Powerful New Semiconductor Tool Introduced by Park Systems Combines Atomic Force Microscopy with White Light Interferometry

Park Systems, a world leading manufacturer of Atomic Force Microscopes, presents Park NX-Hybrid WLI, the first fully integrated system that combines Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) with White Light Interferometer (WLI) profilometry.  White light interferometry (WLI) is a nondestructive, non-contact, optical measurement technique used to generate 2D and 3D models of surfaces, and is now widely used  for semiconductor production quality assurance. Park Systems introduces the Park NX-Hybrid WLI as a powerful semiconductor metrology tool that incorporates the best of AFM and WLI technologies into one seamless system.

“Park NX-Hybrid WLI introduces a total complementary metrology solution for semiconductor applications requiring both large area scanning and nanoscale metrology,” comments Richard Lee, VP of Product Marketing, Park Systems. “The revolutionary design and seamless integration of WLI and AFM emphasizes Park’s commitment to provide new, innovative customer driven solutions, as nano metrology requirements for device manufacturing continue to increase.”

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The Park AFM in the integrated system is based on the Park NX-Wafer, the industry leading automated atomic force microscopy system for semiconductor and related devices manufacturing, in-line quality assurance, and research and development. The combined AFM/WLI system provides high throughput imaging over a very large area with the WLI module, and nanoscale metrology with sub-angstrom height resolution over the areas of interest using AFM.  Defects of a patterned structure can be detected by comparing images of reference and target sample areas using high speed “hot spot detection”, a technique that enables fast localization of defect sites for high resolution AFM review.

The Park WLI module supports both White Light Interferometry and Phase Shifting Interferometry (PSI) modes. The PSI mode is enabled by a motorized filter changer that allows the two objective lenses to be replaced automatically. The Park NX-Hybrid supports objective lens magnification of 2.5x, 10x, 20x, 50x and  100x, featuring a CMOS camera.

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Fusing the two complementary techniques, Park NX-Hybrid WLI is a comprehensive automated metrology system, providing substantial cost savings over two separate systems.

“Unlike legacy standalone WLI and AFM systems, Park NX-Hybrid WLI accomplishes more, in a seamless manner, at drastically lower cost of ownership, creating a completely holistic integrated tool,” comments Byoung-Woon Ahn, VP of Nanotechnology R&D, Park Systems.  “With both tools on the same mount and fed by one EFEM, the system creates fully integrated and exchangeable data, reducing the “fab footprint” and increasing throughput over a larger area.”

Park NX-Hybrid WLI was developed for use in applications requiring much higher resolution and accuracy beyond the capability of WLI alone, such as advanced chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) metrology and monitoring, dishing, erosion, and edge-over-erosion (EOE), film thickness, pillar height, hole structure and die to die comparison. It will also be useful in advanced packaging applications including through-silicon via (TSV) and micro bump measurement redistributed layer (RDL) measurement and photo resist residue detection.

The new Park NX-Hybrid is part of a series of hybrid metrology products Park Systems plans to offer this year to enhance and improve the utilization of atomic force microscopy across a wide range of industrial and academic research applications.

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