News Article
Rudolph Technologies announce multiple inspection order
Rudolph Technologies announced receipt of a multiple-system order from a top-ten U.S. semiconductor manufacturer for its all-surface, advanced macro defect detection system. Each all-surface system consists of a frontside inspection module, a backside inspection module and the new E25 Wafer Edge Inspection System module. This integrated design allows customers to automatically detect, classify and correlate macro defects from the front, back and edge of semiconductor wafers for deposition, lithography, etch and CMP applications.
The value of automated front-surface macro defect inspection is well established for advanced manufacturing processes. All-surface inspection now addresses the additional and disproportionately high number of killer defects that are known to originate in the edge and backside regions of the wafer. "Inspecting the edge and backside regions offers new opportunities for existing fabs to dramatically increase yield on their established processes," said Ardy Johnson, Rudolph's vice president of marketing. "Manufacturers are now learning that as much as 30 percent of killer defects come from these areas. For instance, films can wrap around the edge and accumulate in layers that eventually flake off, only to be re-deposited on the frontside of the wafer."Defect detection is just the beginning; the objective is to correlate data from all surfaces to extract significant, actionable information. For example, a particle on the backside may be harmless in itself, but when it causes a lithography defocus defect on the frontside, it becomes critical.
