Chip Manufacturing

Front-End Defect Inspection

eS31
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Electrical Line Monitoring
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Product Description

The eS31 e-beam defect inspector provides defect detection capability for small physical defects and electrical defects, enabling electrical line monitoring and sophisticated engineering analysis at the 90nm node and below. With improved cost of ownership and advanced imaging technologies, the eS31 electrical defect inspector helps chipmakers achieve faster time to market and higher yield on advanced devices.
 
  • Voltage-contrast (VC) detection enables production monitoring of buried electrical defects for faster identification of electrical failures
  • Advanced imaging capabilities (advanced charge control, e-Control™, and wide landing energy) provide sensitivity on charge-sensitive layers and on advanced materials, such as low-k dielectrics and SOI
  • Inline automatic defect classification provides nuisance filtering, reduces the defect population requiring off-line review, and enables trending by defect type for improved time to results and identification of critical excursions
  • µLoop methodology provides the highest signal-to-noise and fastest capture of electrically relevant defects for efficient ramp of new technology and accelerated in-line yield learning
  • Lower cost of ownership is obtained with throughput and production worthiness improvements and major ease-of-use enhancements
  • Commonality with other KLA-Tencor defect inspectors and review tools improves ease of use, facilitates operator training and reduces production integration time
Applications

Etch: Patented charge-control technology allows e-beam inspection of oxide etch processes, including contact, via and trench etch, and of back-end metal etch layers with sparse geometries.

CMP: Voltage contrast reveals buried electrical interconnect defects resulting from plating failure in tungsten CMP or inlaid copper dual damascene processes, while also detecting surface micro-scratches, residues, and corrosion.

High Aspect Ratio (HAR) Structures: A large depth of focus and a highly sensitive electron optical system enable detection of yield-limiting particles, residue and scumming within vias, deep trenches and etched interconnects.

FEOL: Using the μLoop methodology, engineers can directly view poly stringers or patterning defects with greatly reduced nuisance, enabling rapid FEOL learning at a lower cost of ownership.

Yield Learning: Using the μLoop technology instead of an electrical probe to identify yield-critical electrical issues reduces yield learning by weeks, resulting in significantly faster root-cause analysis.

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