Weighing 300mm options
IC Award winner Metryx has announced that over the past six months it has seen a sharp recovery in business, with multiple Mentor mass metrology system orders received, including both new and repeat business. These orders represent customers who are expanding the use of Metryx' mass metrology systems in their production lines and initial implementations of the technology in new applications. Significantly, the orders come from companies based around the world, including the US, Europe and Asia.
"These recent business successes clearly demonstrate that Metryx is emerging from the global recession in a strong position to continue to deliver our innovative metrology," said Dr. Adrian Kiermasz, President and CEO of Metryx. "We are now seeing established customers starting to invest in additional capacity, with new and potential customers willing to drive their internal capital justification process based on our tools' demonstrated strong return on investment."
With a number of customers focused on 300 mm front-end of line (FEOL) and back-end of line (BEOL) metallization due to the Mentor's ability to measure thin metals and stacked layers, the tool is also seeing strong interest from emerging markets such as micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS), solar, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and 3D interconnect (IC), including through silicon via (TSV) and wafer bonding applications. In 3D IC, for example, additional processing steps are being added, but with a strong focus on keeping the cost of these processes low, so the Mentor's multiple process capability and strong ROI serves this growing market well.
Other recent activities at Metryx include implementing mass metrology across a number of process steps within the bulk acoustic wave (BAW) device manufacturing process. BAW manufacturers directly benefit from mass metrology because density is such an important parameter for them, and knowledge of actual material density shortens the cycle between device design and device manufacture.
Metryx' DF3 Mentor offers a 300 mm configuration that allows customers to get the most benefit from the 60 wafer per hour (wph) throughput, providing higher measurement coverage and less risk for a given process. The DF3 delivers highly reliable performance with very low cost of ownership. The open cassette OC23 tool is also gaining traction in emerging markets due to its ability to accommodate multiple wafer sizes and thus more potential applications to maximize return on investment without compromising measurement capability.
