Laboratory:
We have a 800 sq-ft Class 100 cleanroom that is located in Tucson, AZ (USA). The company owns chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) polishers, post-CMP PVA brush scrubbing equipment, thin-film metrology tools for metal and insulator film thickness measurements, fluid flow visualization systems, slurry mixing and handling equipment, pH meters, and glassware. This facility is in the Micro/Nano Fabrication Cleanroom within the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building of the University of Arizona. We have a long-term “Facilities Use Agreement” in place which grants us permission to use the university’s facilities.
Low-Volume Manufacturing:
We have a 500 sq-ft Class 10,000 facility for the assembly and manufacturing of the Slurry Injection System (SIS®) and the assembly of Flucto-CMP®. We own incoming and outgoing QC stations for parts, as well as workbenches for systems assembly, laser scribing equipment, vacuum packaging equipment, and numerous pieces of hardware for SIS manufacturing, and Flucto-CMP® assembly. This facility is located next to our Class 100 cleanroom with a similar “Facilities Use Agreement” as above.
Major Pieces of Equipment owned by Araca:
- APD-800 Prime® Polisher and Tribometer Brochure (for processing 200 and 300 mm wafers – to be installed in late 2024).
- APD-800® polisher and tribometer (for processing 200 and 300 mm wafers) – Please see CMP Polishers and Tribometers as well as APD-800® Polisher and Tribometer Brochure.
- RDP-500® polisher and tribometer (for processing coupons, 100, 150 and 200 mm wafers) – Please see CMP Polishers and Tribometers as well as RDP-500® Brochure.
- PCC-300 PVA brush scrubber and tribometer (for processing coupons, 100, 150, 200 and 300 mm wafers) – Please see PCC-300® Brochure and Heavy Table and Environmental Chamber System Brochure.
- Automated 4-point probe for thickness measurement of thin metal films and wafer film thickness mapping (for processing coupons, 100, 150, 200 and 300 mm wafers).
- Automated reflectometer for thickness measurement of thin insulator films and wafer film thickness mapping (for processing coupons, 100, 150, 200 and 300-mm wafers).
- Four Flucto-CMP® continuously flowing slurry reactors with dedicated megasonic sapphire transducers, power supplies and electronics.
- Two miniaturized Flucto-CMP® continuously flowing slurry reactors with dedicated megasonic sapphire transducers, power supplies and electronics.
- High-speed fluid flow visualization system with UV light illumination.
- High-Speed fluid flow visualization system with LED light illumination.
- Keyence VR-6200 White Light Interferometer.
- VITREK Proforma 300i capacitance-based system that performs non-contact thickness measurements of semiconducting and semi-insulating wafers.
- Digital microbalance for SiC RR determination.
Other Resources:
Besides our own laboratory, manufacturing facility and all pieces of equipment therein, for a nominal pay-as-you-use basis, we have access to several key pieces of testing and metrology equipment within the campus of the University of Arizona. The metrology tools reside in various departments within the university (all less than 5-minute walking distance) such as Optical Sciences, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering:
Moreover, we have executed a 5-year strategic collaboration agreement with Leweis University that is focused on CMP and post-CMP cleaning process-equipment-materials pathfinding. We have donated more than 750K USD worth of CMP equipment to partially support activities within the Keleher Research Group at LU. The agreement gives us free-of-charge access to various experimental and metrology tools such as:
- RDP-500 polisher and tribometer (for processing coupons, 100, 150 and 200 mm wafers) – Please see RDP-500® Brochure.
- Post-CMP Scrubber and Tribometer (for processing coupons, 100, 150, 200 and 300 mm wafers) – Please see PCC-300® Brochure and Heavy Table and Environmental Chamber System Brochure.
- Flucto-CMP® continuously flowing slurry reactor with dedicated megasonic sapphire transducer, power supply and electronics.
- Miniaturized Flucto-CMP® continuously flowing slurry reactor with dedicated megasonic sapphire transducer, power supply and electronics.
- Filmetrics ProFilm 3D surface profiler.
- SEM and EDX tool JEOL NeoScope JCM-7000.
- Tekscan pressure measurement.
- Dark-field fluorescence microscopy.
- Malvern Zetasizer NANO-ZS.
- Mavlipa G3.
- A NanoSurf Flex atomic force microscopy.
- Rotating Disk Electrode (Static and Dynamic).
- Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Nano-balance (EQCN).
- Spectroscopy and Surface Energy Analyses tools for UV/Visible spectroscopy, Ce4+/Ce3+ Analysis, oxygen radical trapping, Cu complex analysis, integrating sphere assembly for bandgap measurements, fluorescence spectroscopy, ATR/IR spectroscopy, AA spectroscopy, and dynamic contact angle analysis.
- Lumina AT-1 laser optical scanning systems enable full-surface defect detection, mapping, and classification on transparent, translucent, and opaque substrates.
The following press releases describe our relationship with LU. All work that supports Araca’s long-term strategic objectives is performed under iron-clad NDAS signed by Prof. Keleher and his students:
Lastly, based on our recent agreement with Toho Koki Seisakusho Co., Ltd., we have negotiated unlimited access (on a pay-per-use basis) to their brand-new and ultra-modern Class 10 cleanroom in Yokkaichi (JP) as well as the following top-notch equipment therein:
