Laboratory services

The research and development services of ORC for companies and universities include the following. Please contact Pekka Savolainen or the contact persons mentioned in the text for details.

Molecular beam epitaxy

With ORC's five MBE systems we are able to fabricate a wide range of material compounds based on GaAs, InP and GaSb.

Please contact Prof. Mircea Guina for details.

Surface analysis

Our Surface Science Laboratory conducts contract research for industry and universities. Our surface sensitive research methods are applicable for product development, optimization of manufacturing processes, failure analysis, and solving problems related to adhesion, color change, oxidation etc. The methods are suitable for a wide variety of metal, semiconductor, and insulator materials in solid or powder form.

Electron spectroscopy (XPS, AES, UPS, LEED): Chemical composition, oxidation states, depth profiling, surface morphology, and electronic structure.
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM): Surface morphology and electronic structure.
Molecular beam surface scattering (MBSS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TPD): Interaction of gas molecules with surfaces.

Read more about our research methods and surface analysis services (pdf, Finnish).

Please contact Prof. Mika Valden for details.

Characterization

ORC has a wide variety of tools and techniques for analysing materials and devices, including the following.

Optical microscopy
Profilometry
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED)
X-ray diffraction
Electrochemical and normal capacitance-voltage ((E)-C-V)
Deep level transient Fourier spectroscopy (DLTFS)
Hall measurement
Room temperature and low temperature photoluminescence (PL)
Photoreflectance
Spectroscopic ellipsometry
Lifetime reliability measurement station
Nearfield and far-field systems
Laser light power - drive current - voltage measurement systems
Measurements of dynamical properties
Polarisation analysis
Optical and RF spectrum analysis
Laser beam quality analysis
Ultrafast temporal pulse analysis
Nonlinear optical reflectivity measurements
Solar simulator

Lithography (optical and nanoimprint)

Photo lithography is to replicate a mask pattern onto a wafer using UV-sensitive polymers and UV light. ORC uses a contact lithography, capable of replicating patterns with resolution and positional accuracy of 0.5 µm. Thickness of a typical resist layer (either positive or negative) ranges from 1 µm to 10 µm. Passivation, planarisation and UV-patternable polyimide coatings can also be made. Moreover, nanoimprint lithography is possible.

Etching of semiconductors, dielectrics and metals

Semiconductors, dielectrics and metals can be etched by dry or wet etching. Dry etching uses plasma to activate the etching species. Dry etching allows preparing more anisotropic patterns than what is possible by wet etching. For dry etching ORC uses argon, oxygen, silicon tetrachloride, hydrogen, methane, chlorine and freon. Chemo-mechanical polishing is used to thin and polish semiconductor wafers.

Dielectric coatings

Two methods are used for deposition of dielectrics. (i) Plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) for depositing etch masks and insulators. Gases used are silane / nitrogen (5%/95%), ammonia, nitrous oxide, and nitrogen, which enable the formation of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (SiN) layers. (ii) Electron beam evaporation, which is employed to deposit anti-reflection or high-reflection films with very precise layer thicknesses.

Rapid thermal annealing

RTA is used to anneal metal / semiconductor contacts and semiconductor epilayers for improved performance. Annealing takes place at temperatures between 100 and 1000˚C under vacuum or air or nitrogen atmosphere. Typical RTA ramp rates are around 100˚C/s.

Metallisation

In device fabrication metals have important and versatile role. Metals can be used to inject current into semiconductors or act as hard etch masks, solders, heat sinks or sacrificial layers. Depending on their optical properties, metals can be used as mirrors or absorbing layers. At ORC metals are deposited by several techniques. Thin (<1 µm) metal coatings are fabricated using e-beam evaporation technique. Thicker metal coatings are made using thermal evaporation or electroplating.

Packaging

ORC carries out packaging in exploratory quantities. The diced chips are attached to packages that provide heat sinking, mechanical support and protection. Upon packaging the components can be integrated with lenses or diffractive elements. The packing tools include an automated scriber / breaker, a vacuum reflow oven, wire bonders, a die bonder and a wafer expander. Soldering is possible via preforms, vacuum evaporation or electroplating.

Optical fiber components

ORC has facilities to manufacture a broad selection of passive optical fibre components. The equipment includes a commercial glass processing station and a fiber coupler manufacturing station, as well as a custom fiber tapering device built in-house. This infrastructure enables the fabrication of high-quality fiber components such as mm-scale fiber splices, tap couplers, wavelength division multiplexers, fiber tapers, and pump combiners. Furthermore, we are able to manufacture advanced fiber Bragg gratings with a custom setup based on UV excimer laser and phase-mask technology.