Rigaku Corporation, the world's leading supplier of X-ray metrology technology, is pleased to announce the installation of two of its newest analytical instruments in the recently-expanded Sunnyvale, CA service lab of Covalent Metrology, a leading provider of analytical services to advanced materials innovation companies.
The delivery of the new systems furthers the pioneering collaboration agreement designed to support American high-tech industries with advanced metrology capabilities. The agreement provides Covalent with exceptional analytical service capabilities and provides Rigaku a North American demonstration facility located in Silicon Valley. The new systems will be available for demonstrations and for Covalent's analytical service customers.
Among the newly installed instrumentation is the Rigaku AZX400 sequential wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer. The system, specifically designed to accommodate large or heavy samples, will be used for precise film and materials compositional analysis and uniformity assessment. The AZX400 system accepts samples up to 400 mm in diameter and features an automatic loader to accommodate 200 mm cassettes and 300 mm front-opening unified pods (FOUPs).
As an optimal R&D system, the AZX 400 spectrometer is a foundational instrument for companies developing next-generation semiconductors, sensors, batteries, solar cells and advanced materials. It is designed to maximize analytical flexibility, covering a broad range of elements, with spot sizes down to 0.5 mm diameter for spatially resolved measurements.
Also now installed at Covalent is the Rigaku CT Lab HX high-performance benchtop X-ray Micro-CT system, for 3D and 4D imaging of micro-scale morphologies. Computed tomography (CT) reveals, at high-speed, the high-resolution, three-dimensional structure of an object by means of computer-processed combinations of numerous X-ray images taken from different angles.
The CT Lab HX system is a compact yet powerful micro-CT system that can provide three-dimensional X-ray images of a wide variety of samples. It features the largest field of view (FOV) and the most powerful X-ray source in its class (130 kV, 39W), enabling high-speed image acquisition as fast as 18 seconds/scan. The system will be broadly employed for the development and non-destructive failure analysis of advanced materials, packaged and fabricated devices and complex components.
Craig Hunter, CEO of Covalent stated, "We are delighted to add two outstanding analytical instruments from Rigaku to our in-house service offering. The AZX-400 WDXRF system offers superb resolution and the auto-loader feature provides a cost-effective capability to process fab wafers for tool qualifications and yield optimization. The GT Lab HX is a relatively new entrant to the growing micro-CT market and we believe it offers highly competitive speed and resolution for a wide variety of sample types. We are excited to continue building the Rigkau partnership and to help them extend their already powerful market position."
The Rigaku Semiconductor Metrology Division designs and manufactures X-ray characterization tools to solve semiconductor manufacturing challenges. More information about semiconductor tools from Rigaku is available at rigaku.com/products/semi.
Covalent Metrology provides imaging and characterization services to support R&D, defect analysis, and quality control for companies in semiconductors, solar, medical devices, MEMS and other industries. More information on characterization services offered by Covalent Metrology is available at covalentmetrology.com.