Razor Blade Test Research Articles

Comparing three textural measurements of chicken breast fillets affected by severe wooden breast and spaghetti meat

In this study, we compared three popular textural tests: the compression, Meullenet–Owens razor blade (MORS), and Allo–Kramer (AK) tests, which are used to detect the wooden breast (WB) and spaghetti meat (SM) myopathies. A total of 209 fillets (71 WB, 71 SM, 67 normal) were selected from three different flocks at a large commercial plant. Thawed fillets were subjected to 20% compression tests before and after cooking, and cooked samples were subjected to the MORS and AK tests. The compression test on raw samples showed that normal and SM fillets had lower force (5.61 and 4.69 vs. 9.52 N), work (25 and 22 vs. 45 N mm), and Young’s modulus (2.71 and 2.11 vs. 4.29 N/s, p < .001) values than those of WB. The results of the compression test were confirmed by the cooked fillet results. The MORS test showed that SM had lower shear force (12.8 vs. 14.7 N) and work (249 vs. 288 N mm) values than those of the normal fillets, while WB showed intermediate values. The AK test results showed that SM had lower shear force (10.5 vs. 14.5 N) and Young’s modulus (31.0 vs. 46.0 N/s; p ≤ .01) values than those of WB fillets, whereas normal fillets had intermediate values. The compression test can be used to identify WB in both raw and cooked meat. The MORS test could distinguish cooked SM fillets from normal fillets, whereas the AK test differentiated SM from WB. HIGHLIGHTS This study compared the compression, Meullenet–Owens razor blade, and Allo–Kramer tests for detecting wooden breast (WB) and spaghetti meat (SM). The compression test identified WB in both raw and cooked fillets. Meullenet–Owens razor blade test distinguished SM from normal fillets. Allo–Kramer test accurately distinguished SM from WB fillets.

Comparison of Argon and Oxygen Plasma Treatments for Ambient Room-Temperature Wafer-Scale Au⁻Au Bonding Using Ultrathin Au Films.

Au–Au surface activated bonding is promising for room-temperature bonding. The use of Ar plasma vs. O2 plasma for pretreatment was investigated for room-temperature wafer-scale Au–Au bonding using ultrathin Au films (<50 nm) in ambient air. The main difference between Ar plasma and O2 plasma is their surface activation mechanism: physical etching and chemical reaction, respectively. Destructive razor blade testing revealed that the bonding strength of samples obtained using Ar plasma treatment was higher than the strength of bulk Si (surface energy of bulk Si: 2.5 J/m2), while that of samples obtained using O2 plasma treatment was low (surface energy: 0.1–0.2 J/m2). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that a gold oxide (Au2O3) layer readily formed with O2 plasma treatment, and this layer impeded Au–Au bonding. Thermal desorption spectroscopy analysis revealed that Au2O3 thermally desorbed around 110 °C. Annealing of O2 plasma-treated samples up to 150 °C before bonding increased the bonding strength from 0.1 to 2.5 J/m2 due to Au2O3 decomposition.

(Invited) Temporary Bonding with Polydimethylglutarimide for Residue-Free Layer Transfer and 3-D Integration

Bonding of lift off resist (LOR) was performed to realize temporary wafer bonding without residue. Bonding process conditions such as spin speed, pre-bake temperature, and bonding temperature were optimized to obtain a large bonded area with high bond strength. Under optimized process conditions, a bonded area covering over 98% of the wafer surface, with a room temperature bond strength of nearly 5 J/m2 is achieved. During razor blade testing, fracture often occurs at the Si wafer. Moreover, debonding using an N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)-based solvent left the wafer surface extremely small amount of residue. Thus, the optimized bonding processed developed in this research is suitable for a clean temporary bonding process.

Temporary Bonding with Polydimethylglutarimide Based Lift Off Resist as a Layer Transfer Platform

Bonding of lift off resist (LOR) was performed to realize temporary wafer bonding without residue. Bonding process conditions such as spin speed, pre-bake temperature, and bonding temperature were optimized to obtain a large bonded area with high bond strength. Under optimized process conditions, a bonded area covering over 98% of the wafer surface, with a room temperature bond strength of nearly 5 J/m2 is achieved. During razor blade testing, fracture often occurs at the Si wafer. Moreover, debonding using an N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)-based solvent left the wafer surface extremely small amount of residue. Thus, the optimized bonding processed developed in this research is suitable for a clean temporary bonding process.

