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ULTRA-TRACE MATERIALS ANALYSIS USING RIS

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Air Force
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 3713
Amount: $55,407.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1986
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
114 Ridgeway Ctr
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 DR NORBERT THONNARD
 (615) 483-1113
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

REQUIREMENTS FOR MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION ARE BECOMING MORE STRINGENT AS THE ROLE OF THE TRACE ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF HIGHTECHNOLOGY DEVICES BECOMES APPARENT. IN SEMICONDUCTOR RESEARCH, FOR INSTANCE, THERE IS A NEED FOR ULTRA-TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS IN SOLIDS BELOW THE PPBA LEVEL WITH SPATICAL RESOLUTION IN THE FEW MICRON RANGE. RESONANCE IONIZATION SPECTROSCOPY (RIS) INVOLVES THE STEPWISE EXCITATION, IONIZATION, AND COUNTING OF ATOMS OF A PRE-SELECTED ELEMENT, GENERALLY IN A LARGE BACKGROUND OF OTHER ELEMENTS. NARROWBAND LASERS ALLOW SUFFICIENT OPTICAL POWER TO IONIZE MOST ATOMS OF THE SELECTED ELEMENT WITH NEGLIGIBLE IONIZATION OF THE OTHER ELEMENTS.IN RIS, THE SENSITIVITY DEPENDS ON THE NUMBER OF ATOMS THAT ARE IN THE LASER BEAM. LASER ABLATION CAN PROVIDE ATOM DENSITIES AS HIGH AS 10 TO THE 20TH POWER CM-3 WITH RESOLUTION OF A FEW MICRONS. AT >10 TO THE 7TH POWER W CM-2, PLASMAS ARE FORMED, WITH HIGH ENERGY IONS DEGRADING MASS DISCRIMINATION. BECAUSE OF THE HIGH ION YIELD, MOST WORKERS ATTEMPT TO OPERATE CLOSE TO THIS THRESHOLD. WITH RIS, LASER ABLATION NEED ONLY VAPORIZED, PERMITTING POWER DENSITIES OF TO THE 7TH POWER W CM-2, AT WHICH MOSTLY NEUTRALS ARE FORMED. WE PROPOSE INVESTIGATING QUANTIFICATION OF LASER ABLATION TO DETERMINE IF COMBINED WITH RIS, UNPRECEDENTED SENSITIVITY IN MATERIAL ANALYSIS BECOMES POSSIBLE.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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