Lake Shore announced today the availability of its new Model 8425 DC Hall measurement system for non-destructive testing of wafer-scale materials in a temperature-controlled, high-vacuum probing environment.

 

The Model 8425 combines the extensive Hall measurement capabilities of the company’s 8400 Series HMS system with the flexibility and convenience of its CRX-VF cryogen-free probe station, making it ideal for a number of applied physics, electrical engineering, materials research, and product R&D applications.

 

The platform features ultra-stable probe arms for accurate tip placement and includes Lake Shore’s patented continuously variable temperature (CVT) probes that ensure consistent measurements over 10 K to 400 K temperatures. Offering DC fields to 2 T and resistances from 10 µΩ to 100 GΩ, the system is optimized for analyzing a variety of medium to high mobility semiconductor devices, including III-V, II-VI, and elemental devices.

 

A key feature of the system is the ability to probe full or partial wafers up to 51 mm (2 in) in diameter, eliminating dicing of fabricated wafers, as typically required in a conventional Hall measurement system. And because the sample measured is under vacuum (a function not available on standard Hall systems), the Model 8425 is an ideal platform for studying materials that might be reactive to air or require initial warming to drive out moisture.

 

Probing also offers the flexibility to measure more Hall structures and smaller devices. Structures can be as small as a millimeter in size in the station. Repositionable probes eliminate the need for large fixed-wire contacts, and they enable multiple structures to be sampled on a wafer, including FET structures progressively built on wafer substrates.

 

Along with all the instrumentation necessary for measuring as a function of temperature and field, the system includes the latest in Lake Shore Hall measurement software capabilities and utilities. The software enables easy control of magnetic field, sample temperature, and sample excitation, and supports van der Pauw, Hall bar, and gated Hall bar measurements. It also allows users to run temperature loops, with Hall measurements repeated according to a preset schedule for unattended experiments.

 

DC field measurement capabilities are the same as those for Lake Shore’s other 8400 Series systems, including Hall voltage, IV curves, resistance, and resistivity, and derived values include Hall coefficient, Hall mobility, carrier type, carrier density, and magnetoresistance. When used with optional QMSA software, the system supports exporting of measurement data for multi-carrier analysis.