Product News AIT XP
The AIT XP is the first commercially available wafer inspection system to combine both high speed and high sensitivity in all die regions. Dubbed NexTekTM, this single-pass capability leverages multiple optics and intelligent control to dynamically adjust and optimize both inspection speed and sensitivity for each region of the device. Combining the extreme sensitivity needed to find killer defects in today’s most advanced devices together with high-speed, single-pass intelligent inspection, the AIT XP is ideally suited for global chipmakers that produce multiple types of advanced devices incorporating 100 nm and smaller design rules. Its enhanced nuisance-defect filtering and noise suppression make it ideal for inspection in copper CMP production. With the ability to set different contrast and threshold values for varying backgrounds, the AIT XP can inspect an entire patterned wafer in as little as 80 seconds with a high rate of defect capture, providing an effective increase in throughput of up to 75 percent compared to current systems. The AIT XP also features ease of use combined with power and flexibility, thanks to significant improvements such as reduced recipe setup time (as low as eight minutes), a streamlined user interface, and 5.1 Software additions such as the Template Feature. This feature enables consistent recipe setup across like products through the use of templates with a minimum of operator interaction and time.
Surfscan SP1DLS
The first 300 mm inspection tool that provides brightfield, darkfield, and nanotopography defect information in a single scan. Featuring a dual-laser, simultaneous brightfield-darkfield system, the Surfscan SP1DLS is designed to capture the wide variety of yield-limiting defects (down to 50 nm) at high throughput (up to 125 wafers per hour) to accelerate yield learning at 130 nm, 100 nm and smaller design rules. The combination of high sensitivity at high throughput with real-time defect classification makes the Surfscan SP1DLS one of the industry’s lowest cost-of-ownership tools. The system enables rapid capture and characterization of critical defect types on blanket film wafers during lithography, deposition, etch and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) processing, thereby reducing the risk to product wafers. The SP1DLS is also available with wafer-edge handling, which allows the tool to non-destructively inspect the backside of wafers for contamination – a critical requirement for 300 mm double-sided polished wafers. It also features RTDC (Real-Time Defect Classification), which enables fabs to achieve faster development and ramps or maintain yield during manufacturing through rapid failure analysis and root-cause analysis.
64
Fall 2001
Yield Management Solutions