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Failure analysis on silicon semiconductor device materials: optical and high-resolution microscopic assessments

2022-11-01 , Subash Chandra Bose Gopinath , Ramanathan S. , Mohd Yasin M.N. , Shapiai Razak M.I. , Ismail Z.H. , Salleh S. , Zaliman Sauli , Malarvili M.B. , Subramaniam S.

Defects of silicon (Si) semiconductor epilayers are crucial to be identified at laboratory environs. The identification of failure and its rectification at laboratory settings is essential for large-scaling manufacturing of narrowed down semiconductor devices. This research documented the inspection, identification and the solution for defects found in the Si semiconductor epilayers, fabricated by a simple and conventional photolithography technique, with the integration of metal oxide nanomaterial, zinc oxide (ZnO). The semiconductor epilayers, Si wafer, Si oxide and ZnO coated SiO2 layer were formed and examined. Optical microscope images [high power microscope (HPM) and 3D profilometer] reveal smooth surface of semiconductor epilayers development through thermal oxidation and photolithography techniques. High power ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) justified the accuracy of wet thermal oxidation by examining the thickness of oxide layer on Si wafer at 3837.3 Ã…. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of sol-gel synthesized ZnO affirmed the hexagonal crystalline state and its nanoscale size at 54 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) has shown the insight of Si epilayer morphology with its elemental composition, which provides details of foreign substances on semiconductor surface. ZnO deposited Si epilayer was prepared through lamella preparation, prior to the cross-sectional field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM) analysis of the semiconductor, which revealed the uniformity of fabrication and ZnO distribution at Si epilayer. Failure analysis reported several defects on the Si epilayers in the state of patches and accumulation of impurities. The potential cause of the defects and the respective solutions are discussed as the accuracy and handling must be ensured throughout the fabrication process, to develop a flawless semiconductor for high performance applications.

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Digital fringe projection system for round shaped breast tumor detection

2020-01-01 , Wan Mokhdzani Wan Nor Haimi , Zaliman Sauli , Hasnizah Aris , Vithyacharan Retnasamy , Rajendaran Vairavan , Muhamad Hafiz Ab Aziz

The digital fringe projection has been widely used in the field of surface imaging however its application in the field of body imaging especially for human breasts is still quite limited. Currently, the common imaging modality for breast tumor diagnoses are breast ultrasound and mammogram. There are advantages and limitations of using the mammogram and ultrasound in terms of the procedure of the process and the non-invasive nature of the procedure. In this work, an automated digital fringe projection system is developed to execute the imaging of surface changes of a helical shaped phantom breast. The fringe projection setup utilizes a computer, LCD projector, and a CCD camera. The tumor used was round-shaped with a diameter size of 1.5 and 2 cm. The fringe pattern was projected through the three-step phase shift where a resulting phase map was obtained. Results demonstrated that the system was able to identify an average pixel shift of five and ten on the breast surface caused by the presence of the round breast tumors.

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Publication

Failure analysis on silicon semiconductor device materials: optical and high-resolution microscopic assessments

2022-11-01 , Subash Chandra Bose Gopinath , Ramanathan S. , Mohd Yasin M.N. , Shapiai Razak M.I. , Ismail Z.H. , Salleh S. , Zaliman Sauli , Malarvili M.B. , Subramaniam S.

Defects of silicon (Si) semiconductor epilayers are crucial to be identified at laboratory environs. The identification of failure and its rectification at laboratory settings is essential for large-scaling manufacturing of narrowed down semiconductor devices. This research documented the inspection, identification and the solution for defects found in the Si semiconductor epilayers, fabricated by a simple and conventional photolithography technique, with the integration of metal oxide nanomaterial, zinc oxide (ZnO). The semiconductor epilayers, Si wafer, Si oxide and ZnO coated SiO2 layer were formed and examined. Optical microscope images [high power microscope (HPM) and 3D profilometer] reveal smooth surface of semiconductor epilayers development through thermal oxidation and photolithography techniques. High power ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) justified the accuracy of wet thermal oxidation by examining the thickness of oxide layer on Si wafer at 3837.3 Ã…. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of sol-gel synthesized ZnO affirmed the hexagonal crystalline state and its nanoscale size at 54 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) has shown the insight of Si epilayer morphology with its elemental composition, which provides details of foreign substances on semiconductor surface. ZnO deposited Si epilayer was prepared through lamella preparation, prior to the cross-sectional field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM) analysis of the semiconductor, which revealed the uniformity of fabrication and ZnO distribution at Si epilayer. Failure analysis reported several defects on the Si epilayers in the state of patches and accumulation of impurities. The potential cause of the defects and the respective solutions are discussed as the accuracy and handling must be ensured throughout the fabrication process, to develop a flawless semiconductor for high performance applications.

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Fringe projection phase shift variance effects on breast height imaging

2020-01-08 , Norhaimi W.M.W. , Zaliman Sauli , Aris H. , Retnasamy V. , Shahimin M.M. , Vairavan R.

Fringe projection has been garnering tremendous interest in the field of optical imaging. A wide range of surface measurement application including the medical application utilizes the fringe projection as means of surface metrology due to its non-invasive imaging modality. Although fringe projection has been applied in the medical field, minimal work has been conducted in the field of breast height imaging. In this work, a digital fringe projection system based on the phase shifting fringe projection is applied on a prosthetic tear drop breast. The fringe projection system consists of a digital projector, CCD camera and a computer. A phase shift variance of π/4, π/2 and 2π/3 from the fringe patterns are projected onto the breast sample using the three step phase shift fringe projection. The phase shift is varied to determine a suitable phase shift for the tear drop breast height imaging obtained from the phase map followed by the phase unwrapping process. The surface height profile obtained from the varied phase shift of the fringe projection system was compared to the height profile of the tear drop breast obtained from a direct method using the electronic digital vernier caliper. The results demonstrate that the fringe patterns phase shifted by 2π/3 produce a smooth phase map and unwrapped phase map which resulted in a clear and visible height profile of the tear drop breast with an almost identical height profile with the direct measurement method. The preliminary results from this study can be further extended to breast imaging with the presence of cancerous breast tumors.

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A 12 GHz LC-VCO Implemented with S’ shape Inductor using Silicon-on Sapphire Substrate

2022-12-01 , Khalid N. , Hashim N.A. , Nor N.I.M. , Kasjoo S.R. , Zaliman Sauli , Hashim M.N.H. , Mispan M.S.

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. In a VCO, low-phase noise while consuming less power is preferred. The tuning gain and noise in the control signal produce phase noise; more noise or tuning gain implies more phase noise. Sources of flicker noise (1/f noise) in the circuit, the output power level, and the loaded Q factor of the resonator are all crucial factors that influence phase noise. As a result, creating a resonator with a high Q-factor is essential for improving VCO performance. As a result, this paper describes a 12 GHz LC Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) employed with a ‘S’ shape inductor to improve phase noise and power performance. The phase noise for the VCO was reduced using a noise filtering technique. To reduce substrate loss and improve the Q factor, the inductor was designed on a high-resistivity Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) substrate. At 12 GHz, the optimised S’ shape inductor has the highest Q-factor of 50.217. At 10 MHz and 100 MHz, the phase noise of the 12 GHz LC-VCO was-131.33 dBc/Hz and-156.71 dBc/Hz, respectively. With a 3.3 V power supply, the VCO core consumes 26.96 mW of power. Based on the findings, it is concluded that using an ‘S’ shape inductor in the VCO circuit will enable the development of low-cost, high-performance, very low-power system-on-chip wireless transceivers with longer battery life.