Inspection, Measurement & Test

Vibration Control for Nanolithography
Wes Wigglesworth, Technical Manufacturing Corp., Peabody, Mass.; Scott Jordan, PI (Physik Instrumente) LP, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 1, 2009
Sub-45 nm lithography, SEM and optical metrology require nanometer-level vibration control. An approach using active control via piezoelectric ceramics improves the reliability of vibration control in fabs. More
Encoders Provide Path to High-Resolution Positioning
Wolfgang Holzapfel, Dr. Johannes Heidenhain GmbH, Traunrent, Germany, September 1, 2009
High-resolution interferential encoders, when chosen, calibrated and used appropriately, are instrumental to the positioning performance of steppers, inspection tools and dicing machines. More
ADI and NI Develop Low-Cost MEMS Test
David Lammers, News Editor, August 5, 2009
Analog Devices Inc. and National Instruments Inc. have developed a MEMS test system based on PXI modules. ADI test executives, speaking at the NI Week users conference yesterday, said the system sharply reduces the cost of testing the MEMS microphones that ADI is making in high volumes for cell phone customers. More
OCD Software Models in 3-D
Thomas Gubiotti, KLA-Tencor, Milpitas, Calif., August 4, 2009
KLA-Tencor and the Timbre Technologies subsidiary of Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) recently introduced AcuShape software to enhance the performance of optical critical Dimension (OCD) metrology. The software supports measurements of more complex and smaller structures, and offers metrology engineers shape modeling flexibility. More
Defect Detection Drives to Greater Depths
Ruth DeJule, Contributing Editor, August 1, 2009
Equipment suppliers are scrambling to develop new methods to detect particles that are smaller, visible and non-visible, while maintaining throughput. More
More on Sematech's TSV Interconnect Program
Laura Peters, July 23, 2009
Sematech qualified an infrared inspection tool that can verify the alignment of through-silicon vias in 300 mm bonded wafers. This is part of a larger 300 mm 3-D program designed to prove-in 300 mm tools for 3-D processing. More
Test Solutions Cope With Economic Crisis
Alexander Braun, July 15, 2009
Presentations at the New Test Solutions TechXPOT addressed how to better mine data, and a variety of test needs requiring accuracy and quick turnaround times, which in today's economy must be done relatively inexpensively. More
2009 Best Product Awards
Laura Peters, Editor-in-Chief, July 1, 2009
The editors of Semiconductor International have chosen 15 products, materials or services that are proven in the manufacturing environment and should serve the industry well for years to come. More
Combinatorial Method Enables Selective CoWP Capping
C.I. Lang, R. Fiordalice, D. Berhe, J.H. Tong, N. Kumar and T. Chiang, Intermolecular Inc.; P. Besser, GlobalFoundries Inc.; A. Preusse, M. Nopper, R. Seidel and O. Aubel, AMD Saxony/AMD Fab 36, July 1, 2009
Intermolecular, GlobalFoundries and Advanced Micro Devices researchers report that a molecular masking layer, deposited selectively on CoWP, improves the reliability of copper interconnects on a 45 nm technology device. This is proven using high-productivity combinatorial methods and production processing tools. More
Sematech Seeks EUV Mask Tool Funding
David Lammers, News Editor, June 30, 2009
Few commercial suppliers are stepping up to develop the EUV mask inspection tools that will be needed for 22 nm EUV patterning, said Bryan Rice, director of lithography at Sematech. The consortium is organizing a meeting at SEMICON West of government, consortia and private industry leaders to develop financial support for the EUV mask infrastructure. More
EUV Reduced to an Engineering Problem
Staff, June 9, 2009
EUV seems to be finally at the stage of "just an engineering problem," though a sufficiently powerful and reliable source has yet to be worked out. ASML's Martin van den Brink said his company plans to introduce a production EUV tool, capable of delivering 60 wph throughput, next year. More
Focus on Solvable Problems
John Williams, Director of Product Marketing, Semiconductor Solutions, FEI, www.fei.com, June 1, 2009
While we are currently experiencing a more severe electronics downturn than anyone would have imagined, during this grave economic crisis, investment in R&D has fortunately continued. Not only can these investments lead to the next breakthrough technology, but they are also providing some much-needed sustenance for the semiconductor equipment industry during these difficult days. More
Testing Multi-Functional Power Management ICs
Tom Chambers, Teradyne Inc., North Reading, Mass., June 1, 2009
Cell phone functionality and battery life drive the PMIC market. New test strategies enable faster silicon debug and a quick release to production. More
Control Strategy for Wafer-Edge Defects
M.F. Hsu and J.H. Yang, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Hsinchu, Taiwan; E. Yang, H. Chen, M. Ng, M. Li and C. Perry-Sullivan, KLA-Tencor Corp., Milpitas, Calif., June 1, 2009
Identifying and resolving systematic process issues on edge die before they migrate to interior die prevents production yield loss and enables faster yield ramp. More
How CD-SEMs Complement Scatterometry
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor, June 1, 2009
Like competing Siamese twins, CD-SEM and scatterometry enable and push each other to higher levels of capabilities and evolving applications. More
Metrologists: Measure Twice, Process Once
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor, May 14, 2009
IBM’s T.C. Chen, Alain Diebold of CNSE, and J. Alexander Liddle of NIST were among the metrology experts who spoke at the 2009 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics. The conference was held this week at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany, N.Y. More
Emtec Microscope Tilts Light Source
Kenji Tsuda, Asia Contributing Editor, May 12, 2009
Japan-based Emtec Co. Ltd. has developed an optical microscope that uses a slightly tilted light source to observe transparent surfaces and other objects that are difficult to see with a conventional microscope. More
Helium Ion Scope Aids Interconnect Study
Staff, May 5, 2009
Researchers from Carl Zeiss SMT and Selete will go to the International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC) with detailed images of low-k dielectrics and copper lines, made with a new type of helium ion microscope (HIM). The microscope also can help in validation of the dry etch, wet clean and ashing back-end process steps. The IITC is planned for June 1-3 in Sapporo, Japan. More
VLSI Research Foresees Weak Probe Card Market
Staff, April 28, 2009
VLSI Research said the hard-hit probe card market will remain relatively weak over the next five years. Revenues for probe card vendors this year are expected to be roughly half of levels seen before the collapse of the memory market. More
EUV Requires Enhanced Metrology
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor, April 1, 2009
This month's podcast spotlights Kurt Ronse, director of the Advanced Lithography Program at IMEC (Leuven, Belgium), who discusses the work in progress on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. More