Rudolph Technologies Announces E25 Wafer Edge Inspection System

Flanders, NJ -- Rudolph Technologies, Inc., a provider of process control solutions for macrodefect inspection and thin film measurement, introduced the E25 Wafer Edge Inspection System, a second generation replacement for the (August Technology) E20 System and the latest addition to its suite of "all-surface" inspection tools. Edge inspection has become critical in advanced semiconductor manufacturing operations. The new E25 System provides edge inspection for CMP, etch, clean, deposition, pre-RTP and final QA processes, and is designed to cope with the challenges of edge inspection, including curved surfaces, ever-changing bevel profiles, process variations and nuisance defects.

The E25 Wafer Edge Inspection System incorporates numerous software and optical enhancements including brighter illumination, greater defect capture rate and simplified recipe creation. It features an improved algorithm to create a defect-free surface model of the edge and uses this model to detect and classify defects. In its current configuration, the E25 System integrates with the company's AXi or NSX Inspection Systems to provide edge and front-side inspection throughout the entire manufacturing process - front-end to back-end. Unlike laser-based edge inspection technology, which detects only the amount of light scattered by a defect and thus requires further optical review for defect identification, the E25 image-based inspection uses multiple color cameras, concurrent color image capture and intrinsic ADC (automatic defect classification) to detect and classify a range of defects based on size, morphology, color, location and other unique characteristics. In most cases the E25 data alone are sufficient for rapid root cause identification, eliminating the need for additional optical review.

"We are very excited about the demonstrated capabilities of the E25," said Ardy Johnson, vice president of marketing for Rudolph. "It has already been successfully tested and accepted at a major U.S. semiconductor manufacturer. We believe it will be accepted rapidly throughout the industry, based in large part on the success of its predecessor, the E20, which has the largest installed base of any patterned wafer edge inspection system. The E20 can be quickly and easily upgraded in the field to an E25."

SOURCE: Rudolph Technologies, Inc.