Spicer Consulting Limited introduced its new SC28 monitoring system. The SC28 enables long-term, uninterrupted monitoring of magnetic fields, vibrations and acoustics – as well as temperature and humidity – within the lab and semiconductor fab. This system is purpose-designed to survey the environment for electron beam instruments, including Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM), Electron Beam Lithography tools and SEM-based metrology and inspection applications.
Detecting stray magnetic fields, vibrations and other disturbances in the lab is very important for electron microscope applications since these can all negatively affect image quality and resolution. Based on customer feedback – especially from the semiconductor industry – Spicer Consulting Limited has developed the SC28 monitoring system to provide continuous measurements of the magnetic fields and vibrations in all three axes, as well as acoustics, temperature and humidity. The system’s software automatically records the live data and saves it to date-stamped files, making long-term monitoring of the lab seamless and easy. It can also be used as an alarm system to flag any issues, constantly comparing the measured environmental readings to the microscope specifications or user-determined thresholds, sending an error report if a parameter is out of specification. This provides EM operators with complete peace of mind for the long-term stability of their instrumentation.