Sematech, Zeiss Report Progress on Mask Metrology Tool
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/25/2008

More than 40 engineers at Carl Zeiss SMT (Jena, Germany), working with the lithography program of Sematech (Albany, N.Y.), announced design completion of the next-generation Photomask Registration and Overlay Metrology system (PROVE) for mask pattern alignment and registration. The tool is targeted for production by the end of next year, with mask manufacturers as the primary customers. The system should close the technology gap for overlay metrology at 32 nm and beyond, including masks used in double patterning, which require tighter image placement control on the masks, and future extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure systems. More

SPIE: Metrology Must Provide More Accuracy
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/27/2008

At the SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference being held this week in San Jose, several of the papers presented so far in the metrology area indicate a significant shift in the importance of accuracy vs. precision. Although this was somewhat observable in some of the previous SPIE conferences, it is now quite marked. More

KLA-Tencor Makes a Bid for ICOS Vision Systems
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/21/2008

KLA-Tencor (San Jose) has made a friendly offer to acquire ICOS Vision Systems Corp. NV (Leuven, Belgium) for $465.8M cash. The offer represents a 35% premium to the average closing price of ICOS's shares over the preceding 90 days. The transaction is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2008 and is subject to conditions. More

Rudolph Technologies Joins Sematech Metrology Program
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/20/2008

Rudolph Technologies Inc. (Flanders, N.J.) has joined the Sematech (Austin, Texas) metrology program, based at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany (Albany, N.Y.). The two will establish an International Process Characterization program to bring together technologists, tools and software for the development of process, analysis and characterization technology for the 32 nm generation and beyond. The initial program addresses issues including thin film and metal gate stack metrology; wafer front, back and edge macro defect inspection and others. More

NIST Scientists Claim Progress in CNT-Enhanced Conducting Polymers
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/6/2008

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Gaithersburg, Md.) have achieved fundamental understanding of what makes carbon nanotube (CNT)-enhanced polymers conducting or non-conducting. The ability to measure the conducting and insulation properties may support the effort to use electrically conducting plastics, with CNTs as a key additive material, in a wide variety of products. The conductivity of the nanocomposite materials was measured, and it was discovered that conductivity dramatically decreases with an increasing flow rate. Flow rate can change the material from a conductor to an insulator. More

Chipworks Offers ICInside Browser for Circuit Analysis
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/5/2008

Chipworks Inc. (Ottowa, Canada) has developed web-based circuit analysis software, ICInside Browser, which will provide an improved ability to understand the results of Chipworks' circuit reverse engineering work. Chipworks' inspection of a chip provides a cross-sectional view, which extracts circuit information that is meaningful to the software. It helps users understand how the circuit design was done and automatically inputs the information into schematic editors and simulation tools. More

Imago Scientific Instruments Ships Atom Probe Microscopes
Staff — Semiconductor International, 1/24/2008

Imago Scientific Instruments Corp. (Madison, Wis.) shipped two atom probe microscopes to European customers; one to the Fraunhofer Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT, Dresden, Germany) and another to the Montanuniversitat Leoben (Leoben, Austria). The Fraunhofer CNT is a private-public partnership that includes Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif.), Qimonda Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute's Dresden center. It received Imago's Leap 3000X silicon atom probe microscope for the analysis of 3-D atomic scale structures of semiconductor devices. It can image the position of dopants and the stochiometry of high-k interfaces. More

Novel CD-SEM Overlay Method Improves Dual Trench Patterning CDU
Ilan Englard, Rich Piech, Liraz Gershtein, Ram Peltinov, Ofer Adan, Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. — Semiconductor International, 2/1/2008

Intrafield dual trenching patterning overlay residuals errors can lead to severe yield consequences, as they directly influence the CD uniformity (CDU) budget. In cases of overlay excursion, productivity can be enhanced by calculating the overlay errors after the second exposure step. Discovered in time, the second exposure can be reworked and corrections made for the next iteration. CD-SEM overlay measurements application could be a viable method to correct grid distortion by feeding overlay measurements into an automated process control (APC) solution, which would dynamically correct errors, minimize across-chip pitch variations and maximize CDU performance. More

Single-Atom Manipulation Breakthrough Boosts Nanotech Possibilities
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/22/2008

IBM (San Jose) scientists have demonstrated for the first time ever the capability to exactly measure how much force is required to move different individual atoms. This enhanced ability to manipulate matter at the atomic level is a significant milestone in the semiconductor industry's ongoing effort to attain circuits, by building them from the atom up, that are orders of magnitude smaller than anything that can be produced using today's most advanced technology. More

Nanotech Progress Requires Better Metrology
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/7/2008

A hurdle facing nanotechnology is how to probe the electrical properties of nanotransistors or nanomaterials. Although there has been progress in nanoprobers for use with SEMs and the like, barriers still exist. Professor Alain Diebold of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany in New York is researching the impact of nanoscale dimensions on materials' physical properties as part of his work in nanoelectronics metrology. If ways are devised to electrically probe nanoproperties, it will be necessary to determine whether physical measurements correlate to the findings of their electrical counterparts. More

Dynamic Analysis Offers a Better MSA Management Alternative
Phillip H. Williams, Freescale Semiconductor Inc. — Semiconductor International, 2/1/2008

Keeping track of which measurement system analyses (MSAs) should be repeated for which tools for a large manufacturing area can be problematic. Additionally, repeating a source of variation (SoV) study for a measurement system represents a relatively short experimental time frame. Implementing a dynamic MSA methodology not only drives the proper implementation of statistical process control for each measurement system, but it enables the calculation of full MSA metrics at any time, for any tool, using all of the available data. If the metrics are acceptable, a new SoV study is not required. More

3-D Analysis Progressing to Meet Device Needs
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/12/2008

Although there are several tools and concepts available, the analysis of ultrashallow junctions (USJs) is increasingly becoming an unavoidable problem requiring resolution. The Holy Grail in this area of metrology is being able to produce a complete 3-D profile — dopant and carrier — for a device. More

X-Ray Metrology Platform

Defect Review System

SEMVision G4 is an advanced defect review SEM for 45 nm and beyond. It has SEM column technology and an enhanced multi-perspective SEM imaging system that deliver state-of-the-art 2 nm physical resolution. Analytical tools enable users to rapidly analyze and classify defects as small as 30 nm in the most sensitive device layers.
Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.
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Feb. 27-29, 2008: PV Expo 2008

Feb. 28, 2008: Surveying the Global Semiconductor Landscape

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