ADE Introduces EdgeCheck and Backside Quality Monitor for AWIS and FIT Wafer Surface Inspection Systems.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers WESTWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003 Unique Combination of Front Surface, Edge and Backside Inspection On a Single Tool Increases Fab Productivity and Lowers Overall Tool Costs ADE Corporation (Nasdaq: ADEX ADEX Athens Derivatives Exchange (Athens, Greece) ADEX Air Defense Exercise ADEX Advertisement Expenditure ADEX Asociaciã³n de Exportadores (Peru) ) today announced the introduction of its new EdgeCheck(TM) option and wafer Backside Quality Monitor(TM) to identify and sort on wafer edge defects and backside particles during the surface inspection process. These edge chips, defects, and particles can contaminate con·tam·i·nate v. 1. To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture. 2. To expose to or permeate with radioactivity. con·tam·i·nant n. downstream semiconductor processes, reducing yields. Catastrophic failures, such as wafer breakage during thermal processing, can also be traced to chips on the edge of the wafer. These new products were introduced last week at SEMICON SEMICON Semiconductors Equipment and Material International Conference Japan in Tokyo. EdgeCheck enhances the capabilities of ADE's FIT(TM) Film Inspection Tools and AWIS AWIS Association for Women in Science AWIS Alexa Web Information Service AWIS Army WWMCCS Information System AWIS Advanced Wafer Inspection System (ADE Corporation) AWIS Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (TM) Advanced Surface Inspection Systems for unpatterned processed wafers and bare silicon wafers. EdgeCheck scans the surface of the wafer between the edge exclusion zone A zone established by a sanctioning body to prohibit specific activities in a specific geographic area. The purpose may be to persuade nations or groups to modify their behavior to meet the desires of the sanctioning body or face continued imposition of sanctions, or use or threat of and the physical wafer edge, an area not covered not covered Health care adjective Referring to a procedure, test or other health service to which a policy holder or insurance beneficiary is not entitled under the terms of the policy or payment system–eg, Medicare. Cf Covered. by standard particle inspection systems. This area is inspected for chips, cracks and defects during the FIT and AWIS wafer surface inspection step, maintaining high production throughput. Real-time edge defect identification and classification allows sorting of suspect wafer material for problem identification and process improvement. When combined with the new wafer Backside Quality Monitor, EdgeScan allows front surface and back surface inspection to the wafer edge. "Adding an edge inspection capability to the surface inspection system maximizes inspection productivity, shortens the process feedback loop, and lowers tool cost-of-ownership for our customers in comparison to the purchase of a standalone edge tool," stated Michael David, ADE Silicon Surface Inspection Product Manager. In today's device fab, inspection of the wafer back surface is becoming critical for deposition, lithography, CMP CMP (cytidine monophosphate): see cytosine. (1) (CMP Media LLC, Manhasset, NY, www.cmp.com) Part of United Business Media, CMP is a leading integrated media company that offers a wide variety of publications and services in the information and cleaning operations. ADE's Film Inspection tool with the new edge grip Backside Quality Monitor provides an important, nondestructive non·de·struc·tive adj. Of, relating to, or being a process that does not result in damage to the material under investigation or testing. non inspection capability for 200 and 300mm semiconductor device processing and leading edge wafer production. In addition to front surface inspection for particles and defects, the wafer back surface is inspected in the same tool to identify contamination and yield problems. For example, fall-off of backside particles can contribute to process contamination in downstream steps. In lithography, yield-limiting "hot spots hot spots acute moist dermatitis. " can occur from incomplete vacuum chucking caused by backside CMP residue or particles. The ability to inspect both sides of the wafer, in a single FIT or AWIS wafer inspection tool with the wafer Backside Quality Monitor and EdgeCheck option, reduces the number of inspection tools required, enables sorting of suspect material, and speeds troubleshooting and resolution of production process and yield problems. ADE's state-of-the-art FIT and AWIS systems are fully automatic scanning surface inspection tools that identify and classify particles, scratches and defects on blanket film monitor wafers and bare silicon wafers. These tools ensure the high quality levels and process control feedback required for leading-edge semiconductor device processing. In addition to incorporating ADE's most advanced optical, Angle Resolved Scatter technology, FIT and AWIS inspection systems are tailored to meet the inline production and factory automation needs of high-volume semiconductor and wafer manufacturing. About ADE Corporation ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of metrology and inspection systems required for production in the silicon wafer, semiconductor device, magnetic data storage and optics manufacturing industries manufacturing industries npl → industrias fpl manufactureras manufacturing industries npl → industries fpl de transformation . The Company's systems analyze and report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps for yield enhancement, providing quality certification data that is relied upon by semiconductor wafer, device and computer disk manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used for production measurements in the semiconductor chip fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. process. To learn more about ADE, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.ade.com. |
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