Product Description

The 2900 Series broadband defect inspection platform provides significant advancements in optical defect inspection, enabling capture of previously undetectable wafer defects on challenging process layers and die areas. Using Gen-2 PowerBroadband^TM technology, high-resolution optics, two-dimensional Directional E-Field^TM, new optics modes, and NanoPoint^TM the 2900 broadband inspector provides the flexibility required to capture a wide range of yield-critical defect types and to address future defect inspection challenges. The 2900 Series broadband inspection tools are part of a portfolio of advanced wafer defect inspection tools that accelerate the development and production ramp of leading-edge memory and logic devices.

• Gen-2 PowerBroadband, a laser-pumped plasma light source, delivers twice the light of the 2830’s original PowerBroadband source for increased signal on very small yield-critical defects
• New optics produce a 20% resolution improvement and significantly reduce optical noise for higher capture of defects of interest and few nuisance defects
• New sensor, new two-dimensional Directional E-Field, new brightfield and darkfield apertures and new wavelength bands boost defect signal, reduce wafer noise, and provide the flexibility required to detect new defect types and address new inspection challenges
• New 12-bit dynamic range provides increased defect capture in high-contrast die areas such as memory transition regions
• New image computer offers increased throughput and supports new detection and binning algorithms
• In-line Design Attribute (iDA), integrated design aware capability enabled by a new image computer, utilizes standard IC design layout information to improve capture of yield-relevant defects during inspection
• Offline setup reduces the time required for defect inspection recipe setup and improves recipe quality, providing increased tool capacity, better sensitivity and faster time to results
• Ease-of-use improvements, including assisted care area setup for embedded SRAM structures and integrated support for selecting the best combination of optics modes for a given layer, accelerate recipe setup and improve recipe sensitivity
• Redesigned stage delivers improved defect coordinate accuracy for faster and more efficient review and classification of defects on the wafer
• Extendible platform architecture protects a fab’s capital investment
• Shared user interface with other KLA-Tencor inspectors and review tools optimizes inspector capacity and reduces production integration time

NanoPoint enables discovery and monitoring of yield-killer defects by leveraging critical patterns on the 2900 Series optical inspectors. A family of patented technologies, NanoPoint provides a significant improvement in sensitivity on the 2900 Series inspectors while maintaining optical inspection speed. During chip development, Nanopoint utilizes critical pattern information to find the tiny defects that can affect yield the most dramatically, accelerating the identification of design issues that reveal the need for mask re-design. For high volume production, NanoPoint is implemented on the 2900 Series inspectors to monitor defectivity on critical patterns, providing much earlier warning of process drift, which allows engineers to take corrective action before yield is affected. Available as an upgrade to the 2900 Series optical inspectors, NanoPoint provides a cost-effective means for obtaining a significant sensitivity improvement by extending IC manufacturers’ existing capital investment.

Applications

Lithography: The technological innovations implemented on the 2900 broadband optical defect inspector deliver significantly improved defect capture on after-develop inspection (ADI) layers. The 2900’s performance on ADI is comparable to the defect capture results obtained at after-etch inspection (AEI). This allows engineers to inspect product wafers at ADI instead of AEI, shortening the time required to identify critical excursions in the patterning process and reducing the number of wafers scrapped. In addition, the 2900’s integrated design-aware capability and NanoPoint technology can provide improved process window qualification (PWQ) performance, helping engineers to quickly identify sources of systematic yield loss throughout the lithography process module.

Etch: Used in critical etch line monitoring applications, the 2900 broadband inspection tool with Gen-2 PowerBroadband and 2D Directional E-Field captures pattern residue, micro-bridges, bottom bridges, protrusions, and other yield-limiting etch defect types. The higher dynamic range of the 2900 enables detection of these critical etch defects at the edges of arrays and in memory transition regions. In addition, by leveraging critical patterns, NanoPoint can discover and monitor yield-relevant etch defects in dense pattern areas, providing engineers with early feedback on design errors or process drift.

CMP: With the sensitivity improvements provided by Gen-2 PowerBroadband and high-resolution optics, the 2900 broadband optical inspector has detected sub-10nm opens on Cu CMP layers, 15nm voids on STI CMP layers, bridges at Cu CMP, and other critical CMP defects. By focusing inspection on critical patterns, NanoPoint technology significantly reduces noise due to line edge roughness and metal grain on BEOL Cu CMP layers, enabling detection of sub-15nm yield-killer defects in dense pattern regions at advanced design nodes. The performance of the 2900 on CMP layers enables faster process development and better yield monitoring in the CMP process module.

Additional Products

28xx Series: Provides high sensitivity and broad defect type capture at high production throughputs for 4X/3X/2Xnm memory and logic devices.

For other broadband patterned wafer defect inspection tools, please see K-T Certified.

Contact Me >

• Accelerate Yield: Design Based Inspection
• Back to Basics: After-Develop Inspection
• Comparing Patterned Wafer Inspectors - WATIP
• Immersion Lithography Defect Control

• Automated Systematic Discovery for Development and Production
• The Analysis of EUV Mask Defects Using a Wafer Defect Inspection System
• Assessing EUV Mask Defectivity
• Systematic Defect Management by Design Aware Inspection
• Improving Tool Efficiency through Automated Process Window Qualification
• Process Window Centering for 22 nm Lithography
• A New Decision Paradigm for Comparing Patterned Wafer Inspectors
• Defect Monitoring on Memory Devices Using Broadband Brightfield Inspection
• Using Design Based Binning to Improve Defect Excursion Control for 45nm Production
• Defect Criticality Index (DCI): A New Methodology to Improve DOI Sampling Rate
• Advantages of Broadband Illumination for Critical Defect Capture at the 65nm Node and Below
• Broadband Brightfield Inspection Enables Advanced Immersion Lithography Defect Detection