Low temperature Si/Si wafer direct bonding using a plasma activated method

Manufacturing and integration of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices and integrated circuits (ICs) by wafer bonding often generate problems caused by thermal properties of materials. This paper presents a low temperature wafer direct bonding process assisted by O2 plasma. Silicon wafers were treated with wet chemical cleaning and subsequently activated by O2 plasma in the etch element of a sputtering system. Then, two wafers were brought into contact in the bonder followed by annealing in N2 atmosphere for several hours. An infrared imaging system was used to detect bonding defects and a razor blade test was carried out to determine surface energy. The bonding yield reaches 90%–95% and the achieved surface energy is 1.76 J/m2 when the bonded wafers are annealed at 350 °C in N2 atmosphere for 2 h. Void formation was systematically observed and elimination methods were proposed. The size and density of voids greatly depend on the annealing temperature. Short O2 plasma treatment for 60 s can alleviate void formation and enhance surface energy. A pulling test reveals that the bonding strength is more than 11.0 MPa. This low temperature wafer direct bonding process provides an efficient and reliable method for 3D integration, system on chip, and MEMS packaging.

A razor-blade test of the demolding energy in a thermoplastic embossing process

We present a simple and quick test of the energy needed to separate a hot-micro-embossing mold from an embossed polymeric part. The test is an extension of the double-cantilever-beam, or ‘razor-blade’, test that has been widely used to determine the interfacial work of fracture of bonded pairs of semiconductor wafers. Our test extracts a single areal demolding energy that incorporates all the mechanical work done when separating the patterned mold–polymer interface. We have used the test to investigate dependences of the demolding energy on the relief and areal density of 150 µm diameter circular posts on a silicon mold. We find that demolding energy is approximately proportional to the areal density of the posts’ circumferences, and to the square of the etched depth of the posts. We propose a simple explanation for these findings. We have also used the method to compare three mold surface treatments, and find that amorphous silicon carbide and Teflon-like fluoropolymer coatings can reduce demolding energy by a factor of about 10, compared to a bare silicon mold.

Characterization of Hysteresis of Surface Energy in Room-Temperature Direct Bonding Processes

Room temperature direct wafer bonding is driven by surface forces and the formation of hydrogen bonds that provides a driving force to pull the wafers being bonded into intimate contact. The magnitude of these forces is often represented as a work of adhesion and is critical as it determines the level of non-flatness and patterning that may be tolerated in bonding. Traditionally, it has been assumed that the work of adhesion that drives the formation of the bond is equal to the work of separation that is measured through fracture tests, such as the familiar razor-blade test. In the present work, we use a novel test structure to measure the work of separation and work of adhesion of room temperature hydrophilic Si-Si bonds as function of relative humidity (~15 - 50% RH). The results show that across a range of values of RH the work of adhesion is significantly lower than the work of separation.

An Optimized 300mm BCB Wafer Bonding Process for 3D Integration

AbstractWafer bonding using benzocyclobutene (BCB) has been discussed in the past for three-dimensional (3D) integration. This paper reports the development and characterization of a manufacturable BCB bonding process for 300 mm wafers using standard 300 mm tools. A systematic optimization approach has been developed to characterize the bulk properties of the BCB film that can be applied to various integration schemes. We specifically discuss one such application—handle wafer bonding. BCB bonding for a range of cross-linking levels has been investigated. The cross-linking level of BCB before bonding is determined using an infrared (IR) variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer (VASE) technique. The impact of the BCB film preparation and bonding condition on bond quality is characterized using scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) , IR microscopy, a razor blade test, and four-point bend methods. Based on the results, an optimum cross-linking level for BCB film before bonding was determined for 300 mm wafers to obtain void-free and dendrite-free bonds. Wafers bonded using the optimized BCB process conditions have successfully sustained backgrinding, dry thinning, and standard BEOL metallization steps.

Non-iterative numerical method for laterally superresolving Fourier domain optical coherence tomography

A numerical deconvolution method to cancel lateral defocus in Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) is presented. This method uses a depth-dependent lateral point spread function and some approximations to design a deconvolution filter for the cancellation of lateral defocus. Improved lateral resolutions are theoretically estimated; consequently, the effect of lateral superresolution in this method is derived. The superresolution is experimentally confirmed by a razor blade test, and an intuitive physical interpretation of this effect is presented. The razor blade test also confirms that this method enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of OCT. This method is applied to OCT images of medical samples, in vivo human anterior eye segments, and exhibits its potential to cancel the defocusing of practical OCT images. The validity and restrictions involved in each approximation employed to design the deconvolution filter are discussed. A chromatic and a two-dimensional extensions of this method are also described.

