Press release
Applied Materials Unveils eBeam Metrology System that Enables a New Playbook for Patterning Advanced Logic and Memory Chips
Today’s leading-edge chip designs require a new class of metrology that goes beyond optical target-based approximation, statistical sampling and single-layer
About this update from Applied Materials, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Today’s leading-edge chip designs require a new class of metrology that goes beyond optical target-based approximation, statistical sampling and single-layer controlPROVision® 3E system combines nanometer resolution, high speed and through-layer imaging to give engineers the millions of datapoints they need to correctly pattern the most advanced chip designs30 systems already installed at the world’s leading foundry-logic, DRAM and NAND customers SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Materials, Inc. today unveiled a unique eBeam metrology system that enables a new playbook for patterning control based on massive on-device, across-wafer and through-layer measurements. Advanced chips are built one layer at a time, and each of billions of individual features must be perfectly patterned and aligned to create working transistors and interconnects with optimal electrical characteristics. As the industry increasingly moves from simple 2D designs to more aggressive multipatterning and 3D designs, a commensurate breakthrough in metrology is needed to perfect each critical layer and enable the best performance, power, area-cost and time to market (PPACt™). Traditional Patterning Control Playbook Traditionally, patterning control has been achieved using optical overlay tools that help align die patterns with “proxy targets” which are guide marks printed into the spaces between die that are removed from the wafer during die singulation. Proxy target approximation has been complemented with statistical sampling of a small number of die patterns from across the wafer. However, after successive generations of feature shrinking, broader adoption of multipatterning, and the introduction of 3D designs that cause interlayer distortions, the traditional approach is leading to measurement deficiencies – or “blind spots” – that are making it more difficult for engineers to correlate intended patterns with on-die results. New Patterning Control Playbook With the arrival of new eBeam system technology that can directly measure semiconductor device structures across the wafer and through layers at high speed, customers are moving to a new patterning control playbook based on big data. Applied’s latest eBeam metrology innovation – the PROVision® 3E system – is especially designed for this new playbook. “As the leader in eBeam tec...