Bruker AXS, the market
leader in X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) instrumentation, is pleased to announce that
SEMATECH, the global
consortium of semiconductor chip-makers, has ordered the Bruker X-ray tools
D8 FABLINE™ and D8 DISCOVER™ for the X-ray metrology site at the
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
This new suite of equipment provides SEMATECH's metrology program at CNSE's
Albany NanoTech Complex with lab-to-fab X-ray metrology development capability
to address the challenges of advanced semiconductor process control and new
materials characterization.
D8 FABLINE X-ray metrology tool from Bruker AXS (Photo: Business Wire)
The D8 FABLINE provides fully automated handling of 300mm wafers under Class
1 clean room conditions. It provides a wide spectrum of techniques, such as
rapid X-ray reflectivity (XRR), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GID), and
high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) in order to facilitate advanced process
development and control on strained devices and high-K thin films, as well as
materials characterization for future generation technology nodes.
The D8 DISCOVER is a multi purpose X-ray diffraction platform, designed for
high performance materials research and methodology development. The system
features the state-of-the-art technology, including the capability to perform
in-plane grazing incidence diffraction (IP-GID). New methodologies developed
on this laboratory platform will be directly portable to the D8 FABLINE tool
to facilitate implementation in the fabs.
Dr. Brad Thiel, CNSE Associate Professor of Nanoscience and Director of SEMATECH's
Advanced Metrology Development Program at the UAlbany NanoCollege, said, “The
purchase of Bruker's state-of-the-art XRD systems, combined with the R&D
capabilities and know-how of both SEMATECH and CNSE, will bring significant
benefits to nanoelectronics manufacturers by pinpointing device failures and
improving advanced process control. The addition of these cutting-edge tools
provides enhanced resources at CNSE's Albany NanoTech to support the critical
needs of our global corporate partners and the nanoelectronics industry.”
Dr. Assunta Vigliante, Bruker AXS Business Development Manager for Semiconductor
Solutions, commented: “We are pleased and proud to be working with SEMATECH
on X-ray metrology solutions for future technology nodes. Since SEMATECH represents
many of the leading worldwide semiconductor manufacturers, this is an important
opportunity for Bruker to enable innovation and provide broad support for the
global semiconductor industry. As X-ray metrology becomes an important technology
in the semiconductor industry, Bruker is committed to providing reliable world-class
solutions for the industry's analytical and metrology challenges. We look
forward to a long-term collaboration.”.