Odyssey 300 Wafer Inspection System

The company offers a new generation wafer inspection system, the Odyssey 300, to meet tomorrow's semiconductor manufacturing requirements. Using e-beam based Voltage Contrast Defect Detection (VCDD) technology, it identifies the critical electrical defects that are optically undetectable yield-killers in manufacturing leading-edge integrated circuits (ICs).

As semiconductor manufacturing processes encompass new materials, geometries below 0.15(mu)m and increasing layers of metallization, the ability of traditional optical inspection systems to detect critical electrical defects plummets. At sub-0.15(mu)m line widths, less than 25% of the device-killer defects can be identified through optical systems. Since a major difficulty is that today's leading yield loss sources are shifting to subsurface defects that are not accessible optically, new inspection tools are required.

The Odyssey 300 uses e-beam based VCDD technology to detect a broad range of optically undetectable defects, including electrical, submicron particle and pattern defects. The system's unique feature-based defect detection technology identifies open contacts and vias. Other yield-killer defects that interfere with the IC's electrical function and are identified by the Odyssey 300 include metal stringers, poly gate shorts or copper damascene voids.

A market leader in supplying e-beam probe diagnostic systems with voltage contrast capabilities, the company now leverages that expertise to capture subsurface features vital to valid inspection at the sub-0.15(mu)m processing level. Proprietary wafer surface charge control combined with advanced image processing (IP) algorithms provides results with extremely low nuisance rates and high data sensitivity.

While building on the strong foundation of e-beam diagnostic systems used by leading IC manufacturers and the company's proprietary voltage contrast defect detection technology, the Odyssey 300 features advances that meet today's evolving inline production demands. On-the-fly defect image capture and storage provides real time off-line defect review with simultaneous inspection, eliminating the need for additional off-line review equipment. The 300mm-ready system offers an advanced graphical user interface to simplify recipe setup and point-and-click operation, while die-to-any-die comparisons provide flexibility in sampling plans to simplify and speed defect review.

Schlumberger ATE, Mary Jo Colton, Tel: 408-501-7017. Email: mcolton@san-jose.tt.slb.com.