Crystalline Defect Inspection
X-ray diffraction imaging (XRDI), which is also known as X-ray topography, is a technique that images crystalline defects in single crystal materials, such as dislocation, slip, precipitates and micrcracks. The diffracted intensity is imaged with um resolution and defects that introduce strain or tilt into the crystal lattice will diffract more strongly than the surrounding perfect material. In a transmission geometry, XRDI can image buried defects that are not imaged by traditional optical techniques that only image the surface of the wafer. Defects in thin epilayers can also be imaged using a reflection geometry.