Admatel Opens its Doors to Industry

Finally it is all systems go for ADMATEL as it began commercial operation on January 8, 2013!

ADMATEL, or the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory, is the most advanced failure analysis and material characterization testing facility in the Philippines. It aims to enhance the global competitiveness of the semiconductor and electronics industries. For now it operates six days a week, but eventually it vows to serve the industry 24/7.

And thus far its first clients are happy and impressed with ADMATEL’s results. AMKOR Technology Philippines, ADMATEL’s first client, gave it a thumbs up after ADMATEL’s analysis of their client’s samples using TOFSIMS (Time-of-flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy). More prospective clients from the semiconductor industries have also been lining up, including Lattice, IMI, TDK, and PSI.

This first quarter of 2013, ADMATEL’s surface analysis laboratory is accepting samples for failure analysis and materials characterization using TOFSIMS, AES (Auger Electron Spectroscopy) and FIB-FESEM (Focus Ion Beam - Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy). Its thermal laboratory on the other hand offers analysis such as FTIR microscopy, thermogravimetry (TG)/Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Also to be offered by the second quarter of the year are TOFSIMS and AES, used for such procedures as surface mapping and depth profiling, along with FIB-FESEM, TEM lamella preparation and STEM analysis.

Aside from sample testings, the ADMATEL staff will also be busy this month with other activities, such as a training workshop on Internal Quality Audit (IQA) for ISO Accreditation, which is part of the ongoing consultation with TUV Rheinland regarding ADMATEL’s ISO 17025 accreditation.

A lecture was also held, entitled, “Surface Analysis and Nanomaterials Used in Nano(Bio)Technology” with Professor Peter Kingshott of the Industrial Research Institute (IRIS) and Swinburne University of Technology based in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Kingshott is also a visiting professor at De La Salle University, of which the lecture’s facilitator, Dr. Noni Santos, is a professor, as well as being president of MICROSPHIL, or the Philippine Association of Microscopists, Inc.

For more detailed information, interested parties may contact:

Dr. Nuna E. Almanzor

Director, ITDI
DOST Compound, Gen. Santos Ave., Bicutan, Taguig City
Telephone: 837-2071 to 82 local 2215 · Telefax: 837-3167
Email: nealmanzor@dost.gov.ph

Dr. Blessie A. Basilia

Chief, Materials Science Division, ITDI-DOST
Telephone: 837-2071 to 82 local 2201
Email: basiliablessie@dost.gov.ph

[RRUdelaCruz with reports from JCelorico and CEmolaga, 03/26/2013]