Altatech Semiconductor intros EyeEdge system

MONTBONNOT, FRANCE: Altatech Semiconductor S.A. has introduced its new high-throughput AltaSight EyeEdge inspection system, capable of detecting, identifying and generating images of defects as small as 2 microns along the edges of 300mm semiconductor wafers, including silicon, compound semiconductor, SOI, quartz and transparent substrates.

EyeEdge's applications include inspecting bare or patterned wafers, through silicon vias (TSVs) used in advanced 3D semiconductor integration, and thin-film layer overlap at the extreme edges (the crown or apex) of wafers.

Available as either a stand-alone tool or as a modular, fully retrofitable enhancement on Altatech Semiconductor's 300mm AltaSight platform, the new EyeEdge system maximizes device yield and profitability by finding and accurately classifying defects that other inspection schemes cannot.

In addition, EyeEdge's throughput of 100 300-mm wafers per hour enables it to achieve higher productivity than other inspection systems on the market today.

"We developed EyeEdge based on close communications with our strategic partners in the semiconductor market, whose requirements for critical edge inspection and cost-of-ownership performance are incorporated into this new product," said Jean-Luc
Delcarri, president of Altatech Semiconductor.

The company has installed two beta-site systems at customers' R&D laboratories, where the equipment is being qualified for use in volume production.

Designed for a wide range of users – from wafer suppliers to integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and foundries to product development laboratories – EyeEdge is a fully automated defect-classification system. It comes standard with three high-speed optical sensors for single-pass inspection.

Using Altatech Semiconductor's proprietary DeepSight technology, these sensors collect sufficient data to define the size, shape and location of defects anywhere within 1.5 mm of a wafer's edge. EyeEdge then generates a three-dimensional image of each surface anomaly for easy classification.