k-Space Associates, Inc.

k-Space specializes in in-situ, real-time thin-film process monitoring tools. Since 1992 we have been developing quality integrated systems engineered to customer input and feedback. Our suite of monitoring tools includes the following:

kSA BandiT wafer temperature monitor. The BandiT systems utilizes diffusely reflected light to accurately and precisely determine wafer temperature. Standard substrate materials include GaAs, GaN, InP, Si, and SiC. BandiT can also spatially resolve temperature across wafers during substrate and multi-wafer platen rotation, yielding true surface temperature maps.

kSA MOS thin-film curvature and stress monitor. The patented kSA MOS system utilizes a laser array to determine real-time, 2D thin-film curvature and subsequent stress profiles of deposited material.

New kSA MOS Ultra-Scan Ex-situ curvature and stress mapping system. This fully integrated tool maps the curvature of semiconductor wafers, optical mirrors, lenses, or practically any polished surface. The standard system provides up to 150mm x,y scanning range with 1um resolution and provides quantitative film stress with full area map.

kSA RateRat deposition monitor. The RateRat system uses a powerful "virtual interface" model to fit to reflectivity oscillations in real-time, extracting deposition rate and optical constants to very high accuracy. The RateRat system may be used for full process control on MBE, MOCVD, PVD, and other deposition systems.

kSA 400 analytical RHEED system. The kSA 400 is the world's premier analytical RHEED system. Built on twelve years of continuous development, the kSA 400 system offers everything from simple diffraction pattern archiving to complex RHEED analysis, including real-time lattice spacing and surface coherence evolution, as well as three independent methods for deposition rate determination.

kSA GaN BandiT

k-Space Associates Inc. has announced that it has developed the kSA GaN BandiT, a new optical temperature monitoring system which directly measures the temperature of GaN and SiC-based films commonly grown by MOCVD or MBE.

All current forms of GaN/SiC temperature measurement, including emissivity-corrected pyrometers (ECP’s), rely upon technology that only measures black body radiation from the susceptor or heater behind the sample. This approach does not allow for direct temperature measurement of the sample, intrawafer temperature variations, or real time GaN surface temperature fluctuations. The new kSA GaN BandiT system directly measures a fundamental material property of semiconductors, namely the temperature-dependent band gap. By monitoring the absorption edge of the material (which is directly related to the band gap), direct temperature measurement is now possible for GaN and SiC, through 1300°C.

The kSA GaN BandiT is not affected by changing view port transmission, stray IR light sources, reactor maintenance or system emissivity changes. Configurations are now available for most commercial single and multi-wafer MOCVD and MBE systems.