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News & Events
Negevtech says new tool will revolutionize wafer inspection market
Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging Technology Delivers Superior Performance At a Fraction of the Cost.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - June 10, 2003 - Designed for entry at the 90 nanometer (nm) semiconductor manufacturing node and optimized for next generation 65 nm wafer inspection, Negevtech, Inc. today launched the revolutionary Negevtech 302. An industry first, the tool combines both bright-field and dark-field wafer inspection technologies into one tool occupying a footprint of up to 50 percent less than traditional bright-field tools. Additionally, the company stated that the tool uses a proprietary process technique capable of identifying all defects in both bright-field and dark-field mode while offering the industry's highest sensitivity and throughput, as well as a 10X improvement in cost of ownership compared with current tools on the market.
"The number one wafer inspection requirement is the detection of all critical defects at the highest throughput and lowest cost. At the 65 nm level, we didn't see a system that met this basic requirement," said Dr. Gadi Neumann, Negevtech's managing director. "Knowing this, we designed a revolutionary technology that would deliver superior performance for both imaging techniques with a more simple, less costly approach. Today we have introduced a technology that meets these basic fundamentals, delivering a significant performance benefit along with a dramatically reduced cost of ownership."
The dramatic cost of ownership reduction is achieved by combining two technologies into one simple platform design enabled by a new and unique patented process called Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging. For bright-field wafer inspection the Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging replaces traditional TDI CCD technology, considered to be too slow, with jitter prone image acquisition and inefficient illumination at sub-130 nm nodes. The Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging is also extremely effective for dark-field imaging at smaller technology nodes. Current laser scan technology offers high throughput but is incapable of offering sufficient sensitivity at the sub-130 nm level.
"As we migrate down to the 90 nm node, throughput, sensitivity and cost will be pushed beyond their limits with traditional techniques. Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging eliminates these concerns," added Neumann.
Step&ImageTM 2D Imaging is a high resolution imaging system that uses short pulsed ultra-violet (UV) illumination and a large two dimensional focal plan assembly (FPA) to create die sized images, with both bright-field and dark-field illuminations at a high rate. The FPA enables a large field of view, which dramatically improves throughput and reduces overhead. The UV illumination source also enables high optical resolution, which affords a high image sampling of small pixel, non-scanned rigid large 2D images size.
The company indicated that it was already in beta testing with three leading semiconductor manufacturers who were evaluating tool performance for microprocessor, digital signal processors and DRAM production.
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