We are pleased to announce that Dr. Nathan D. Orloff of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will deliver the keynote address at the 107th ARFTG Conference.

Keynote Title:
The Evolution of Wafer-Level Metrology

Keynote Abstract:
Wafer-level metrology is important, because it ensures confidence in the measurement results of integrated circuits. Despite its importance in circuit design and ultimately device performance, wafer-level measurements are nontrivial. This keynote walks through the evolution of wafer-level metrology as we know it. After establishing the state-of-the-practice, I present the requirements for SI-traceability at the wafer-level. Specifically, I show NIST’s efforts to develop a traceability chain for complex permittivity and the development of a new wafer-level calibration kit for S-parameters and microwave power. NIST’s new kit also includes check standards with SI-traceable standard definitions and crosstalk correction to the probe tips. The talk concludes with some useful demonstrations. These demonstrations include preliminary results from an interlaboratory study, wafer-level power calibration, metrological wafer-level validation, and how to heal an off-wafer calibration for on-wafer applications. Finally, I provide summarize the state-of-the-art for wafer-level metrology and the final hurdle of wafer-level phase traceability.

About the Speaker:
Nathan (Nate) D. Orloff received the B.S. degree in physics with high honors and Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Maryland (UMD) at College Park, College Park, MD, USA, in 2004 and 2010, respectively. In 2014, he joined the Communications Technology Laboratory at NIST in Boulder Colorado. Dr. Orloff is currently the Project Leader of the Microwave Materials Project in the Communications Technology Laboratory at NIST in Boulder, Colorado. His research covers microwave materials metrology, materials-by-design for communications, microwave microfluidics, and bridging the gap between optical and microwave on-wafer measurement science. Dr. Orloff is the recipient of the 2025 Richard M. Fulrath award, the 2022 Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for advances in dielectric measurements, and the 2019 Karl Schwartzwalder-Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering Award. He has published around 100 peer-reviewed articles and proceedings. He holds multiple U.S. Patents including patents on measuring material properties in roll-to-roll manufacturing, on scanning microwave ellipsometry for anisotropic materials like carbon fiber, Bayesian calibrations algorithms, and wafer-level calibration standards.

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Orloff and invite all attendees to join us for this exciting keynote session highlighting the evolution of wafer-level metrology.