| Atsushi Shiozaki | Semiconductor Process Control Systems Sales Div., Device Manufacturing Systems Business Gr., |
| Masahiro Watanabe | Production Engineering Research Lab., |
| Takayuki Ono | Electronics System Design Dept. 1, Naka Div., |
| Masayuki Kuwabara | Accretech Micro Technologies Co., Ltd. |
In the midst of the rapid acceleration in the advancement of technology nodes, there is a demand for improved performance of wafer-inspection systems, namely, greater sensitivity as device size moves toward higher integration and density, newer materials such as ArF resist, Cu wiring and low-k films, and higher throughput with 300-mm-diameter wafers. In response to these demands, Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, in collaboration with TOKYO SEIMITSU CO., LTD., has developed a new DUV (deep ultraviolet) optical wafer inspection system that can meet the requirements for improved performance. Marketing of the system has begun. This system achieves higher inspection resolution (smaller inspection pixel size) by using a DUV light source, which has a shorter wavelength than conventional white light or UV (ultraviolet) light, thus providing higher sensitivity and higher light intensity. This system also achieves more than twice the throughput of conventional systems through the development of the world's fastest image processing system, which is capable of handling 65-nm nodes or finer, while 90-nm nodes are a matter of course.
DUV laser, bright field, wafer inspection tool