Low Temperature Copper-Nanorod Bonding for 3D Integration

ABSTRACTWafer bonding is an emerging technology for fabrication of complex three-dimensional (3D) structures; particularly it enables monolithic wafer-level 3D integration of high performance, multi-function microelectronic systems. For such a 3D integrated circuits, low-temperature wafer bonding is required to be compatible with the back-end-of-the-line processing conditions. Recently our investigation on surface melting characteristics of copper nanorod arrays showed that the threshold of the morphological changes of the nano-rod arrays occurs at a temperature significantly below the copper bulk melting point. With this unique property of the copper nanorod arrays, wafer bonding using copper nanorod arrays as a bonding intermediate layer was investigated at low temperatures (400 °C and lower). 200 mm Wafers, each with a copper nanorod array layer, were bonded at 200 – 400 °C and with a bonding down-force of 10 kN in a vacuum chamber. Bonding results were evaluated by razor blade test, mechanical grinding and polishing, and cross-section imaging using a focus ion beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM). The FIB/SEM images show that the copper nanorod arrays fused together accompanying by a grain growth at a bonding temperature of as low as 200 °C. A dense copper bonding layer was achieved at 400 °C where copper grains grew throughout the copper structure and the original bonding interface was eliminated. The sintering of such nanostructures depends not only on their feature size, but also significantly influenced by the bonding pressure. These two factors both contribute to the mass transport in the nanostructure, leading to the formation of a dense bonding layer.

An Evaluation Process of Polymeric Adhesive Wafer Bonding for Vertical System Integration

Bonding of wafers using dielectric polymer thin films as bonding adhesives is one of key approaches to monolithic vertical system integration. As the first step for the integration, properties of the polymer desired for baseline adhesive material are studied, followed by the evaluations on bonding results obtained from wafer pairs bonded between a silicon and a glass wafers. Four sequential evaluation procedures are performed after bonding; (1) optical inspection is made to measure the fraction of bonded area, (2) a razor blade test is taken to separate the bonded wafers, (3) a four-point bending method is used to measure bonding strength quantitatively, (4) FTIR is applied to analyze changes in chemical structure. Bonding integrity is evaluated how the intentionally created debond areas of the bonded wafers are changed after the subsequent thinning processes. To date, benzocyclobutene (BCB), FlareTM, and methylsilsesquioxane (MSSQ) and Parylene-N have been considered as bonding adhesives. Among these polymer materials, BCB and FlareTM are selected as initial adhesive materials after a screening process through optical inspection. Wafer pairs bonded using FlareTM have higher bond strength than those using BCB. However, the bond strength of wafer pairs bonded using BCB is still higher than that at the interface between Cu and porous low-k inter-level dielectrics (ILD) (a back end interconnect structure), indicating almost 100% of bonded area reproducibly. In the light of such evaluation results, BCB has been eventually selected as a baseline adhesive material for the wafer bonding prcess for vertical system integration.

Rigor development and meat quality of large and small broilers and the use of Allo-Kramer shear, needle puncture, and razor blade shear to measure texture

In each of 2 trials, 75 female and 75 male broilers of different sizes (large and small) were obtained from a commercial grower and were commercially processed. Breast fillets were deboned at 0.25, 1.5, 3, 6, and 24 h postmortem (total n = 15 per treatment per time point). Muscle pH and L* value were determined for each deboning time. Breast fillets were subjected to texture analysis using Allo-Kramer (10-blade), needle puncture (2 mm diameter), or razor blade shear (8.9 mm wide) methods. Allo-Kramer tests were performed on a strip (40 x 20 x 7 mm); needle puncture and razor blade shear were performed on intact muscles. Body size and sex had no effect on rigor development or color as indicated by no significant difference in breast muscle pH, R-value, or L* value. Allo-Kramer and razor blade tests exhibited significant shear value differences among samples deboned early (<1.5 h) and late (>6 h) PM. Allo-Kramer shear and razor blade tests performed similarly for differentiating breast meat of different toughness though Allo-Kramer shear force and razor blade energy were only moderately correlated (r = 0.72). Although both instrumental tests were performed in the same approximate area on each breast, it is possible that variation within the breast would have caused this marginal correlation. Although further studies would be necessary to compare the performance of both tests for assessing poultry meat toughness, the proposed razor blade test has the advantage of requiring no sample preparation (i.e., cutting a strip of constant dimensions) other than cooking.

