Product Description

Process Window Qualification (PWQ) enables lithographers to qualify the process window for their sub-100nm designs prior to production. Combining state-of-the-art wafer inspection, review and analysis, PWQ has proven effective for today's advanced lithography by identifying critical design errors that can cause process window failure and adversely impact overall device yield.


 

• Verifies optical proximity correction (OPC) reticle designs at the wafer level, identifying critical yield-limiting errors and monitoring hot spots
• Determines if reticles are suitable for production or should be redesigned, ensuring high device yield
• Accelerates advanced lithography process development including immersion lithography and double patterning
• Provides results in significantly less time than manual methods by using innovative connectivity between KLA-Tencor's optical inspectors and eDR-5200 review system for automated image grabbing and report generation

Application

Reticle Design Marginality Identification: Utilizing an intelligent wafer layout and KLA-Tencor’s 23xx or 28xx brightfield inspectors or Puma 91xx darkfield inspectors, PWQ enables lithographers to compare die having modified lithography parameters with optimized die. The resulting data are analyzed with proprietary algorithms to identify and prioritize regions of process window marginality. This method enables lithographers to make better-informed decisions about whether to have the reticle redesigned, or instead, to fine-tune inline defect and CD monitoring efforts to minimize the design error impact on device yield.

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• Etch Process Monitoring by Electron Beam Wafer Inspection