Semiconductor
Plasma & thin film
Semiconductor metrology depends on spectrometers for endpoint detection, thin-film measurement, source monitoring and inspection, and in most of these tasks the limiting specification is stability rather than sensitivity. A spectrometer that drifts between wafer lots degrades endpoint detection and adds error to thin-film thickness results. Evolve Sensing configures UV, visible, NIR and deep-UV spectrometer platforms for OEM tools and process teams in each of these areas.
Typical measurements
Plasma monitoring and endpoint detection
Optical emission spectroscopy on etch and deposition tools, where the useful signal is a small number of emission lines against a bright, changing continuum.
Thin-film thickness and ellipsometry
Reflectance interference and polarization-sensitive response over a wide band. Wavelength accuracy and reproducibility determine thickness accuracy directly.
Overlay and optical CD
Scatterometry requires a broad, well-calibrated spectrum and low stray light so that weak diffraction orders remain measurable.
Light-source and lithography monitoring
Spectral balance and stability of broadband and laser-driven sources, increasingly below 200 nm, determine the reliability of every downstream measurement.
Display, LED and VCSEL test
Fast visible measurement with repeatable luminance and color for OLED, mini-LED and micro-LED inspection, and high resolution for wafer-level VCSEL and laser characterization.
Contamination and particle detection
Trace-level identification in which the signal of interest occupies the last percent of the dynamic range.
Selection criteria
Specifications that matter in this application
Every spectrometer datasheet leads with wavelength range. In this application it is rarely the limiting specification. The following specifications are:
- Thermal stability, because a fab floor is not a temperature-controlled laboratory
- Stray light, because thin-film and scatterometry signals are small
- Dynamic range, because a broadband source is bright in the visible and weak in the UV and NIR at the same time
- Wavelength reproducibility across power cycles
- Trigger timing, buffering, and a form factor and interface suited to a tool rather than a bench
Tool integration
Acquisition requirements inside a process tool
Inside a tool, the spectrometer has to acquire on a hardware event, hold data while the host is busy, and recover without a service call. Ethernet-ready configurations combine Gigabit Ethernet with onboard memory, ring-buffer and batch acquisition, near-zero trigger latency and a hardware reset line, so the equipment can treat the spectrometer as one of its own subsystems. Ethernet-ready spectrometers →
- Gigabit Ethernet for equipment-style control architectures and long cable runs
- Onboard memory that decouples exposure timing from host-transfer timing
- Ring-buffer acquisition for continuous capture and batch acquisition for gap-free sequences
- Near-zero trigger latency so each spectrum corresponds to a defined hardware event
- Hardware reset for recovery in an installed system
Below 200 nm
Deep-UV measurements with a nitrogen-purged optical path
Source monitoring, plasma emission and UV inspection increasingly require wavelengths that a standard UV-Vis bench cannot reach. The deep-UV SmartEngine configuration covers 155–410 nm with a nitrogen-purged optical path, because below 200 nm air absorption, contamination and stray light affect the measurement as much as the grating does. It is an application-specific option rather than a general replacement for UV spectrometers. Deep-UV SmartEngine →
Wide-range coverage
Staged detectors from the deep UV to 2500 nm
No single detector performs well from the deep UV to 2500 nm. Dual spectrometer systems, single-input dual-detector NIR and staged full-range architectures place more than one detector behind one optical input and one trigger, so silicon and InGaAs each cover the region where they perform best. Wide-range architectures →
Recommended platforms
Instruments suited to this application
These are typical starting points. Send the measurement details and an engineer will confirm the selection or recommend an alternative.
UV-Vis
SmartEngine UV-VNIR Spectrometer
Workhorse UV-VNIR platform with CCD and CMOS sensor options
UV-Vis
SilverBullet Compact OEM UV-Vis Spectrometer
Market-leading UV-Vis performance
High-Resolution
Magna High-Resolution Spectrometer
High Resolution Vis-NIR and NIR spectrometer
Also relevant: EagleEye UV-Vis-NIR Spectrometer, SideWinder NIR Spectrometer, Dual Spectrometer Systems (DS Series), HummingBird Compact OEM UV-Vis Spectrometer, Alpha OCT Ultra-High Resolution Spectrometer, Delta OCT Spectrometer, Phenom High-Resolution Spectrometer
Project process
From measurement definition to a frozen configuration
Define the measurement
Source, sample, geometry, and what the algorithm needs from the spectrum.
Select detector and bench
Silicon or InGaAs, cooled or uncooled, and the optical bench suited to the range.
