Summary

Both consumer and industrial electronics have become increasingly complex and advanced in recent years. High performance semiconductor devices are essential to the function of these electronics, which is why rapid growth of the microelectronics industry and major technological advancements in this field have been necessary to meet demands. NXP semiconductors contributes to these technological developments by designing and manufacturing semiconductor devices for application in, for example, the automotive and mobile industry. The Product Diagnostics Centre at NXP plays a critical role in assuring that high quality products are manufactured by carrying out electrical-, physical- and chemical analyses. Comprehensive multidimensional GC (GCxGC) and pyrolysis have been introduced at NXP semiconductors to enhance the quality and extent of the analyses of integrated circuit (IC) package materials. Method development for GCxGC/MS and Pyrolysis – Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (PYR-GC/MS), and subsequent evaluation of the capabilities of both techniques were therefore carried out in two separate projects.

The goal concerning GCxGC/MS consisted of two parts. First, a method had to be developed in which GCxGC parameter settings were optimized to maximize both separation and detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in die attach adhesives (DAAs). After that, the additional value of GCxGC analysis compared to the traditionally applied single column GC analysis had to be assessed with regard to
compound separation and compound identification. GCxGC parameters settings for 1D flow rate, 2D flow rate and oven temperature ramp were optimized by Experimental Design, maximizing 1D resolution, 2D resolution and peak area. A 1D flow rate of 0.525 mL/min, 2D flow rate of 20 mL/min and an oven temperature ramp of 4.5°C/min were selected as parameter settings for the general GCxGC/MS method.