SoftJin Rolls Out Mask Defect Analysis Tool

SoftJin Technologies said it has developed a mask defect analysis tool that initially supports the Applied Materials Aera2 mask inspection system. The Bangalore, India-based company said the NxDAT tool correlates defect data on reticles with design layout data.

Staff -- Semiconductor International, 9/25/2008 9:06:00 AM

SoftJin Technologies Pte. Ltd. (Bangalore, India) unveiled mask defect analysis software for faults identified by mask inspection systems. SoftJin’s NxDAT tool combines the mask inspection and design automation worlds by supporting correlation of defect data on reticles with design layout data in industry-standard layout and mask data formats, said Kumar Venkatramani, a business development manager based at SoftJin’s Santa Clara, Calif., office.

SoftJin is launching NxDAT initially with support for the Applied Materials Aera2 mask inspection system. However, Ravi Pai, chief architect at SoftJin, said NxDAT’s open architecture enables support for multiple mask inspection tools from various vendors. A plug-in interface to NxDAT also enables users to add their own proprietary defect analysis and image-processing algorithms.

SoftJin’s mask defect inspection tool initially will support the Applied Materials Aera2 mask inspection hardware.

Pai said inspection time is now a major mask cost factor, and the ever-smaller defect sizes can result in inspection tools generating too many defects. NxDAT’s defect analysis features can reduce the operator analysis time, and improve the classification and disposition of defects.

NxDAT supports several types of defect analyses, including die-to-die and die-to-database, making it applicable at both mask shops and wafer fabs. The software features fast defect navigation, visual display, defect selection and filtering, defect classification, clustering, critical dimension (CD) analysis, analysis over multiple inspections, repeatability, and trend analysis.

The tool also supports automatic generation of reports, charts, graphs, image mosaics and paretos, which improve the productivity of the mask inspection operators. Automatic grid detection, comparison of the actual detection line against the expected detection line, and repeatability analysis on test masks allow the tool to be used for calibrating the mask inspection systems to check on their defect detection capabilities.

“Offline defect analysis is a key component of mask inspection system productivity,” said Mark Wagner, general manager of Applied Materials’ mask inspection division. “We are very pleased with the product customization and support that SoftJin has provided in order to make NxDAT highly usable for our mask inspection system.”

NxDAT is available now, and will be demonstrated at the SPIE Photomask Technology Conference, beginning Oct. 7 in Monterey, Calif.