Application Of Overlay Modeling And Control With Zernike Polynomials In An HVM Environment


By JawWuk Ju, MinGyu Kim and JuHan Lee of SK Hynix; Jeremy Nabeth, John C. Robinson and Bill Pierson of KLA-Tencor; and Sanghuck Jeon and Hoyoung Heo of KLA-Tencor Korea. Abstract Shrinking technology nodes and smaller process margins require improved photolithography overlay control. Generally, overlay measurement results are modeled with Cartesian polynomial functions for both intra-field... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Fab tools and materials After a series of delays due to regulatory issues, Lam Research and KLA-Tencor have agreed to terminate their proposed merger agreement. Amid a possible proxy battle, Kulicke & Soffa Industries has named Fusen Chen as president and chief executive, effective Oct. 31. He was also elected to the board of K&S. Jonathan Chou, chief financial officer and interim CEO, w... » read more

Lam, KLA-Tencor Scrap Merger


After a series of delays due to regulatory issues, Lam Research and KLA-Tencor have agreed to terminate their proposed merger agreement. Last year, Lam entered into a definitive agreement to acquire KLA-Tencor for about $10.6 billion. Lam’s proposed and blockbuster move to acquire KLA-Tencor would supposedly create the world’s second largest fab tool maker, behind Applied Materials. O... » read more

Making Manufacturing Sustainable For Chips


There is widespread agreement that fabs and manufacturers in general should operate in a sustainable way, but what exactly does that mean? And what concrete steps can fabs take toward that goal? Once we get past the simplistic “more sustainable is better,” things tend to get pretty fuzzy. Consider the definition of sustainability itself. Corporate responsibility reports and similar docum... » read more

5 Takeaways From BACUS


As usual, the recent SPIE Photomask Technology Conference, sometimes called BACUS, was a busy event. The event, which took place in San Jose, Calif., featured presentations on the usual subjects in the photomask sector. There were presentations on mask writers, inspection, metrology, repair and cleaning. And, of course, the papers included masks based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography... » read more

Mask Maker Worries Grow


Photomasks are becoming more complex and expensive at each node, thereby creating a number of challenges on several fronts. For one thing, the features on the [getkc id="265" kc_name="photomask"] are becoming smaller and more complex at each node. Second, the number of masks per mask-set are increasing as a result of multiple patterning. Third, it costs more to build and equip a new mask fab... » read more

Device Overlay Method For High-Volume Manufacturing


By Honggoo Lee, Sangjun Hana and Youngsik Kima of SK Hynix; Myoungsoo Kim, of the Department of Semiconductor System Engineering at Korea University; Hoyoung Heo, Sanghuck Jeon and DongSub Choi, KLA-Tencor Korea; and Jeremy Nabeth, Irina Brinster, Bill Pierson, and John C. Robinson of KLA-Tencor. Abstract Advancing technology nodes with smaller process margins require improved photolithogra... » read more

Mask Maker Worries Grow


Leading-edge photomask makers face a multitude of challenges as they migrate from the 14nm node and beyond. Mask making is becoming more challenging and expensive at each node on at least two fronts. On one front, mask makers must continue to invest in the development of traditional optical masks at advanced nodes. On another front, several photomask vendors are preparing for the possible ra... » read more

Optical Metrology Solutions For 10nm Films Process Control Challenges


By Sridhar Mahendrakar (a), Alok Vaida (a), Kartik Venkataraman (b), Michael Lenahan (a), Steven Seipp (a), Fang Fanga (a), Shweta Saxena (a), Dawei Hu (b), Nam Hee Yoon (b), Da Song (b), Janay Camp (b), Zhou Ren (b). [a: GlobalFoundries; b:KLA-Tencor] Controlling thickness and composition of gate stack layers in logic and memory devices is critical to ensure transistor performance meets r... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Chipmakers At this week’s Flash Memory Summit, Samsung rolled out several new products, including its next-generation 3D NAND device and a solid-state drive (SSD) with capacities up to 32 terabytes. At the same time, Samsung introduced a new and high-performance SSD solution, dubbed the Z-SSD. Samsung’s Z-SSD shares the fundamental structure of V-NAND and has a unique circuit design and... » read more

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