Accelerating Semiconductor Process Development Using Virtual Design Of Experiments


Design of Experiments (DOE) are a powerful concept in semiconductor engineering research and development. DOEs are sets of experiments used to explore the sensitivity of experimental variables and their effect on final device performance. A well-designed DOE can help an engineer achieve a targeted semiconductor device performance using a limited number of experimental wafer runs. However, in se... » read more

The Effect Of Pattern Loading On BEOL Yield And Reliability During Chemical Mechanical Planarization


Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is required during semiconductor processing of many memory and logic devices. CMP is used to create planar surfaces and achieve uniform layer thickness during semiconductor manufacturing, and to optimize the device topology prior to the next processing step. Unfortunately, the surface of a semiconductor device is not uniform after CMP, due to different re... » read more

Understanding Electrical Line Resistance At Advanced Semiconductor Nodes


When evaluating shrinking metal linewidths in advanced semiconductor devices, bulk resistivity is not the sole materials property for deriving electrical resistance. At smaller line dimensions, local resistivity is dominated by grain boundary effects and surface scattering. Consequently, resistivity varies throughout a line, and resistance extraction needs to account for these secondary phenome... » read more

Using Process Modeling To Enhance Device Uniformity During Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning


Despite the growing interest in EUV lithography, self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) still holds many technical advantages in pattern consistency, simplicity, and cost. This is particularly true for very simple and periodic patterns, such as line & space patterns or hole arrays. The biggest challenge of SAQP is the inherently asymmetric mask shape. This asymmetry can create structural ... » read more

Evaluating The Impact Of STI Recess Profile Control On Advanced FinFET Performance


Profile variation is one of the most important problems during semiconductor device manufacturing and scaling. These variations can degrade both chip yield and device performance.  Virtual fabrication can be used to study profile variation in a very effective and economical manner and avoid process cycle time and wafer cost in the fab. In this short article, we will review the impact of STI (s... » read more

Advancing To The 3nm Node And Beyond: Technology, Challenges And Solutions


It seems like yesterday that finFETs were the answer to device scaling limitations imposed by shrinking gate lengths and required electrostatics. The introduction of finFETs began at the 22nm node and has continued through the 7nm node. Beyond 7nm, it looks like nanosheet device structures will be used for at least the 5nm and probably the 3nm nodes. The nanosheet device structure is the brainc... » read more

Using A Virtual DOE To Predict Process Windows And Device Performance Of Advanced FinFET Technology


By Qingpeng Wang, Yu De Chen, Cheng Li, Rui Bao, Jacky Huang, and Joseph Ervin Introduction With continuing finFET device process scaling, micro loading control becomes increasingly important due to its significant impact on yield and device performance [1-2]. Micro-loading occurs when the local etch rate on a wafer is dependent upon existing feature sizes and local pattern density. Uninten... » read more

Using Virtual Process Libraries To Improve Semiconductor Manufacturing


People think that semiconductor process simulation libraries should be developed using a perfect theoretical background that is strongly supported by empirical data. This might be true in academic research, where researchers are trying to develop a systematic approach to understanding a process mechanism. However, it is definitely not true in production fabs, where engineers need to quickly a... » read more

Principles, Applications, And The Future Of Piezoelectric MEMS


Piezoelectricity is a property of certain materials to become electrically polarized under strain and stress. This phenomenon has been studied extensively since it was first discovered in the mid-18th century. Piezoelectric materials can generate an electric charge in response to an applied mechanical stress and can also generate mechanical stress upon an applied electrical charge. These mater... » read more

Improving Your Understanding Of Advanced Inertial MEMS Design


Micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) based inertial sensors are used measure acceleration and rotation rate. These sensors are integrated into units to measure motion, direction, acceleration or position, and can be found in a wide range of applications including smart phones, consumer electronics, medical devices, transportation systems, oil/gas exploration, military, aeronautical and sp... » read more

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