Keithley
Instruments, Inc., a leader in solutions for emerging
measurement needs, announced that it has entered into a Joint
Development Partnership (JDP) surrounding semiconductor device material
testing technology with CEA Leti, one of the world’s most
sophisticated semiconductor development laboratories. The JDP calls for
Keithley and CEA Leti to research methods for characterizing advanced
semiconductor materials and devices that support DC, high frequency,
and RF-level signals on both micro- and nano-level structures. CEA Leti
will use Keithley RF-enabled semiconductor test equipment as part of
its broad portfolio of research projects in order to expand and enhance
understanding of the performance of semiconductor devices that perform
at the highest levels.
CEA Leti is a CEA laboratory located in France and is one of
the main European applied research centers in electronics. Its activity
is more than 85 percent devoted to research that is finalized with
outside partners. CEA Leti employs 1000 people, works with 200
partners, and manages a portfolio of 1,300 inventions protected by
patents.
Keithley has established a leadership position for reliable RF
semiconductor measurements since the deployment of the
industry’s first parametric tester capable of RF-level
production test at the wafer level, the Model S680 DC/RF Parametric
Test System. In a single test system, the Model S680 combines parallel
testing capability, high DC sensitivity, femtoamp-level resolution, and
RF s-parameter measurements up to 40GHz. This provides the industry's
highest throughput and a lower cost of ownership for measurements at
the 65nm node and beyond.
“As semiconductor technology pushes the upper limits
to achieving RF-level signals and device miniaturization to nano
levels, measurement technology must not only keep pace but even lead
researchers’ ability to build and test these
devices,” explained Mark Hoersten, Keithley vice president,
business management. “Our partnership with CEA Leti is a
unique opportunity to create new measurement technology at the point
where many of our customers’ technologies converge
– semiconductor, RF/wireless, and nanotechnology.”
“The ability to make high quality electrical
measurements is crucial to advance the ‘More Moore’
and ‘More Than Moore’ initiatives
forward,” explained Olivier Demolliens, head of the Nanotech
Division at CEA Leti. “Our electrical experts need the finest
data to understand, model, and improve our devices. The partnership
with Keithley makes it possible to help develop and boost the
measurement technology to coincide with the needs of research and
industry experts. So, it is a major bonus for CEA Leti to be involved
with such a quality measurement company as Keithley.”
The Keithley-CEA Leti JDP comes at a time when CEA Leti itself
is strengthening its own investment in nanotechnology with the recent
opening of the new MINATEC® innovation center. CEA Leti is one
of the main drivers behind the formation of MINATEC®, which
will function as Europe’s main Centre of Excellence in Micro-
and Nano-technology, bringing together more than 4,000 researchers,
industrialists, and teaching staff in Grenoble, France. CEA Leti
reports that MINATEC® will focus the activities of researchers,
teachers, and manufacturers working in the micro- and nanotechnologies
on a single campus and allow the development of joint initiatives to
increase and quicken the pace of innovation and industrial value
creation.
In addition to its parametric test architecture,
Keithley’s award-winning Model 4200-SCS Semiconductor
Characterization System plays an important role in device
characterization as a particularly useful tool in pulse testing of
miniaturized and fragile devices. The Model 4200-SCS is a lab-based
system that incorporates tightly integrated DC and pulse measurement
capabilities with complete application packages for turn-key solutions.
The Model 4200-SCS Pulse I-V package supplies instrumentation,
connections, and software that allow semiconductor engineers to take
ultra-short pulse measurements on tiny transistors while they are still
on an integrated circuit wafer.