Nanometrics Incorporated
(Nasdaq: NANO), a leading supplier of advanced process control metrology
systems used primarily in the manufacturing and packaging of semiconductors,
solar photovoltaics and high-brightness LEDs, today announced a follow-on order
for ten of its Atlas® XP metrology systems, as well as industry-leading
NanoDiffract™ software, from a leading memory customer. These systems
are incremental to systems previously ordered and announced earlier this year.
The systems are to be delivered to multiple factories throughout the fourth
quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010 in support of technology re-tooling
for next-generation DRAM and Flash manufacturing.
“We are pleased to announce the selection and continued commitment to
Nanometrics’ Atlas XP systems for the upcoming manufacturing ramp. By
combining the advanced optical critical dimension (OCD) performance of our NanoDiffract
software with the thin film metrology capability afforded in every Atlas system,
we enable performance and cost of ownership advantages that we believe are superior
to other thin film and OCD solutions on the market,” commented Michael
Fischer, Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Nanometrics. “Our applications
team is working closely with our customers to meet critical process control
challenges by extending the role of our metrology solutions to improve advanced
technology node yields, while simultaneously reducing the overall cost of fab
metrology.”
Nanometrics’ NanoCD™ suite of technologies, which includes the
Atlas OCD system, NanoGen™ scalable cluster computing hardware and NanoDiffract
software, has become an industry-leading solution for advanced in-device metrology
and process control on complex structures. Nanometrics’ Atlas systems
enable complex structure and process control non-destructively and can be deployed
at all key process steps in line for film thickness, profile and critical dimension
control.