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MetaPULSE-III System

The MetaPULSE-III™ offers superior on-product measurements of ultrathin to thick opaque films with a low cost of ownership on a versatile platform that can speed ramping and maximize production yield. The MetaPULSE-III offers the latest advances in Rudolph's established, patented picosecond laser sonar (PULSE™) technology and can also incorporate other metrology technologies in the same tool for superior film measurement and characterization. This allows customized metrology solutions for process development and production monitoring in each fab area. The MetaPULSE-III further provides industry-leading throughput, a small footprint, and ease of fab integration for a low cost of ownership.

Overview

  • Low cost of ownership and industry-leading throughput are offered with the Vanguard-II platform, which can accommodate two PULSE metrology modules in the Turbo configuration
  • Cost-effective customized solutions for thin-films, diffusion, electroplate, and CMP are possible, as other advanced metrology modules can be combined with PULSE on a single platform
  • Process ramps can be accelerated, as the mix-and-match metrology strategy allows tool capabilities to be rapidly adapted, meeting evolving process requirements
  • Applications include ultrathin films, advanced silicides, metal gates, silicon on insulator, SiGe, advanced copper barriers, copper shunt, dense line arrays, and thermal conductivity
  • Robust recipes to measure structures containing different materials, single layer films ranging in thickness from Angstroms to microns, and films such as silicides that change properties as they are processed are available with the EASy software
  • Finding and aligning to the smaller structures used in advanced semiconductor devices is made simple with a high-resolution microscope that provides sharp, clear images for site sizes down to 30 micron by 30 micron
  • Accurate, independent measurements of the thickness of each individual layer in a film stack are made with virtual immunity to interference from underlying structures by the time-separated results of the laser sonar technique
  • On-product measurements are enabled with the small laser spot size and non-contact, non-destructive measurement method
  • In addition to thickness, PULSE Technology can determine RMS roughness, material density, adhesion, material phase, and interlayer reactions, as well as low-k and ultra low-k ILD modulus
  • Fast, accurate measurements of product wafers are achieved with field-proven wafer handling and robust pattern recognition
  • Meets industry standards for 200mm and 300mm automation