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ManageMent
www.us-tech.com
Advanced Semiconductor Fabrication Quality Assurance
By Del Williams
in U.S. history, is designed to re- turn the country to domestic chipmaking dominance and com- bat supply chain issues that can affect a wide range of essential products. The legislation appropriates
T
$52 billion to support semiconduc- tor research and manufacturing, with the majority slated to build, expand, and modernize domestic facilities and equipment for fabri- cation, assembly, testing, or R&D. In addition, the legislation ear- marks approximately $200 billion more for investments in semicon- ductor and other scientific re- search, technology, education, training, and tax credits in a pub- lic-private partnership. One key to the successful
reshoring and ramp up of domes- tic semiconductor fabrication, however, will be sufficient in- spection and quality assurance (QA) particularly of the most ad- vanced chips. Due to the CHIPS and Science Act as well as global chip demand, there is an acceler- ating demand for non-destruc- tive failure analysis and reliabil- ity testing methodologies that
he CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the largest pub- licly funded R&D program
can detect minute semiconductor manufacturing defects such as voids, cracks, and the delamina- tion of different layers. This is spurring investment
in scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), a non-invasive, non-de- structive, ultrasonic testing method capable of high-speed 100% inspection. SAM testing is already the industry standard for 100% inspection of semicon- ductor components for identify- ing defects within microelectron- ic devices.
Advanced SAM Recent advances in SAM al-
so facilitate the detection of much smaller defects than previ- ously possible, which will be cru- cial to ensure chip quality as new fabs come online and begin pro- duction. “Advanced SAM systems
make it possible to move to a higher level of failure analysis because of the level of detection and precision involved. In the past, detecting a 500-micron de- fect was the goal; now it is a 50- micron defect. With this type of testing, we can inspect materials and discover flaws that were pre- viously undetected,” says Hari
Polu, president of OKOS, a Vir- ginia-based manufacturer of in- dustrial SAM ultrasonic non-de- structive testing systems. Scanning acoustic mi-
croscopy (SAM) functions by di- recting focused sound from a transducer at a small point on a target object. The sound hitting the object is either scattered, ab- sorbed, reflected, or transmitted. By detecting the direction of scattered pulses as well as the “time of flight,” the presence of a boundary or object can be deter- mined as well as its distance. To produce an image, sam-
ples are scanned point by point and line by line. Scanning modes range from single layer views to tray scans and cross-sections. Multilayer scans can include up to 50 independent layers. Depth-specific information
can be extracted and applied to create two-and three-dimensional images that can be analyzed to de- tect and characterize flaws such as cracks, inclusions, and voids.
High-Volume Manufacturing The challenge, however, is
to perform this inspection at ex- tremely high throughput with 100% inspection to identify and
remove components that do not meet quality requirements. This necessitates more advanced equipment that can simultane- ously inspect several layers, of- ten on multiple channels. According to Polu, SAM can
also be custom designed to be ful- ly integrated into high-volume manufacturing systems. Ad- vanced inspection technologies de- tect minute flaws in semiconduc- tor wafers for 100% inspection of all materials. Semiconductor fabs now have access to 100% inspec- tion of wafers, panels, and singu- lated components in trays. Fortunately, recent ad-
vancements in SAM technology have significantly improved throughput speeds and defect de- tectability. When high through- put is required for 100% inspec- tion, ultra-fast single or dual gantry scanning systems are uti- lized along with multi-head transducers. As important as the physical
and mechanical aspects of con- ducting a scan, the software is critical to improving the resolu- tion and analyzing the informa- tion to produce detailed scans. Multi-axis scan options en-
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able A, B, and C-scans, contour following, offline analysis, and virtual rescanning of chips. This results in highly accurate inter- nal and external inspection for defects and thickness measure- ment via the inspection software. Various software modes can
be simple and user friendly, ad- vanced for detailed analysis, or au- tomated for production scanning. An offline analysis mode is also available for virtual scanning. Today, for the semiconductor
fabs ramping up production ca- pacity for the CHIPS and Science Act and global demand, SAM of- fers the best value due to the ex- ceptional level of failure analysis detail it provides, compared to conventional methods. As a result, advanced SAM systems are now considered essential tools in semi- conductor fabs, R&D, and quality assurance labs. Contact: OKOS, 7036 Tech
Circle, Manassas, Virginia 20109 % 703-880-3039 E-mail:
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OKOS is a wholly owned subsidiary of PVA TePla AG
Jan/Feb, 2024
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