Microwave Amorphous SemiConducting Oxides measurement Tool (MASCOT)

"PragmatIC is a world leader in the field of low-cost flexible electronics, with a core focus on RFID tags to enable item level tagging for stock control, anti-counterfeiting and direct digital engagement purposes, primarily in the field of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) where silicon solutions are cost prohibitive. PragmatIC current product family includes the PR1100 ConnectIC series which are designed for HF RFID proximity identification applications in which one or more custom readers are incorporated into the closed RFID system.

These products are based on a novel thin film transistor technology, utilising ultra-thin metal oxide films of only a few tens of nanometres as the key functional layers, manufactured with a proprietary billion unit and fully automated production system (FlexLogIC) for flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) based in Sedgefield.

One of the main challenges with this innovative technology is monitoring the electrical properties of the extremely thin semiconducting layer in situ at the various stages of the manufacturing process. MASCOT develops a metrology capability suitable for industrial implementation, culminating in an in-line tool for thin film measurement with the right sensitivity, throughput, cost and ease of integration to PragmatIC's FlexLogIC manufacturing platform. With such a tool, process monitoring metrics for the semiconductor film can be further optimised, enabling early detection of variations within the films to allow corrective action to be implemented early in the manufacturing process, which maintains throughput and minimises scrap. This directly correlates to improvement in PragmatIC's manufacturing yield and associated reduction in the overall FlexIC cost point, a crucial metric for mass technology implementation in the low-cost FMCG markets."