Date: 09/07/2012

DUV laser system from Applied finds defects in 20nm IC chips

Applied Materials has unveiled its Applied UVision 5 silicon wafer inspection system for detecting defects in the critical patterning layers of logic semiconductor devices at the sub-20nm node.

Applied explains the system's deep ultra-violet (DUV) laser and simultaneous brightfield and greyfield light collection capabilities deliver up to double the light intensity to the wafer over previous tools, enabling the UVision 5 system to capture up to twice the number of killer defects.

The advantage of this new laser inspection system from Applied is they deliver more light and feature proprietary image processing algorithms to cut noise by 50% to capture defects on dense features.

"With each advance in technology node, minute imperfections that could previously be ignored suddenly become potential 'killer' defects. Innovations in the UVision 5 system are enabling chipmakers to find and characterize these ultra-small defects to boost yield and reduce cycle time," said Itai Rosenfeld, corporate vice president and general manager of Applied's Process Diagnostics and Control business unit.

"We are excited about the momentum the UVision5 tool has achieved with customers. We've had repeat orders for the system and it is already tool of record at multiple leading logic and foundry manufacturers for 2Xnm device production," added Rosenfeld.

The UVision 5 system targets critical monitoring applications, such as ArF immersion lithography, double and quad patterning and EUVL layers.

UVision 5 is developed to increase production volume of advanced semiconductor foundries. UVision 5 is designed for seamless and hands-free integration with Applied's SEMVision G5 defect review system. This equipment can also utilize design information for building layout data which can improve defect capture rate and save up to 15 hours of operator time per inspection recipe.

For more info visit www.appliedmaterials.com/technologies/library/uvision-5-inspection .