Rose-Hulman and Innovations Foresight LLC Receive Second INTAP Grant
Silicon wafers are the foundation of virtually all modern microelectronics and semiconductor devices. Before these wafers can undergo fabrication and chemical processing, their surface quality must be thoroughly inspected. Because every manufacturing step builds on the wafer itself, the starting surface must be as close to perfect as possible. That’s where the grant and this project come into play.
The goal of this project is to evaluate wafer surface quality through a single, high-resolution measurement that can identify defects and variations at multiple scales. The level of detail can be adjusted depending on the inspection requirements. To do this, artificial intelligence (AI) will be used to conduct the quality inspection.
Dr. Syed Azer Reza, Bruce R. Danner Endowed Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor in Physics, Optical Engineering and NanoEngineering, is the faculty member who will spearhead the project for Rose-Hulman.
“Our team will capture specialized images of the wafer surface and develop the testing platform used to acquire the data,” said Reza. He will work on creating this prototype with one of his master’s degree thesis advisees studying optical engineering.
Innovations Foresight is developing the backend technology and is adapting its existing AI capabilities to address the specific needs of silicon wafer characterization and quality control. The images Rose captures will then be processed by Innovations Foresight’s AI-powered analysis system. And using the collected images, the AI system will analyze the wafer surface and generate detailed measurements of flatness, curvature, and other surface defects or imperfections. The result will be a rapid, automated inspection process that helps ensure only high-quality wafers move forward into the manufacturing process.
This is not the first time Rose-Hulman and Innovations Foresight LLC have worked together and received grant funding on a collaborative project. Reza and Innovations Foresight LLC worked for several years to develop an AI-powered eye-testing device that can automatically determine a person’s vision prescription by analyzing light reflected from the eye.
Current eye exams often involve patients looking through different lenses and responding to questions like, “Which is clearer, option one or option two?” Instead, this AI-based technology shines a safe laser into the eye and analyzes the light reflected back from the retina. That light then contains information about imperfections in the shape and optics of the eye. The system interprets those reflections and calculates the person’s prescription directly, eliminating the need for subjective responses from the patient.
A team of 10 undergraduate students worked with Reza to help build and test the prototype as part of capstone projects and two students conducted scientific validation. The system is now fully functional, portable enough to fit in luggage, and ready for Innovations Foresight LLC to demonstrate it at industry conferences and trade shows.
These collaborations and grants not only give faculty the chance to work with industry partners, but also provides Rose-Hulman students with hands-on opportunities to apply their in-class learning to practical work that is being used in the engineering profession.
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