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.
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iADC 100
% Detected Defects
iADC (Inline Automatic Defect Classification) is the newest component of IMPACT XP, KLA-Tencor’s comprehensive, advanced, and easy-to-use ADC solution for line and tool monitoring, baseline yield improvement, and excursion problem-resolution use cases. iADC provides more accurate binning for faster analysis and real-time classification of defects during inspection with minimal impact on throughput, thus speeding time-toresults. Available on the 2350/2351 high-resolution imaging and eS20XP advanced e-beam inspection systems, iADC is a revolutionary technology that delivers trending by killer-defect type for excursion monitoring while filtering out nuisance defects. The use of iADC during e-beam inspection enables users to separate and identify critical yield-limiting defects into meaningful categories such as electrical versus physical. It is also enables users to create intelligent, effective SEM sampling for defect review, thus reducing the load on the SEM and ultimately lowering SEM cost of ownership.
As Inspected (Raw)
80 Clustering 60 Real-Time Classification 40 Defect Source Analysis 20
Inspector HRDC SEM HRDC
0
SpectraCD
The SpectraCD is an advanced metrology tool designed for in-line CD measurement and process monitoring. The SpectraCD combines Spectroscopic CD technology with Thin Film Spectroscopic Ellipsometry to provide semiconductor manufacturers with the most comprehensive Litho and Etch process control feedback available. The product offering includes an offline SpectraCD Library Generation System providing complete ownership of the SpectraCD library generation process. The system accurately determines CD (at any percent on the profile), line height or trench depth, sidewall angle from spectroscopic CD measurements on special grating targets. The cross section profile is also determined. The SpectraCD measurement technology is complemented by the full range of thin film measurements presently available on KLA-Tencor’s industry leading ASET-F5x. The SpectraCD addresses both CD and thin film process control needs in a single production-worthy tool.
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Product News PRECICE
PRECICE is the industry’s first production-worthy in-situ film thickness and end-point control system for copper CMP. PRECICE uses a combination of optical and eddy-current technologies that allow chipmakers to run multiple steps within the CMP process with a high degree of repeatability. PRECICE’s eddy-current probe provides accurate thickness measurements in real time, and enables the CMP tool to dynamically adjust for film variations to ensure proper CMP process control at all times. It also automatically compensates for temperature and pad-wear effects that occur during CMP that might otherwise create false measurement. PRECICE’s optical probe uses a single-wavelength, multi-angle reflectometer, which provides more comprehensive data than competing single-angle laser reflectance systems. It also eliminates false end-point reporting—a fatal error in volume production
Klarity ACE 5.5 Advanced Correlation Engine
Klarity ACE is an enterprise business application designed to meet the analysis needs of semiconductor professionals, including the defect, yield, product, process, integration and R/D engineering communities. It integrates nearly all available fab and test data, and provides the capability to correlate them to identify key parameters pertaining to yield. Klarity ACE 5.5 – the latest version of KLA-Tencor’s yield analysis software –incorporates several new features that dramatically improve ease of use and reduce analysis time by more than 30 percent. It can differentiate between random and systematic yield problems, providing users with the data they need in order to take appropriate corrective measures.
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Printability Analysis Stepper Simulator
The Printability Analysis Stepper Simulator™ (PASS) is a new software tool that can provide photomask manufacturers with significant time and cost savings by automating the reticle defect analysis process and reducing the amount of repair work needed for sub-wavelength photomasks. With this new tool, KLA-Tencor’s suite of advanced reticle inspection systems now has the ability to characterize and simulate the printability of defects on these advanced photomasks – providing better process control and reducing reticle manufacturing cycle time. PASS enables mask manufacturers to characterize any small defect or critical dimension (CD) error on the reticle without having to move the photomask from the inspector to an offline aerial defect-imaging tool. In addition, PASS automatically simulates how the defects will print onto the wafer before the photomask is shipped to a customer or used in production.
PROLITH 7.1 Advanced Optical Lithography Simulation
PROLITH is the leading lithography simulation tool for the semiconductor industry. PROLITH provides advanced optical lithography modeling capabilities that increase lithography equipment utilization, enable more rapid process development and maximize yield. It simulates the complete optical lithography process and provides accurate three-dimensional representation of the photoresist pattern. PROLITH 7.1 is the latest version of KLA-Tencor’s advanced optical lithography simulation software. PROLITH 7.1 simulates three-dimensional resist patterns for 193 nm lithography, and calibrates model parameters to experimental CD and thickness results. This new version also enables quick screening of lithography illumination and mask design options.
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AIT XP has arrived. And wafer inspection will never be the same.
AIT XP with NexTek
Now that AIT XP with NexTek™ has been unveiled, the world of wafer inspection
• Adaptive mode technology
is about to evolve. For one thing, choosing between speed and sensitivity will be a
• Higher speed with maximum sensitivity
thing of the past. That’s because NexTek’s dynamic technology adjusts sensitivity in
• Single pass for all regions
real time – without masking or multiple scans. So you get the whole picture in a
• Faster recipe setups
single pass. Higher defect capture. Much faster effective throughput. And an end to compromises. Plus, our automated recipe setup cuts engineering time by up to 30 percent. All of which is sure to make other laser scanning methods extinct. For more information, please visit www.kla-tencor.com/nextek, or call 1-800-450-5308. ©2001 KLA-Tencor Corporation. NexTek is a trademark of KLA-Tencor Corporation.
Accelerating Yield