CMP Compatibility of Partially Cured Benzocyclobutene (BCB) for a Via-First 3D IC Process

AbstractWafer-level three dimensional (3D) IC technology offers the promise of decreasing RC delays by reducing long interconnect lines in high performance ICs. This paper focuses on a viafirst 3D IC platform, which utilizes a back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible damascene-patterned layer of copper and Benzocyclobutene (BCB). This damascene-patterned copper/BCB serves as a redistribution layer between two fully fabricated wafer sets of ICs and offers the potential of high bonding strength and low contact resistance for inter-wafer interconnects between the wafer pair. The process would thus combine the electrical advantages of 3D technology using Cu-to-Cu bonding with the mechanical advantages of 3D technology using BCB-to-BCB bonding.In this work, partially cured BCB has been evaluated for copper damascene patterning using commercially available CMP slurries as a key process step for a via-first 3D process flow. BCB is spin-cast on 200 mm wafers and cured at temperatures ranging from 190°C to 250°C, providing a wide range of crosslink percentage. These films are evaluated for CMP removal rate, surface damage (surface scratching and embedded abrasives), and planarity with commercially available copper CMP slurries. Under baseline process parameters, erosion, and roughness changes are presented for single-level damascene test patterns. After wafers are bonded under controlled temperature and pressure, the bonding interface is inspected optically using glass-to-silicon bonded wafers, and the bond strength is evaluated by a razor blade test.

PREDICTION OF THE TEXTURE OF COOKED POULTRY PECTORALIS MAJOR MUSCLES BY NEAR‐INFRARED REFLECTANCE ANALYSIS OF RAW MEAT

ABSTRACT Near‐infrared reflectance (NIR) spectra were collected on pectoralis major muscles from 90 broiler carcasses ( from 2 different processing sets) to assess the relationship between the NIR and a cutting‐shear instrumental texture test. For the instrumental razor blade test, two instrumental parameters (maximum shearing force and total shear energy) were calculated. Calibration (R2) and validation () coefficients of determination were obtained for predicting the instrumental measurements using the reflectance and its first and second derivatives. Models obtained with the second derivative were adequate when the two groups of samples were analyzed separately. The R2 values ranged from 0.90 to 0.95 and from 0.84 to 0.89 for both maximum shear force and total shear energy. The regressions performed on the two sample sets combined did not yield model statistics that were as satisfactory (R2 = 0.85–0.86 and = 0.78–0.77), suggesting that a prediction model accurately predicting poultry breast meat tenderness will need a larger and more varied sample set. The results suggest that NIR could be used to predict poultry meat texture and to classify muscles according to tenderness levels.

Galerkin versus razor-blade testing in the method of moments formulation for multiconductor transmission lines

In this paper, the effect of the testing technique in the method of moments (MoM) solution for multiconductor transmission lines is investigated. Two important testing techniques, namely, Galerkin and razor-blade testing, are used and compared. The problem is formulated using the mixed potential integral equation. The analysis shows that the solution of the longitudinal modal current near the edge of the conductor is significantly affected by the testing scheme in the MoM kernel. For the selected expansion functions, razor-blade testing gives more reasonable modal current distribution than Galerkin testing. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 10: 132–138, 2000.

Galerkin versus razor-blade testing in the method of moments formulation for multiconductor transmission lines

Galerkin versus razor-blade testing in the method of moments formulation for multiconductor transmission lines

Relationships between microstructures and fracture energies in carbon fibre/PEEK composites

The aim of this investigation was to characterize the fracture surfaces of a series of similar composites, and to relate the features observed to the fracture modes. The materials used in this study were based on the ICI material APC-2, being uniaxially aligned composites of carbon fibre in a matrix of poly-ether-ether-ketone, peek. The fracture method chosen for this comparative study was to propagate cracks in the weakest plane of the materials, so that the samples split under the wedging action of a blade driven into the material. The fracture surfaces are thus representative of cracks propagating parallel to the fibres and normal to the prepreg layers. Fracture energies were obtained from analysis of the geometry of the crack without the need for any load measurements using a specially developed technique, the razor blade test 1,2. The fracture surfaces were prepared from the slivers of material split off in the test, and were examined in the scanning electron microscope ( sem). They were thus taken from the same region of material which yielded the data on fracture energy. The principal microstructural factors identified as being significant were the matrix ductility and the fibre/matrix adhesion.