Nanometrics bags multiple orders for Atlas XP and NanoGen

MILPITAS, USA: Nanometrics Inc., a leading supplier of advanced process control metrology systems used primarily in the manufacturing of semiconductors, solar photovoltaics and high-brightness LEDs as well as advanced wafer-scale packaging, announced that is has received an order for multiple Atlas XP metrology systems equipped with NanoCD capability.

The systems are expected to be qualified in the third quarter of this year at a leading semiconductor manufacturer. The systems will be installed with Nanometrics’ scalable NanoGen cluster computing solutions to enable analysis of the most critical and complex process steps in an advanced technology node, supporting both film thickness and optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology.

“The challenges of leading edge semiconductor manufacturing methods have pushed many conventional technologies aside and require that the measurement of thin film thickness, profiles and device geometries occur directly on complex structures,” commented Bill McGahan, Director of OCD Technology Development at Nanometrics.

“Additionally, the rapidly changing process environment necessitates a system and software solution to support robust recipe development. By combining the full NanoCD suite, including our NanoDiffract software, NanoGen cluster computing solutions and Atlas XP metrology systems, our customer has a path to accurate and precise process monitoring in a dynamic and rapidly evolving development line.”

With this deployment, Nanometrics now has OCD solutions in every segment of the fab including lithography, etch, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and thin film deposition, and across all device types including logic, DRAM, flash memory, and magnetic heads spanning the 65nm to 22nm nodes.