Fractilia: Pattern Roughness Metrology


A new startup has emerged and unveiled a technology that addresses one of the bigger but less understood problems in advanced lithography--pattern roughness. The startup, called Fractilia, is a software-based metrology tool that analyzes the CD-SEM images of pattern roughness on a wafer. Fractilia, a self-funded startup, is led by Chris Mack and Ed Charrier. Mack, known as the gentleman sc... » read more

The Next Resists


As EUV exposure tools, sources, and photomasks have become more capable, the lithography sector’s attention has turned to EUV photoresist. After all, once the exposure system can produce a high quality image at the wafer, the resist still has to capture it for pattern transfer. Unfortunately, the increasing emphasis on photoresist has made the limitations of current formulations even more obv... » read more

5 Reasons EUV Will Or Won’t Be Used


Digging into this subject, there are five metrics that count in a lithography tool: resolution, throughput, defects, overlay, and reliability. So what does the best data tell us about the current state and realistic prognosis for [gettech id="31045" comment="EUV"]. Semiconductor Engineering posed this question to Matt Colburn, senior manager for patterning research at [getentity id="22306" comm... » read more

Swimming In Data


By Ed Sperling So many warnings about data overload have been issued over the past decade that people generally have stopped paying attention to them. The numbers are so astronomical that increases tend to lose meaning. Nowhere is this more evident than in the semiconductor metrology world, where files are measured in gigabytes. And at each new process node, as the number of transistors a... » read more

AL 2012 – Day 3


I continue to focus on line-edge roughness in my own research.  This means that I attended papers in every conference in the symposium, since LER is an issue that cuts across all topics in lithography.  (To be truthful, I meant to go to a paper in the new etch conference that talked about LER, but never made it.)  LER is finally, in my opinion, getting the attention it deserves.  I believe,... » read more

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