AA for Semiconductor Applications

Thermo Elemental has responded to the corrosive sample issues of the semiconductor industry with a specially configured AA system. High purity solvents, acids and cleaning fluids must be strictly controlled and monitored at critical points throughout the production process and they are routinely checked at the sub-ppb level for the main impurity elements, including Na, Ca, Cu, Fe and Ni.

To measure such elements to these low levels requires a technique with high analytical sensitivity and instrumentation hardware capable of handling the very corrosive reagents. HF, HNO3, H2SO4 that are regularly used. Thermo Elemental has developed a variant of the SOLAAR MQZ with this application specifically in mind. The all-graphite containment area and rhodium-plated centre block give the furnace the necessary corrosion-resistance. ELCs (extended lifetime cuvettes), or OMEGA Platform Cuvettes, with extra thick pyrolytic graphite coatings, yield high sensitivities and have lifetimes of many hundred firings, even with the corrosive samples.

Not only does the GF95Z graphite furnace have analytical sensitivities easily capable of measuring the low elemental concentrations required, but its design ensures corrosion resistance and therefore long-term reliability.