Silicon Valley in the Vienna Prater

Researchers at Vienna University of Technology's Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics are really happy about the accreditation of their X-ray laboratory, which is the only one of its type in Austria. Here, silicon substrate plates ("wafers") are examined under clean-room conditions with a non-destructive analysis methods. Vienna (TU). At the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics's newly accredited X-ray laboratory, intensive X-ray beams are used to examine the surfaces of silicon wafers for inorganic contamination by elements ranging from potassium (K) to lead (Pb) by means of TXRF (Total-Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Analysis). Using a fully automatic robot system, the objects to be examined (with a maximum diameter of 200 mm) are loaded into the spectrometer, irradiated, and the resulting characteristic radiation of the elements is measured. This method, unique in Austria, allows an extremely sensitive determination in the ultra-trace range of up to 1010 atoms per cm2. "It's difficult to imagine how small the quantities are that we can detect here in the lab", explains Laboratory Supervisor, Prof. Christina Streli.