Commercial semi-automatic probe stations

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-44

PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY

Title:  Commercial semi-automatic probe stations

BACKGROUND

Silicon carbide field effect transistors (FETs) have emerged as a superior solution to silicon FETs for high power semiconductor applications. In recent years, the silicon carbide FET industry has grown at a significant rate with applications in photovoltaics, the power grid, electric vehicles, energy storage, and more. Despite the commercial success of these devices, the industry is plagued by reliability problems, often leading to the need for redundancy in integrated systems. Arguably most important among these issues is the extrinsic breakdown characteristics of the FET gate oxide. Studying this problem requires a deep statistical understanding of device behavior, and innovative solutions for pre-screening from the factory. A large-scale, multi-faceted reliability testing platform is required in order to find solutions.

The CHIPS R&D Program Office intends to purchase a 300 mm wafer probing station which will facilitate the study of transistor characteristics, leakage currents, and breakdown behavior of silicon carbide FET gate dielectrics. This purchase aligns with the CHIPS R&D Programs Office’s mission to standardize new materials, processes, and equipment for microelectronics research. The resulting data will be compared to statistical breakdown data obtained through our effort to create a massively parallel testing platform. The data will also be compared to that of industry standard pre-screening tests on identical samples in order to verify or dispute their accuracy. Similar methodology may be applied to other gate oxide reliability problems in the future.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Insert brief description of item (e.g. Optical Table, Part Number)

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications

   1. Must be a semiautomatic wafer probing station capable of probing wafers up to 300 mm in diameter
   2. Must be capable of probing both whole wafers and pre-diced dies
   3. Must be four probes capable of probing pad sizes as small as 40 µm x 40 µm, with a pitch of 60 µm. Probes must have magnetic bases.
   4. Must be compatible with and include low-noise, blade-style probe tips
   5. Must include a heated wafer chuck capable of reaching temperatures of at least 200 degrees Celsius
   6. Must include digital microscope capable of imaging 5 µm features
   7. Must include user-friendly software for control of probing and microscope manipulation
   8. Must include vibration isolation

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QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

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IMPORTANT NOTES

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