The latest news and information on semiconductor inspection, measurement and test, including metrology, microscopy, spectroscopy, spectrometry, CD measurement, defect detection/inspection, overlay and wafer inspection.
New Probe Preps AFM for Inline Metrology Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor - 05/13/2008
Georgia Tech researchers developed AFM probes that quickly and simultaneously measure properties such as adhesion, stiffness, elasticity and viscosity. This promises to move AFM from an offline to an inline metrology and inspection modality. More
Splinter Sees Weak Order Period Looming for Equipment Vendors David Lammers, News Editor - 05/13/2008
Applied Materials CEO Michael Splinter said the third fiscal quarter may see silicon equipment sales drop by 40% from the second fiscal quarter ending April 27, representing the bottom of the current downcycle. Orders from flash vendors in particular have been less than expected. One bright spot was introduction of the Aera2 mask inspection system, which is being used by four customers now, he said.
More
How to Detect Non-Overlay Misalignment Errors? Laura Peters, Editor-in-Chief - 05/08/2008
Engineers at SMIC were confronted with an unusual problem in their DRAM fab — how to detect a misalignment error that was not caused by an overlay problem. They worked with Applied Materials to detect this defect using a darkfield inspection tool, which was verified by SEM defect review and FIB cross-section.
More
Light/Matter Interaction to Improve Semiconductor Interfaces Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor - 05/08/2008
Research carried out at North Carolina State University on the interaction of light with matter promises a better understanding of interfaces between different materials.
More
FormFactor Facing DRAM Investment Freeze David Lammers, News Editor - 05/01/2008
Executives at probe card vendor FormFactor Inc. (Livermore, Calif.) said they are being impacted by an investment freeze in the DRAM industry. FormFactor CEO Igor Khandros said he believes next year will see a hard shift to new technologies and DDR3 DRAMs.
More
Inline Optical Spectroscopy for Advanced Gate Stacks Ibrahim Burki, Cristian Rivas, Jeff Hurst, Matt Weldon and Henry Yeung, Metrosol Inc., Austin, Texas; Jimmy Price, Patrick Lysaght, P.Y. Hung, Raj Jammy, Sematech, Austin, Texas - 05/01/2008
Metrology platform complexity and fundamental optical constraints limited the capabilities of measurement systems until the appearance of vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic reflectometry.
More
D2I Project Reduces Mask Inspection Time Kenji Tsuda, Asia Contributing Editor - 04/21/2008
Japan's national mask inspection project, Mask D2I, has figured out ways to significantly reduce mask inspection time. The mask review time is reduced by grouping detected defects and simplifying the threshold to distinguish between a defect and normal pattern.
More
FEI, Imago to Collaborate, Hint at Possible Merger David Lammers, News Editor - 04/15/2008
FEI Co. (Hillsboro, Ore.) and Imago Scientific Instruments (Madison, Wis.) announced a distribution collaboration for Imago’s atom probe microscopes, which includes an option for FEI to purchase Imago.
More
The Measure of All Things Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor, Semiconductor International May 13, 2008 A Modest Proposal
For decades now, there has been a desperate wringing of hands and loud, roaring noise... More
Dan Herr is director of Nanomanufacturing Science Research at SRC. An important part of his research focuses on nanotechnology’s demands on metrology, and he discusses his work to determine where metrology technology’s gaps are, and how to fill them.
Plug in and get the latest SI news, trends and industry updates delivered directly to your inbox!
Technical Articles
Inline Optical Spectroscopy for Advanced Gate Stacks Ibrahim Burki, Cristian Rivas, Jeff Hurst, Matt Weldon and Henry Yeung, Metrosol Inc., Austin, Texas; Jimmy Price, Patrick Lysaght, P.Y. Hung, Raj Jammy, Sematech, Austin, Texas, 05/01/2008
Metrology platform complexity and fundamental optical constraints limited the capabilities of measurement systems until the appearance of vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic reflectometry....
‘First-Time-Right’ Recipe Optimization for Wafer Inspection A. Stamper, S. Chong and K. Nafisi, IBM, Hopewell Junction, N.Y., www.ibm.chips.com; P. Feichtinger, W.T. Chia, D. Randall and A. Khullar, KLA-Tencor Corp., San Jose, www.kla-tencor.com, 04/01/2008
A methodology for developing a brightfield wafer inspection recipe involving tight coupling with a review SEM resulted in improved capture rate of critical defects from a previously employed process of record, substantial time savings in recipe optimization and first-time-right results....
Practical Ways to Lower Probe Costs Ron Leckie, Advisory Board Member, Wentworth Laboratories, Brookfield, Conn., 04/01/2008
Using ISMI's probe card CoO model, several real-world scenarios are analyzed to determine the best ways of reducing probe cost over a product's lifetime....
View All Stories
Inline Optical Spectroscopy for Advanced Gate Stacks
