Semiconductor characterization instrumentation must meet conflicting requirements: it must enable research and process development in the early stage of innovation and be usable for high volume manufacturing ensuring low cost of ownership and high uptime.
Compositional metrology can reduce both the cost of manufacturing and the time to market for new products through accurate characterization of process films. However, an increasing diversity of chip types spreads limited metrology resources over a wide range of challenging applications for each microanalytical instrument. This, in turn, places demands on throughput and automation in order to measure rapidly and under varying analytical conditions. Measurements on test structures place added requirements on metrology, due to continuous shrinkage of test pads areas. Finally, existing measurement capabilities are challenged by the swift pace of feature size reduction, alongside the introduction of new materials and structures.
This paper reviews current microanalytical solutions using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), and shows how the above challenges are addressed in the latest generation SIMS allowing them to achieve their full potential — as in-fab characterization instruments for high-volume semiconductor manufacturing.
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Next Generation SIMS Instruments Enable Fast, Accurate Analysis for High-Volume Semiconductor Manufacturing to learn more!
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