Ferroelectric & PiezoMEMS Testing
Unmatched Precision and Proven Accuracy
Precision test systems, accessories, and Vision software for ferroelectric, piezoelectric, multiferroic, and magnetoelectric materials, from the company that built the first commercial ferroelectric tester.
Which tester fits your samples?
The most advanced test system on the market.
Hysteresis, pulse, leakage, IV, and CV measurements run without changing sample connections. Add fixtures for magnetoelectric, pyroelectric, cryogenic, and piezoelectric work.
270 KHz @ 100V
Maximum hysteresis frequency, from the specification table
Fine charge resolution for bulk and thin film capacitors.
An 18-bit tester that resolves tiny charges in thin films and bulk ceramics, with built-in drive options from ±10V to ±500V.
0.80 fC
Minimum charge resolution, from the specification table
An ideal, affordable, general purpose tester.
Radiant’s answer to a growing need for affordable characterization equipment, with a broad test range for thin films and bulk ceramics.
18 ADC bits
The same ADC bit count as the Multiferroic II and Premier II
Easy to set up, flexible, and affordable.
A flexible unit at an affordable price for researchers, with a ±200V drive built in and room to grow.
±200 V
Built-in drive voltage. Expands to 10kV with a High Voltage Interface and a High Voltage Amplifier
Accessories for Precision test systems
Accessories are available for Radiant's Precision Ferroelectric and Multiferroic Test Systems.
Thermal Testing
Polarization and capacitance against temperature, with Vision controlling stages, chambers, hot chucks, and furnaces.
Piezoelectric Testing
Bulk ceramic fixtures and thin film bundles that capture displacement along with polarization.
Magnetoelectric Testing
A complete bundle to characterize magnetic coupling in multiferroic and magneto-piezoelectric devices.
Transistor Testing
An I2C digital-to-analog converter adds an extra voltage source for testing ferroelectric-gate transistors.
Test Stations for Thin Films
RTI-30 and Simple Test Station probe stations for wafers and single die.
Design the experiment. Vision 5 runs it.
Turn a test plan into a Test Definition: pick tasks from the library, add environmental controls, and Vision runs the whole sequence with data collection, analysis, and plotting built in. Less time acquiring data, more complex research.
150+ Tasks
to build with: measurement, analysis, plotting, program control, and documentation.
Combine tests in one run
Chain Hysteresis, PUND, Fatigue, and Leakage in one Test Definition instead of running one test at a time.
Control the environment
Set temperature over GPIB, set the field of a Quantum Design superconducting magnet, and query an LCR meter within the test.
Let the logic decide
Branch tasks repeat steps until a value reaches your threshold; If/Then and Exit tasks skip steps or end the run based on a measured value.
Nothing gets lost
Every run is archived with its Test Definition, so any experiment can be recalled or reproduced.
Included with every Precision test system.
Collect/Plot Filter: multi-volt hysteresis data, from the Vision Software Overview.
Setting the standard since 1988
Radiant pioneered the first ferroelectric test system, which quickly became the world-wide industry standard for characterizing non-linear materials.
Ferroelectrics are one of the foundations of modern society. They are found everywhere in everyday life: electronic equipment, cell phones, medical diagnostic instruments, cameras, and military sensors. Radiant is dedicated to innovating characterization equipment for non-volatile memory technologies, non-linear electromechanical materials, MEMS, and actuator/sensors, and continues to sell the most sophisticated test equipment for these materials and their applications.
Radiant’s advanced ferroelectric technology rests upon three legs:
Its own process line
Radiant’s unique integrated ferroelectrics manufacturing process
World leader in testing
Radiant’s position as the world leader in ferroelectric testing
A proven physical model
Radiant’s proprietary model for the physics of ferroelectric devices
Radiant’s test equipment and procedures were created and refined on its ferroelectric process line, making them realistic and practical. In turn, Radiant’s thin ferroelectric film process is one of the most advanced in the world from the proper use of Radiant’s test equipment in refining film properties and reliability.
Both the testers and the process are designed around a powerful physical model of the ferroelectric capacitor, a model that has been tested and proven continually with the testers in the fabrication process.
Joseph T. Evans, Jr. Founder of Radiant Technologies
Joe Evans graduated first in his class in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Academy in 1976. After pursuing a career as a jet Instructor Pilot, he completed his graduate work in lasers, control theory, and semiconductor fabrication at Stanford University, then joined the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
As a principal investigator at the Air Force Laboratories at Kirtland Air Force Base, Mr. Evans was introduced to ferroelectrics. He realized that these not-very-new materials could improve or replace the capabilities of traditional silicon-based components. He left the Air Force to found Krysalis Corp in Albuquerque, NM, which built the world’s first fully-functional CMOS ferroelectric random access memory. His name is on the fundamental patents for the FRAM now manufactured by Texas Instruments, Fujitsu, and Rohm.
Mr. Evans became convinced that in order to fully assess the characteristics of non-linear materials, proper evaluation technology was essential. The cutting edge work that resulted from this conviction laid the framework for his many inventions related to the manufacture and application of thin ferroelectric film based devices.
In 1988, Mr. Evans founded Radiant Technologies, Inc., where he developed the first commercial test system capable of evaluating the hysteresis of ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials. It allowed researchers worldwide to assess the characteristics of many new electronic materials, and allowed Radiant to parametrically test and improve manufacturing techniques for these temperamental materials. Radiant Technologies has since built a solid reputation for making components with highly specialized, nonlinear materials.
Radiant holds more than 30 US and foreign patents in electro-optics, ferroelectric memories, infra-red sensing, and fabrication methods and structures. Radiant’s processing and structures patents are of primary importance to integrated piezoelectric actuators, for they ensure high yield, high uniformity, and long-term reliability.
Radiant’s most important invention is a one-of-a-kind, high-temperature platinum electrode capable of withstanding 850°C in oxygen, without hillock growth, with dimensions down to 1.5µ widths and 2µ spaces. The process also works with platinum/LSCO or ITO electrodes and, with Radiant’s piezoelectric film photolithography, gives clean capacitor dimensions without resorting to expensive ion milling or RIE etchers.
Radiant owns a fundamental passivation patent that protects the capacitor from process damage during fabrication and from environmental deterioration during use, and patent 7,990,749 for an autonomous non-volatile latch that requires no control lines, no clocks, and no microprocessor.
Radiant’s patent portfolio is the direct result of more than a decade of extensive research and development in FeRAM devices. Now, Radiant is transferring this proprietary IC technology to piezoelectric MEMs and other unique structures.
Radiant makes its own ferroelectric materials and transfers these various functions into integrated circuit scale devices, greatly reducing their cost while greatly increasing their quality and functionality. The key to this strategy is an integrated ferroelectric device manufacturing process that can support product development and sales, and today Radiant offers this capability as the only integrated ferroelectric device foundry in the United States.
Documentation and support
A company brochure, the patent list, and the company overview, plus the full knowledge base library.