Tamar Technology ships its first fully automated WaferScan system

NEWBURY PARK, USA: Tamar Technology, a precision metrology company specializing in metrology systems for the semiconductor, hard disk drive and medical device industries, shipped its first fully automated WaferScan system to a major semiconductor fab. The systems addresses metrology requirements for Through Silicon Via (TSV) etch depth, deep trench depth, wafer thickness, photo-resist thickness and hole diameter.

The system includes Tamar's proprietary Wafer Thickness Sensor (WTS) to measure the depth of TSVs and deep narrow trenches. The system also includes Tamar’s proprietary Visible Thickness Sensor (VTS) to measure thickness of photo resist, thick films and various polymers. Integrated with Tamar’s sensor is a video microscope for automated alignment and vision measurements, such as hole diameter.

"Tamar's WTS can measure etch depth and wafer thickness of single or bonded wafers. The measurement is optical and non-destructive and it is the only technology that can measure any TSV or trench regardless of the diameter or depth," says David Grant, president of Tamar Technology. "One of the challenges that Tamar’s sensors were able to overcome was the large range of etch measurements required, which can be hundreds of microns deep and as thin as one micron wide.”

Tamar's VTS measures the thickness of films and polymers on the surface and at the bottom of etched features to ensure the presence of material and to monitor the thickness variation across the wafer.

This system is flexible and can be configured with multiple sensors to accommodate different measurement requirements. “The combination of a microscope with the different sensors allows machine vision alignment producing the accurate positioning required for these precision applications," says Grant. “It runs fully automated using programmed recipes and communicates with the factory host via SECS/GEM." Grant adds, “Installation of this tool indicates how well our technology has been accepted and validates our efforts in advancing to fully automated, clean room class 1 semiconductor tools."

The Tamar system is used in production to monitor various processes and helps to reduce costs. Because of its non-destructive nature, product yields are improved as process excursions are monitored in near real time.