Applications of picosecond ultrasonics in 3D NAND show potential for monitoring the process and gleaning device performance insights.
Amorphous carbon (a-C) based hard masks provide superior etch selectivity, chemical inertness, are mechanically strong, and have been used for etching deep, high aspect ratio features that conventional photoresists cannot withstand. Picosecond Ultrasonic Technology (PULSE Technology) has been widely used in thin metal film metrology because of its unique advantages, such as being a rapid, non-contact, non-destructive technology and its capabilities for simultaneous multiple layer measurement. Simultaneous measurement of velocity and thickness for transparent and semi-transparent films offers a lot of potential for not only monitoring the process but offers insight into the device performance. In this paper, we show successful applications of picosecond ultrasonics in 3D NAND. This includes measurement of various thin metal films and simultaneous measurement of sound velocity and thickness for amorphous carbon films which has been widely used as hard mask materials.
Click here to read more.
Less precision equals lower power, but standards are required to make this work.
Open source by itself doesn’t guarantee security. It still comes down to the fundamentals of design.
Ensuring that your product contains the best RISC-V processor core is not an easy decision, and current tools are not up to the task.
Wafer manufacturing and GPUs draw investment; 106 companies raise $2.8B.
Heterogenous integration depends on reliable TSVs, microbumps, vias, lines, and hybrid bonds — and time to digest all the options.
How prepared the EDA community is to address upcoming challenges isn’t clear.
Advanced etch holds key to nanosheet FETs; evolutionary path for future nodes.
Details on more than $500B in new investments by nearly 50 companies; what’s behind the expansion frenzy, why now, and challenges ahead.
From specific design team skills, to organizational and economic impacts, the move to bespoke silicon is shaking things up.
Less precision equals lower power, but standards are required to make this work.
New memory approaches and challenges in scaling CMOS point to radical changes — and potentially huge improvements — in semiconductor designs.
Open-source processor cores are beginning to show up in heterogeneous SoCs and packages.
Open source by itself doesn’t guarantee security. It still comes down to the fundamentals of design.
Leave a Reply