KLA-Tencor aims overlay metrology at 65-nm node
By Peter Clarke, Semiconductor Business News
Feb 19, 2003 (5:16 AM)
URL: siliconstrategies.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Archer AIM is an upgrade to the Archer 10 overlay metrology system from KLA-Tencor Corp. intended for use with 65-nm manufacturing process technology. The company intends to discuss Archer AIM at the SPIE microlithography 2003 conference, February 25-26, in Santa Clara, California.
The major change within the Archer AIM system is that it makes use of an optical grating to reduce the measurement uncertainty associated with traditional 'box-in-box' overlay metrology, the company said.
However, the San Jose-based company did not disclose what the Archer AIM system is capable of in terms of overlay accuracy.
The company said it introduced Archer AIM to potential customers some time ago and claims that several leading chipmakers and industry consortia have adopted the product for developing their future manufacturing process technologies. IMEC and Motorola engineers are familiar with the system.
Current overlay metrology methods use large test structures, called box-in-box targets, which are built into the scribe lines of product wafers. At the 65-nm node, the data provided by these structures no longer correlates to the process conditions that affect the actual device during patterning, such as lens aberration and defocus, the company said. In addition, these box-in-box targets are highly susceptible to chemical mechanical planarization processes, which can cause the targets to degrade and provide inaccurate overlay data, KLA-Tencor said.
"An evaluation of Archer AIM's new measurement technology against the traditional box-in-box structures indicates that AIM technology delivers a dramatic improvement in the ability to make rapid and accurate stepper corrections," said John Allgair, metrology section manager at Motorola's Dan Noble Center, in a statement issued by KLA-Tencor.
Archer AIM is based on KLA-Tencor's Archer platform, an overlay system that KLA-Tencor has sold more than 100 times. With a throughput greater than 150 300-mm wafers per hour, Archer AIM provides a 25% increase in sampling rate compared to the Archer 10, the company said. |
