How Advanced Packaging Is Reshaping Inspection


As semiconductor devices continue advancing into more sophisticated packaging schemes, traditional optical inspection technologies are brushing up against physical and computational boundaries. The growing reliance on 2.5D and 3D integration, hybrid bonding, and wafer-level processes has made it much harder to detect defects consistently and early enough to protect yields. While optical insp... » read more

Detecting Slips, Scratches, Cracks In Wafers And Dies Becoming Harder


Defect detection requirements on the order of 10 defective parts per million (DPPM) are driving improvements in inspection tools’ resolution and throughput at foundries and OSATs. However, defects that manifest as slips, scratches, and micro-cracks continue to bedevil the prevalent optical inspection methods. These defects can range in size from nanometers to millimeters, some of which are... » read more

Chip Industry Technical Paper Roundup: July 1


New technical papers recently added to Semiconductor Engineering’s library: [table id=426 /] Find more semiconductor research papers here. » read more

Viability of aZnMIm As A Resist For EUV Lithography (Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Intel et al.)


A new technical paper (preprint) titled "Extreme Ultraviolet and Beyond Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography using Amorphous Zeolitic Imidazolate Resists Deposited by Atomic/Molecular Layer Deposition" was published by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Intel Corporation, Bruker Nano, EUV Tech and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The paper states "This study demonstr... » read more

Chip Industry Week in Review


AI featured big at this week's Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco. Dozens of companies featured AI-related tools (see product section below), as well as significant improvements to existing tools and some entirely new approaches for designing chips. Among the highlights: Siemens unveiled an AI-enhanced toolset for the EDA design flow that enables customers to integrate the... » read more

Challenges In Using Sub-7nm ICs In Automotive


The automotive industry is producing vehicles with increasing levels of real-time decision-making, enabled by thousands of ICs, sensors, and multi-chip packages, but making sure these systems work flawlessly throughout their expected lifetimes is a growing challenge. Automotive chips traditionally were developed at mature process nodes in five- to seven-year cycles, but much has changed over... » read more

E-Beam Inspection Proves Essential For Advanced Nodes


Electron-beam inspection is proving to be indispensable for finding critical defects at sub-5nm dimensions. The challenge now is how to speed up the process to make it economically palatable to fabs. E-beam inspection's notorious sensitivity-throughput tradeoff has made comprehensive defect coverage with e-beam at these advanced nodes especially problematic. For Intel’s 18A logic node (~1.... » read more

Atomic Force Microscopy: The Definitive AFM Modes Handbook


This handbook illustrates the wide variety of operating modes available on Bruker AFMs, going well beyond the standard high‑resolution topographic imaging capabilities of AFM. The modes are broken into seven separate categories: morphology, electromagnetic properties, thermal properties, mechanical properties, chemical properties, electrochemical properties, and manipulation. Each category be... » read more

Why Thin Film Measurements Matter


Semiconductor devices are becoming thinner and more complex, making thin deposited films even harder to measure and control. With 3nm node devices in production and 2nm nodes ramping toward first-silicon, the importance of precise film measurement is only growing in significance as fabs seek to maintain the performance and reliability of leading-edge devices. Whether it’s the read and writ... » read more

Nearly Invisible: Defect Detection Below 5nm


Detecting sub-5nm defects creates huge challenges for chipmakers, challenges that have a direct impact on yield, reliability, and profitability. In addition to being smaller and harder to detect, defects are often hidden beneath intricate device structures and packaging schemes. Moreover, traditional optical and electrical probing methods, trusted for decades, are proving inadequate against ... » read more

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