About SDI

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SDI is a world leader in non-contact, electrical measurement systems for real time production monitoring and process characterization in the semiconductor industry.

SDI’s strengths:

• A Company dedication to customer support
• Aggressive R&D, producing “evolving metrology” in answer to advancing needs of the semiconductor industry.
• In its category “best in the world” status in detection limits, precision and throughput – both in macro-measurements on monitor wafers, and in micro-measurements on product wafers.

Major applications of SDI products include:

• The most advanced corona-Kelvin tools for monitoring of Si/SiO₂, and other high and low-K dielectrics; full non-contact C-V and I-V characteristics, electrical dielectric thickness (EOT and CET), interface traps and oxide charge measurements, dielectric composition and reliability. SDI has introduced the first and thus far, the corona-Kelvin tool line with micro-capability for product wafer measurement, including scribe line testing or testing in the active cell area.
• Wafer and process contamination monitoring and especially heavy metal monitoring metrology with the “Digital SPV” line of tools that give unmatched sensitivity for Fe contamination in E8 atom/cm³ range and Cu monitoring in E9 atom/cm³ range.
• A breakthrough SPV modular metrology line for the photovoltaic industry. This metrology is being developed by the new SDI Solar Division. It provides not only key information on wafer parameters at various stages of cell manufacturing, but moreover, it characterizes the efficiency degradation caused by injection-enhanced recombination defects, such as oxygen dimer or iron contaminants.

SDI was formed in Massachusetts in 1988 as a spin-off of MIT-RCA Research. It was relocated to Tampa, Florida in 1990. The current ranges of products are all manufactured in SDI’s Tampa facility. The simplest tools can be operated manually. The fully automated tools enable sequenced measurements of multiple parameters, which can be set up locally at the tool GUI for multiple wafer cassettes, or remotely via the SEMI compliant automation interface for use in a fully automated factory environment.