Absolute measurement – ‘The possibilities may be endless’

SEMICON West 2010, San Francisco, CA. Tiger Optics launched its ALOHA-H20 ammonia analyzer. Back then, the company was effusive about ’21st century spectroscopy’ and explained that this technique was only at the beginning of an upward curve. Now, twelve months later, and Tiger Optics has unveiled its latest innovation in the field of gas analysis at SEMICON West 2011 - and is more excited than ever about the prospects for its patented CW-CRDS technology.

Continuing to expand the capabilities of CW-CRDS (Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy), the company introduced the LaserTrace 3 trace gas analyzer at the annual trade show this July.

The LaserTrace 3 can detect moisture, oxygen, methane, and other analyte contaminants at limits that are more than two times (2X) lower than previous generations of the product line. Building on the success of those previous generations, it’s also the result of years of development and refinement.

Specialty Gas Report caught up with Fred Conroy, Global Director of Sales at Tiger Optics, to explore the potential for this new product.

“Since its inception,” Conroy explained, “R&D efforts at Tiger Optics have always been focused on the business needs of our customers. The new LaserTrace 3 is the culmination of years of development working towards the provision of superior performance, at extremely low levels of contamination.”

“With the LaserTrace 3, we’ve not only cut our lower detection limits (LDLs) in half, we’ve also increased the speed of response. Now, our customers who need to monitor ultra-high purity gas streams can do so down to 100 ppt in certain gases and they’ll be informed of an incursion earlier than was previously available.”

Describing why this is so significant, he continued, “With this information, the gas manufacturer, purifier manufacturer, or semiconductor manufacturer can make the necessary business decisions to both control and improve their manufacturing processes.”

It’s clear that the LaserTrace 3 is a big step forward for the LaserTrace family of analyzers, allowing users to monitor for intrusions at levels that were never previously available - attractive to new and existing customers alike. Asked just how big this leap forward is, Conroy said, “That’s a very interesting question. While the performance of the LaserTrace 3 is a giant leap forward, we’ve kept this as part of the very popular LaserTrace product family.”

“By doing so, we’re enabling our existing customer base to upgrade their LaserTrace or LaserTrace+ products to enjoy the benefits of the LaserTrace 3 without having to spend their capital on replacing their existing analyzers. This is true not only for moisture in bulk gas applications, but for moisture in specialty gases as well, providing measurement across our wide range of other analytes.”

So where do we go from here? In addition to its ongoing commitment to optimizing gas analysis, we understand that Tiger Optics is already working with leading semiconductor manufacturers to improve the uptime performance of their latest 300mm epitaxial deposition tools, by monitoring the exhaust after a scheduled PM. The Warrington, PA-based company sees a number of similar applications on the horizon where the speed of response of its products will allow customers to improve their processes.

Further still, Tiger Optics is full of optimism when it comes to the future potential for its CW-CRDS technology. “What our customers’ tell us is that the most important feature of our CW-CRDS technology is that it is an absolute measurement,” Conroy enthused.

“We have a substantial number of new market opportunities that will significantly drive our R&D and operational efforts and will provide long-term growth for Tiger. And this is just for our existing technology platform. When you add the possibilities of looking at different parts of the light spectrum, then yes, the possibilities may indeed be endless.”