneity of lithographic processes and coatings on up to 200mm wafers.

Surface free energy (SFE) of wafer substrates and layers used in semiconductor technology, can be investigated by contact angle measurements. Measuring the contact angle allows users to quickly optimize new process steps, as well as to better standardize known fabrication processes. Small changes in the surface property of wafers are seen as large, easily detected changes in the contact angle. A small investment of time to measure the contact angle, can give a large return by avoiding later production problems. To reduce defect density and feature sizes of resist structures (<1μm), a good adhesion of the resist is necessary. By the help of contact angle measurements, you can control the adhesion very easily.

The small-footprint, SURFTENS HL 200 manual system is suitable for quickly testing wafers in research, development and production environments. It is the ideal tool to investigate contact angle and surface free energy measurements, to help determine the wettability of semiconductor wafers.

SURFTENS HL 200 guarantees the highest reproducibility (+/- 0.1^o) and measuring accuracy (+/- 0.5^o), combined with simple operation: A droplet of test liquid (typically DI water) is produced by the manual or automatic direct dispensing system. An image of the droplet is then measured immediately via the high-quality CCTV system, with a graphical display of the contact angle and test data (resolution 0.05^o) displayed for the user. Measuring times of only 1 second per drop ensures the system excludes errors.