Leader in non-contact contamination monitoring extends Semilab’s reach into key markets
Billerica, Mass. and BUDAPEST, Hungary -- June 30, 2009 – Semilab, one of the world’s largest metrology companies, today announced it has acquired Semiconductor Diagnostics, Inc. (SDI). The Tampa, Florida based company is a leader in non-contact measurement solutions for wafer, IC and Solar manufacturers. SDI will operate as part of the newly announced Semilab USA (see separate release today). Semilab offers a family of scalable, flexible solutions to help semiconductor and solar researchers and manufacturers characterize materials to reduce costs and increase yields. Founded in 1990, Semilab has over 3000 metrology systems installed worldwide.
“The acquisition of SDI provides Semilab with another key offering for non-contact metrology and give us critical mass as a source single vendor,” said Dr. Tibor Pavelka, President and Chief Executive Officer of Semilab. “SDI is the premier provider of surface photo voltage technology for the non-contact, non-destructive measurement of wafers and ICs. With strength around iron and copper contamination, the products meet the needs for manufacturing products such as the image sensors used in cell phones and solar cells.”
SDI was founded in 1988 and has 380 systems installed in top tier fabs in the US, Europe and Asia. SDI offers a scalable set of products from fully automated systems designed for product wafer measurements in large 300mm facilities to smaller manual loading systems. SDI’s products excel in measuring the contamination generated in producing ICs and wafers, specifically copper and iron. Both are highly sensitive and without accurate measurement manufacturers could see high cost, catastrophic yield failures. SDI’s products also support the solar market extending Semilab’s portfolio in that growing market.
“We could not pick a better company to join than Semilab. It is an ideal fit for our market area,” said Andrew Findlay, VP of Sales and Marketing at SDI. “We will be able to take advantage of Semilab’s sales channels and extensive reach into the semiconductor and solar markets.”
SDI will operate as an independent company, Semilab SDI an LLC of Semilab-USA. Findlay will assume the role of General Manager of the unit.
SDI is the latest acquisition by Semilab. In May the company announced the acquisition of QC Solutions and AMS of Massachusetts. In 2008 the company purchased the assets of French metrology equipment specialist SOPRA SA. In 2008 Semilab acquired a majority in SSM of Pittsburgh, Pa., a provider of precision contact metrology and the Boxer Cross metrology technology from Applied Materials.
About Semilab
One of the world’s largest metrology companies, Semilab offers a full family of scalable, flexible solutions to help semiconductor and solar researchers and manufacturers characterize materials to reduce costs and increase yields. Unlike other metrology companies, Semilab partners with customers to build solutions for their specific application needs. Semilab’s products support a variety of contact and non-contact measurement from R&D to fully automated inline production. A profitable, worldwide company Semilab is well-positioned for future growth due to the material characterization challenges presented by the drive to smaller nodes and more complex chip structures requiring new materials. Semilab is a leader supplier of electrical test equipment in the largest segment of the solar cell market enabling it to take advantage of that market’s growth.
Semiconductor Diagnostics Inc., 3650 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 130, Tampa, FL, 33612
In this paper we demonstrate an application of the micro corona-Kelvin metrology to monitoring of the electrical properties of silicon oxynitrides prepared with a plasma nitridation process currently used for advanced gate dielectrics. Key measurement parameters to be discussed in correlation with nitrogen concentration are: dielectric capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), dielectric voltage in valence band tunneling range (VB), interface trapped charge (Qit) and flatband voltage with an emphasis on correlation with nitrogen concentration. Positive and negative polarity tunneling conditions are used as a sensitive measure of dielectric conduction and valence band structure, respectively. Taking advantage of the large valence band offset difference between Si3N4 and SiO2, we employ tunneling measurements for very sensitive probing of the nitrogen content in SiON dielectrics.
Keywords: Corona-Kelvin, scribe lines, plasma nitridation.
Published at: 2007 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics.
Semiconductor Diagnostics Inc., 3650 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 130, Tampa, FL, 33612
In-line monitoring of the electrical properties of high-k dielectrics in logic or memory fab-lines has become increasingly important in the semiconductor industry. Non-contact corona- Kelvin based metrology can be used to affectively monitor in-line key dielectric properties. Furthermore, we present an important extension of this metrology to the micro-scale that allows measurement of dielectric properties on test sites as small as 40μm x 70μm. This is achieved through miniaturization of the corona charging apparatus and of the Kelvin probe without a sacrifice in precision or repeatability. Corona-Kelvin micro-metrology allows for the monitoring of the critical dielectric properties directly on product wafers that can then be returned to the fabline for continued processing. Application examples are given for dielectric capacitance of advanced dielectrics and for the properties of an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) memory structure. In the latter case we demonstrate programming and erasing of the ONO structure realized by corona charging. We also use the measured flatband voltage and total charge to identify the location of the programmed charge at the first SiO2/Si3N4 interface in the ONO structure.
Here's a look at the basics, answers to some common questions about RSS feeds, and information on how to signup for SDI's news feeds.
"What is RSS?"
An RSS feed is a Web site's syndicated news feed to which you subscribe using an RSS or news reader.
Click HERE to subscribe to our RSS feed.