Hardness and scratch test methods for the semiconductor and electronics industry

Mechanical properties of semiconductors are important because they can indicate whether the manufacturing process is correct or whether a functional layer sufficiently adheres to the substrate. However, semiconductor and electronic products are characterized by very small dimensions: The tiniest components in chips or printed circuit boards (PCB) can have dimensions of several nanometers only. So when the developers and manufacturers want to test their mechanical properties, they must use dedicated instruments. The most suitable techniques for mechanical characterization on nanoscale are nano indentation and nano scratch testing. These techniques can help with measuring hardness and adhesion or scratch resistance of thin films on wafer or glass. They can also be used for protective layers on displays or polymeric layers on printed circuit boards. Higher load scratch tests can be used for determination of scratch resistance of the casing of final consumer products such as mobile phones.

The main topics of this webinar will be:

  • What are typical features of semiconductor and electronics devices?
  • Measurements of passivation layers on wafers (hardness and adhesion)
  • Organic layers on OLED displays: How well do they adhere to glass?
  • Effects of Cu treatment on the adhesion of polymer PCB mask
  • Scratch resistance of mobile phone cases

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jiří Nohava, PhD. (English)
Jiří Nohava, PhD.

Jiri Nohava is the Head of Product Competence & Lead Application Scientist of the Mechanical Surface Characterization unit at Anton Paar. He obtained his PhD in materials science at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He joined Anton Paar in 2007 and has become a specialist in instrumented indentation and tribology in various domains. His main task is development of new applications with Anton Paar instruments in scientific and industrial projects. He regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals and participates in international conferences.

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