Researchers at the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) have produced a method of using light to induce high-frequency sound waves, which in turn are used to reveal the internal structure of opaque materials in very small structures such as semiconductors.
Many opaque materials transmit sound waves, enabling echoscope inspection whereby high-frequency sound waves are passed through a material to visualize what’s inside it. This method is limited, however, as the finer the visualization, the higher the frequency required.
The ARCNL researchers applied short pulses of light from a laser to induce sound waves at a high enough frequency that visualization of nanostructures was enabled.
These findings could find applications in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, such as wafer alignment, which uses grating lines to ensure properly aligned layering of nano-structures on wafers.
PHYS.org has the story here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.