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New methods and equipment for reliable permeability and saturation measurements in tight rock samples
Background
In the field of petroleum engineering and geosciences, understanding the fluid-flow characteristics in reservoir rocks is crucial for optimizing hydrocarbon recovery. This involves accurately assessing permeability and saturation-dependent relative permeability, which are key parameters in evaluating how fluids move through porous rock formations....
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Non-contact inspection system for detecting rail defects using laser doppler vibrometer measurements
Background
Railroads are a critical component of transportation infrastructure, facilitating the movement of goods and people. As train speeds and axle loads increase, so does the strain on aging and deteriorating railroad tracks, leading to a rise in rail defects. One of the most hazardous types of defects is transverse defects located inside the...
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Rapid optical metrology of critical dimensions of large-area nanostructure arrays with complex patterns
Background
Scatterometry-based metrology has the capability to perform high-throughput inspection of geometric characteristics of large-area nanopatterned surfaces. It utilizes physics-based dependencies between reflectance of light scattered from nanopatterned surfaces for pre-defined set of wavelengths and Critical Dimensions (CDs) of such nanopatterns.
Current...
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Optical control of nanoparticles on solid substrates
Background
Colloidal particles are becoming an increasingly prevalent feature in many emerging technologies. The ability to control these particles and construct them into desired nanostructures for functional devices is necessary to realize their benefits in real-world applications. Many existing technologies to control colloidal particles function...
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Wafer alignment with AFM metrology
Background
One of the major challenges in nanoscale manufacturing is defect control. Optical inspection is not an option at the nanoscale level due to the diffraction limit of light, and without inspection high scrap rates can occur. One solution to this problem is inline metrology using atomic force microscopes (AFM). Single chip MEMS based AFMs have...
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Tunable ionization platform
Background Different molecules have different ionization energies. Commercially available photo-ionization detectors (PIDs) emit light to ionize the molecules of interest. However, these PIDs require distinct lamps dependent upon the ionization energy required. In fact there are four types of lamps available, each with a different, fixed ionization...
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Independently actuated AFM probes for nanoscale measurement
Background The development of accurate surface imaging is key to implementing an effective metrology strategy to manage defect detection in high volume electronic device fabrication. Measurement of manufacturing processes can be performed either in-line, as part of the manufacturing process, or off-line in a separate process. Unfortunately, no methods...
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