Configure
Slit, grating, integration time, trigger mode and interface.
Validate
Representative sources, wafers, films or process conditions, on your tool or at Evolve.
Freeze the configuration
Configuration locked for pilot, OEM integration or production.
Scope
Scope of supply
A spectrometer does not qualify a process. Evolve Sensing supplies configurable measurement engines and the engineering to integrate them. Process qualification, recipe development and tool-level real-time guarantees belong to the system integrator and require application-specific validation. Near-zero trigger latency describes the spectrometer itself, not the networked response of the complete instrument.
In depth
Spectrometers in semiconductor
Semiconductor fabrication uses optical spectroscopy for film metrology, plasma process control and patterned-structure measurement. These measurements run inside process chambers and metrology tools, often on every wafer. Tool builders need compact spectrometers with stable calibration, fast acquisition and precise triggering.
Thin-film thickness
Spectral reflectometry measures film thickness from interference in the light reflected by a wafer. The spacing of the fringes depends on film thickness and refractive index, and a model fit returns both. Thin gate and barrier films of a few nanometers produce only a gentle slope in the spectrum, so they require deep-UV coverage near 200 nm. Thick resists and dielectrics produce closely spaced fringes and require finer optical resolution. Integrated metrology modules make these measurements on the process tool between steps.
Spectroscopic ellipsometry adds polarization information and resolves multilayer stacks and optical constants. Many spectroscopic ellipsometers use a broadband array spectrometer as the detector, covering the UV through the NIR.
Plasma process monitoring
Optical emission spectroscopy records light from excited species in an etch or deposition plasma through a chamber window. Each species emits at characteristic wavelengths. Fluorine emits at 703.7 nm, carbon monoxide shows a band at 483.5 nm, and the argon line at 750.4 nm serves as an actinometric reference. When an etch clears one layer and reaches the next, the intensity of these lines changes, and the tool uses that change to stop the process at endpoint.
Endpoint detection becomes more demanding as the exposed area shrinks, since the signal change can be a small fraction of the total emission. High signal-to-noise ratio, fast integration and good wavelength stability let the endpoint algorithm detect small changes early. The same data supports chamber matching and fault detection across a fleet of tools.
Optical critical dimension metrology
Optical critical dimension metrology, or OCD, measures line width, height, sidewall angle and other profile parameters on periodic test structures. A broadband beam illuminates a grating target, and the spectrometer records reflectance or ellipsometric spectra from roughly 190 to 1000 nm. Rigorous electromagnetic models, such as rigorous coupled-wave analysis, fit the measured spectra to recover the structure. OCD is non-destructive and fast, so it is used in-line on production wafers alongside CD-SEM.
Diffraction-based overlay applies a related approach to layer alignment. Spectral or intensity asymmetry between paired grating targets reports the offset between layers.
Wet process and chemical monitoring
Wet benches and chemical distribution systems use NIR and UV-Vis absorption to monitor bath concentrations in real time. Mixtures such as SC-1 and SC-2 cleaning solutions, hydrofluoric acid dilutions and hydrogen peroxide blends have absorption features that track concentration. In-line monitoring keeps each bath within specification and supports controlled chemical replenishment.
Evolve Sensing for semiconductor equipment
- SmartEngine: UV-Vis-NIR platform for reflectometry and plasma emission.
- SilverBullet: compact UV-Vis for integrated metrology and OEM modules.
- Magna: high-resolution platform for emission line separation.
- Thermal stability, external triggering, SDK support and OEM configuration for tool builders.
We are happy to help match a spectrometer to a chamber, metrology module or process tool.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Can one supplier cover UV, visible and NIR semiconductor measurements?
- Yes. Evolve Sensing offers UV-Vis-NIR, TE-cooled, InGaAs NIR, high-resolution, OCT and dual-spectrometer platforms, plus deep-UV configurations, with staged full-range architectures available on request.
- Is the deep-UV SmartEngine a replacement for every UV spectrometer?
- No. It is an option for measurements that require coverage toward 155 nm. Above 200 nm the standard UV-Vis benches are usually the better choice, and the right selection depends on source, optics, purge requirements and calibration.
- Does Evolve support OEM tool integration?
- Yes. Compact form factors, programmable I/O, triggering, onboard buffering, Gigabit Ethernet, a documented SDK and configuration planning against the tool architecture are all available.
Next step
Discuss your application with an engineer
Send the wavelength range, the sample type and the accuracy required, and an Evolve Sensing applications engineer will recommend a configuration, typically within one business day.