Coatings and Thin Films

Every aspect of modern life benefits from coating or thin film technology. Whether a barrier layer film in an integrated circuit chip or a conversion coating on an aluminum beverage can, X-ray analytical techniques are integral to both R&D development, production process control and quality assurance. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) can determine the thickness and elemental composition of metallic coatings. Commonly employed in the semiconductor manufacturing process as a metrology tool, X-ray reflectometry (XRR) is used to measure layer thicknesses in a multi-layer stack of coatings and also can characterize other coating properties like roughness and interlayer diffusion. Emerging as a leading enabler for nano-technology research, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and associated techniques are employed to examine the nature of the molecular structure of films. Rigaku technology and experience provide a variety of non-destructive analytical solutions for coating and thin film measurements.