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The shortage of semiconductors 鈥� the computer chips that products such as smartphones, laptops, cars and even washing machines rely on 鈥� continues to impact industries around the world.

The current supply chain issues are motivating engineers to make the inspection of the silicon wafers that semiconductors are fabricated from more efficient. It is a goal that the industry would focus on even without the global shortage. To help accomplish that, University of Colorado mechanical engineering students have developed a device that improves the inspection process.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering seniors have built a silicon wafer center-finding improvement device for , a semiconductor manufacturing company. The Senior Design team鈥檚 prototype uses two cameras to capture the circular wafer鈥檚 edge, plus computer software to calculate the radius and find the wafer鈥檚 center.

鈥淭he reason this is important is that KLA has to inspect these wafers for defects, and when they find one, they need to know where on the wafer it is with a high-level of precision,鈥� said Marty LaRocque, the team鈥檚 electro-mechanical engineer. 鈥淭hey have to establish a coordinate system on the wafer and the hardest part of that is finding the center.鈥�

Currently, KLA is detecting the wafer鈥檚 center with ten different images around the edge. The team of students designed their device to find the center just as efficiently with only two images.

鈥淥n one of KLA鈥檚 inspection tools, it currently takes them eight seconds to align one wafer, and we鈥檙e trying to get that down to two seconds,鈥� said Project Manager Jack Carver. 鈥淎 75% reduction is going to get so much more throughput. With the global silicon wafer supply shortage, any improvements in that would be greatly beneficial for them.鈥�

The real-world impact that the students鈥� device could have on the industry is part of the reason this project enticed them.

鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting because KLA explained to us the real significance of our prototype,鈥� said Prem Griddalur, the systems engineer on the team. 鈥淎bout every two years, the size of the semiconductor becomes smaller, and at the same time, the scale they鈥檙e manufacturing these at gets larger because of increased demand. KLA did a great job explaining why their equipment is important and how our project plays a role in the larger scheme of the industry.鈥�

The team captured their first position of the wafer鈥檚 center in early March. They are now running statistical tests and taking measurements to check the device鈥檚 accuracy. They need the coordinates to be within 10 microns of the true center, which is the width of a human red blood cell.

Since the team鈥檚 device is a prototype, KLA鈥檚 system may not end up looking exactly like the students鈥� design. However, their prototype and tests will still provide the company with critical information to help guide decisions about future designs.

The students said that aspect is relatable to real-world scenarios. Typically, engineers are tasked with making current systems better, rather than creating new designs from scratch.
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