tag: inspection

What’s Failing At The Interface
By Gregory Haley - 07 Apr, 2026 - Comments: 0

Key Takeaways The interface is where failures in advanced packaging become visible, but it's increasingly not where they originate. Weak interfaces often don't fail at time zero, but they do degrade due to parametric drift and margin erosion that binary test screens miss entirely. The temporary test interconnect is the largest variable in the measurement chain and must be controlled ... » read more

The Specialty Device Surge, Part 1: Wafer Size Transitions Are Powering The Future Of Specialty Devices And Bringing New Challenges
By Christopher Haire - 10 Mar, 2026 - Comments: 0

Specialty devices are the unsung heroes of modern life. For many in the semiconductor industry today, the spotlight is on the SiC and GaN power devices used in automotive, green energy, fast-charge consumer electronics (CE), and high-performance computing (HPC) applications (Figures 1 and 2). However, specialty devices are more than just power devices. They are a broad class of semiconductor... » read more

Research Bits: Mar. 3
By Jesse Allen - 03 Mar, 2026 - Comments: 0

Computational electron microscopy Researchers from Cornell University, TSMC, and ASM used electron ptychography for atomic-scale defect inspection of transistors. The computational imaging method uses an extremely precise electron microscope pixel array detector (EMPAD) to collect detailed scattering patterns of electrons after they pass through transistors and compare how the patterns chan... » read more

Beyond Optical: A New E-Beam Inspection For Advanced Chips
By Christophe Begue - 10 Feb, 2026 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor industry is defined by its relentless pursuit of smaller, faster, and more powerful chips. As we push into advanced 3D architectures like gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, a critical challenge emerges: finding the defects that kill yield. Many of these flaws are deeply buried within complex structures and impossible to see with traditional optical inspection. This creates ... » read more

A Clear Advantage: Precision Glass Carrier Inspection For AI And HPC Markets
By Jason Lin - 13 Jan, 2026 - Comments: 0

If you’ve been following the evolution of advanced packaging, you know that the industry is pushing boundaries like never before. From high-performance computing to industry-upending AI devices, the demand for smaller, faster, and more powerful chips is driving innovation at every level. One of the unsung heroes in this transformation: Glass carriers. These carriers are becoming essential ... » read more

Semiconductor Manufacturing In The AI Era
By Christophe Begue - 13 Jan, 2026 - Comments: 0

At the 2025 PDF Solutions Users Conference, CEO John Kibarian delivered a wide-ranging keynote that positioned the semiconductor industry at a pivotal inflection point, one driven by explosive AI demand but constrained by unprecedented manufacturing complexity. His central message: the path to a trillion-dollar semiconductor industry by 2030 requires fundamentally rethinking how manufacturers c... » read more

Macro Defect Inspection For Mission-Critical Defense, Aerospace, And Advanced R&D Fabs
By Errol Akomer - 18 Dec, 2025 - Comments: 0

Some fabs build consumer chips that sit inside phones and laptops. Others build chips that must survive in orbit, under the Arctic ice, or deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Fabs serving defense, aerospace, national laboratories, and other advanced R&D programs operate under some of the most stringent requirements in the industry. For these facilities, yield is not the only concern. Sec... » read more

Metrology Digs Deep To Produce Next-Generation 3D NAND
By Laura Peters - 09 Dec, 2025 - Comments: 1

Each generation of 3D NAND packs about 30% more bits than the previous version, with current devices storing up to 2 terabits of data in a die the size of a fingernail. With new product introductions shrinking from 18 months to every 12 months, chipmakers are constantly innovating to enable this prodigious scaling pace. 3D NAND technology is a core ingredient in mobile phones, solid-state dr... » read more

Operator Shortage? Intelligent Machine Vision Can Give More And Better Wafer Inspection
By Errol Akomer - 20 Nov, 2025 - Comments: 0

Right now, wafer manufacturers are having serious problems in finding and retaining operators. And they're desperately looking for ways to keep their fabs running effectively. Fortunately, machine vision can offer a smart solution. To see how it works, let’s first look at the basic fab workflow and check out some opportunities for improvement… How to improve ADI In a typical fab, after... » read more

Stop The Drip-Drip-Drip Of Intermittent In-Line Wafer Defects And Increase Your Yields
By Errol Akomer - 23 Oct, 2025 - Comments: 0

Full-blown process excursions that affect every wafer are comparatively easy for fabs to detect and fix. However, “onesie-twosie,” lower-volume excursions can go unresolved for months or even years. Some process engineers call them "slow moving excursions.” And over time, those low-volume defects can add up to significant yield losses. Ignoring a problem Some intermittent process excurs... » read more

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