Shimadzu Scientific Instruments used Pittcon 2026 to showcase the TOC-1000e S, an on-line total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer built for ultrapure water (UPW) monitoring in semiconductor fabrication. In this market segment, even sub-microgram contamination can cascade directly into wafer defects and yield loss, according to Haihan Chen, Shimadzu’s product manager for elemental spectroscopy, who presented the instrument at the conference.
The instrument, which Shimadzu formally announced earlier in March, arrives as chipmakers push further into advanced node manufacturing. Approximately 30% of the semiconductor manufacturing process relies on cleaning with ultrapure water, used in steps including coating, etching and stripping, Chen said.
The urea problem
The core technical challenge the TOC-1000e S is designed to solve is detection of urea and similar hard-to-oxidize organic compounds. Urea can survive standard water purification processes and persist in UPW streams at concentrations that are invisible to conventional on-line TOC analyzers, but still sufficient to cause circuit pattern defects at leading-edge geometries.
“This instrument can measure hard-to-oxidize compounds like urea and amines that are not wanted in the semiconductor industry, but that other instruments on the market cannot really measure,” Chen said. “Because of this unique lamp design, we can do that.”
Shimadzu’s platform is an excimer lamp-based detection system using what the company calls its Active-Path configuration. The lamp emits at 172 nm. shorter wavelength and higher energy than the 185 nm mercury lamps used in many competing instruments, enabling it to break down urea and other resistant organic compounds that conventional UV or UV/persulfate oxidation approaches miss.
The lamp itself is a one-piece concentric structure: the sample flows through an inner channel surrounded by the lamp, with no air gap between the two, maximizing oxidation efficiency. The TOC-1000e S connects this excimer lamp and a conductivity detector in series, a simplified flow path that enables continuous, real-time monitoring rather than batch sampling.
The analyzer achieves stable TOC measurement at concentrations below 1 μg/L, a threshold increasingly required by advanced node fabs.
Form factor and deployment flexibility
At roughly 3 kg, the TOC-1000e S is notably compact for an on-line process analyzer. Shimadzu says the unit supports benchtop, wall-mounted or direct pipe-mounted installation. Its portability allows relocation between measurement points. It can also be deployed as a backup instrument during scheduled maintenance of primary analyzers.
A side-mounted vial sampler enables on-site calibration. Shimadzu is positioning the instrument as maintenance-friendly: the design targets a one-year maintenance interval. That is roughly double the six-month cycle typical of competing instruments. It also offers tool-free part replacement and no consumable gases or chemicals required.
Shimadzu has a long history in TOC analysis since releasing its first analyzer in 1972, with existing product lines including the laboratory-focused TOC-L series and the eTOC on-line platform.
