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News & Events
New High Resolution Wafer Inspection System from Negevtech Detects the Broadest Range of Defects with the Lowest Cost of Ownership
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - June 15, 2005 - Negevtech, Inc. today unveiled its 3100 high-resolution wafer defect inspection system. Combining an enhanced version of Negevtech's patented Step&Image™ technology with a unique high-resolution optical system, the 3100 further closes the performance gap between traditionally dedicated brightfield and darkfield systems. The Negevtech 3100 is the first tool designed specifically to span front-end of line (FEOL) and back-end of line (BEOL) inspection applications
"As we enter into this next growth phase and transition the company into a mainstream industry player, we are focused on providing the industry with a reliable and extendable high resolution imaging technology," said Glyn Davies, Corporate VP of Marketing and President of U.S. operations for Negevtech. "Negevtech's new 3100 is the only system on the market today offering both high resolution brightfield and darkfield capabilities on the same platform. This unique dual-technology platform enables our customers to routinely find unique defects and smaller defects missed by competitors' systems."
Performing at higher sensitivity and higher throughputs, the 3100 broadens Negevtech's target applications compared to its signature 302. The 302 is in production use at Infineon, Spansion and other worldwide leading semiconductor manufacturers. "The 3100, with its improved throughput, excels in BEOL inspection steps. Its higher defect sensitivity extends the capabilities of Step&Image technology further into FEOL applications, which have conventionally been addressed with dedicated brightfield wafer inspection systems."
The new darkfield imaging modes on the 3100, featuring selectable illumination angles, broaden the targeted applications and improve capture rate. "This enables the user to tune the tool's defect sensitivity as an application dictates," said Davies. New objectives extend sensitivity to 35 nm while throughput can reach up to 25 wafers per hour. The 3100's unique combination of high throughput and small footprint delivers up to three times improvement in cost of ownership over conventional wafer inspection systems.
"One of the exciting aspects of our current improvements to the fundamental Negevtech wafer inspection technology is that, unlike some conventional systems, we can extend our capability on the same tool platform as devices continue to shrink," said Davies. "We have defined a clear path for continued improvement in the tool without changing any of the fundamental architecture."
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