Tool Characterization and Setup

Solutions

Exposure Tool Characterization

Exposure tools combine the best and the worst of optical, mechanical and control technologies. A clear, vendor-independent understanding of each tool's behavior and strengths is key to their control and your profits.

Whether it be for new tool acceptance, periodic maintenance or on-going process stability control, the exposure tool is the most critical and expensive station in semiconductor manufacturing. Excellence in all of these areas derives benefits from two very critical commodities; capacity and yield.

Select a product solution according to your needs below or directly click on a product name on the lower-right for more information.

By Solution

Products

Overlay & Registration Control
Critical Feature Analysis
Focus Control
Post Exposure Bake
Reticle Analysis
Tool Characterization
- Weir PW (feature & process window models)
  - Calculate travel, alignment, stage, wafer, lens-slit, and reticle-scan precision and their contributions to feature distortion.
  - Remove measured field or reticle-library elements from raw or modeled data for enhanced exposure tuning and scan-and-slit performance mapping.
  - Calculate classic lens aberrations through their influence on feature size.
  - Model feature uniformity and process window characteristics across the entire field.
  - Model substrate layer, BARC, swing curve etc. behavior and their influence on the critical feature characteristics.
  - Model exposure tool sensitivity to wafer-edge and field-edge aberrations.
  - Model exposure-dose uniformity across the scan region.
  - Map the influence of wafer flatness and film uniformity on features.
  - Derive reticle-scan and wafer-stage direction contributions to feature perturbations.
  - Calculate the influence of lens and reticle heating during exposure.
  - Extract exposure-tool specific process window capabilities and how they vary across the entire exposure field.
  - Derive across-lens and reticle-scan focus-uniformity from critical feature data.
  - Map depth-of-focus uniformity across the exposure field for any feature.
  - Simulate tool performance for full-wafer extrapolation
  - Simulate feature uniformity improvements from control and tuning corrections.
  - Estimate reticle feature variations from wafer based metrology.
  - Determine the contribution of metrology and substrate to the process window calculation and automatically compensate for a improved calculations.
- Weir PSFM (Focus)
  - Map aerial image, focal plane uniformity
  - Model whole–wafer autofocus stability
  - Map wafer flatness and derive the influence of substrate films on autofocus sensitivity.
  - Model lens-slit and reticle-scan static and dynamic performance signatures.
  - Extract wafer-edge and edge-bead effects.
  - Calculate classic lens aberrations through their influence on feature focus.
- LithoWorks PW (Advance Process Window Models)
  - Map aerial image, focal plane uniformity
  - Perform ALL classic process window calculations for depth-of-focus, optimum focus/dose and exposure latitude for any number of critical features.
  - Model process window calculations for selected or all sites across the exposure field.
  - Compare exposure tool-to-tool process window characteristics for full-field matching.
Metrology
Process Setup & Control

Weir PW
Process window, metrology and spatial feature modeling.

Weir PSFM
Focus analysis from commercial patterns and programs.

Weir DMA
Trend charts and automated analyses of raw or modeled data.

Vector Raptor
Overlay and Registration for Double Patterning

LithoWorks PEB
Thermal wafer analysis PLUS correlation to feature profile.

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