Helping Metrology Measure Up

As reflected by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), near- and long-term metrology needs will not be easily — or inexpensively — met. A change of perspective is needed on the part of metrology OEMs and the rest of the semiconductor industry. Much of what we know — or think we know — about metrology is bound to change in some 15 years or so, when CMOS life extensions become costly or fundamentally ineffective.

Everyone has a stake: chipmakers, the metrology OEM chain, the whole metrology development infrastructure. It is obvious that the metrology world cannot continue to function in the fragmented way it has — nanotechnology (another way of saying “technology convergence”) demonstrates this daily. This development should be used to bring about the greatest benefits in cross-industry convergence areas, to look for R&D funding synergy, and a judicious selection of technical options across the technical communities of several industries. It is not just nanoelectronics that need novel measurement capabilities; other areas, such as biotech, also have measurement needs. For example, a problem for biotech is that there is no good way to perform nanoscale imaging of very soft materials — loosely bound chemical systems such as those in living things.

So what? Consider that in all likelihood we will be building things (maybe even before the “end” of CMOS) with some of those attributes: elements that at the nanoscale are fragile systems that cannot be blasted with multiple-keV e-beams. Thus, there may be considerable synergy with the biotech sector. Doubtless, some of this is being considered, but it has not scaled to the top of the technical community's visibility. It must become an industrial and national value.

This might even lead to one of engineering's Holy Grails: cross-industry roadmapping; something similar to what the ITRS does for the semiconductor industry, but across several industries, cross-coupling some of the needs. When compared to most other elements of semiconductor processing, the uniqueness of metrology is that it has the highest likelihood of cross-coupling to other industries; its techniques have a higher level of broad applicability. The time has come for the metrology industry to lead the way with technology convergence and cross-industry roadmapping.

While organizations like NIST, Sematech, SEMI, SIA, IMEC, and the various nanoelectronic centers established across the United States and the world are natural linchpins for such an undertaking, funding is lacking. Government assistance, such as the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), are moves in the right direction; however, when considered against the work needed to be done, the funding allocated to metrology efforts is low. ACI will disburse $1.4B (not including tax credits) during fiscal year 2007 across the entire technological spectrum. NIST, however, will get $104M of which only ~$40M is directly related to the semiconductor industry. This is not enough. NIST is ideally situated because of resources and its strong metrology mission associated with commercialization — as well as its new Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology — to become an essential coordinating part of what could be the effort to build the necessary cross-industry relationships.

NIST can touch any spot in the manufacturing pipeline for needed metrology equipment; either to get it invented or moved along from early discovery into technology development, or help it develop from technology into equipment. It has the reference materials and standardization, and could take its partnerships with industry to a new level. Groups like the International Sematech Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), which includes benchmarking and productive use of measurement in manufacturing, could also play crucial roles.

Solving near-term problems for metrology involves research, which is often similar to that needed to solve longer-term problems. The solving of near-term problems involves R&D along the lines of what the federal government can best help out with. Both near- and long-term needs require significant, focused, well-funded research efforts. In fact, near-term requirements may pose a bigger problem because the transition from the research and the researcher to the marketplace is so short, which provides additional hurdles.

Institutions like Sematech and IMEC have accompanying infrastructure — fabs where one can do advanced research — which industry and academic sites cannot provide. Adequate federal funding could support infrastructure development facilities and advance the state of measurement science and technology.