"With the flood of new materials and device structures that dramatically impact device performance and reliability, our customers need much more detailed knowledge of the physical and chemical characteristics of their critical film layers," noted Ahmad Khan, vice president and general manager of KLA-Tencor's Films and Scatterometry Technologies division. "The Aleris 8500 system's advances in core optical technology provide the most accurate thickness measurement available. The system's new composition measurement capability now enables leading edge customers to monitor gate and other critical layers on product wafers, not just monitor wafers. The Aleris 8500 system is also available with significantly improved 2D stress metrology capabilities to manage the increasing number of high-stress layers."

Until now, chipmakers have normally purchased separate analytical and traditional optical thickness metrology tools to provide thickness and composition measurements. This mix-and-match method has meant tolerating the inefficiencies of poor tool-tool matching, difficult capacity backup and incompatible recipes. Having all of the advanced critical films metrology applicati ons available on a single Aleris platform helps chipmakers improve cost of ownership and time to results. The Aleris 8500 offers 3x higher throughput compared to existing analytical techniques and its non-vacuum optical technology overcomes traditional analytical tool reliability constraints. These comprehensive productivity advantages make the Aleris 8500 the optimal CoO solution for composition control.

The Aleris 8500 system builds on the company's industry-leading SpectraFx 200 technology, featuring next generation Broadband Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (BBSE™) optics that provide a significant improvement in precision, matching and stability. This technology enables chipmakers to qualify and monitor advanced films, including new materials, structures and engineered substrates. The system's unique 150nm BBSE offers enhanced sensitivity to composition measurement, making Aleris 8500 the industry's first single-tool solution for production monitoring of critical gate applications on product wafers. Aleris' StressMapper™ module provides higher spatial resolution at higher throughput, for production monitoring of 2D stress in high-stress films.

Aleris 8500 systems have been shipped to several key customers where they are being used for 65nm gate control production and 45nm/32nm development.

About KLA-Tencor: KLA-Tencor is the world leader in yield management and process control solutions for semiconductor manufacturing and related industries. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the Company has sales and service offices around the world. An S&P 500 company, KLA-Tencor is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol KLAC. Additional information about the Company is available at http://www.kla-tencor.com .

Aleris 8500 Technology Summary

Best of Breed Performance

Advanced BBSE Optics

New latest generation advanced Resolution optics enable thin-film measurements across a broad wavelength spectrum from 150nm to 900nm. All major SE components were redesigned to lower spectral distortion and improve system-to-system matching.

KLA Tencor's patented use of reflective focusing optics prevents illumination spot size degradation by making it independent of wavelength. The small spot size along with improvements in matching, precision and stability meet the tighter process tolerances for advanced design nodes which have smaller scribe lines.

Best in class Reflectometry options

Ultraviolet Reflectometer's (UVR) new design provides the best in class signal-to-noise ratio (>10x better than previous generation) to improve overall measurement performance.

Enabling New Applications

Composition Measurement

The Aleris 8500's 150nm BBSE capability enhances sensitivity to composition measurement by providing 2x better repeatability and 4x better matching over the previous generation tools. This enables the Aleris 8500 to be a single tool solution for the product wafer composition and thickness measurements required to control critical nitrided gate and high k dielectric applications.

Enhanced sensitivity for ultra-thin ONO stacks

150nm BBSE enables measurement of the highly correlated top and bottom oxide layers in the ONO stacks. The extent of the correlation is driven by the thickness of the nitride layer separating the two oxides, which is becoming thinner and posing more of a correlation challenge. Because the nitride film has increased absorption characteristics at shorter wavelengths, use of shorter wavelengths increases the contrast between the top and bottom oxides.

StressMapper provides advanced stress capability

StressMapper's laser-based tilt measurement provides higher sensitivity and spatial resolution, enabling true 2D local stress mapping. Significantly enhanced repeatability and matching, as well as high throughput, allow production monitoring of both global and 2D stress measurements on product wafers that have complicated film stacks, discontinuous films or pattern induced stress. This module enables measurement of FEOL low deflection and high stress films such as Si Nitride capping and implant anneal.

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Contact:
Meggan Powers
Director Corporate Communications