Macro Inspection

Detecting typical defects of interest at full production rate

With geometries getting smaller, Back-end-of-Line (BEOL) of the Front-end inspection becomes both more challenging and crucial for defect-free and high-yield wafer manufacturing. The variety of defects calls for detection optimization, fast screening and categorization of the high volume manufacturing environment, while maintaining high throughput.

BEOL of the Front-end inspection challenges vary from one process step to another, and include:

In the lithography process step, defects of interest include: Defocus, bad coatings, blocked contacts, bridging, missing or extra patterns and critical dimension variation;
In the etch process step, defects of interest include: Particles, pinholes, peeling, residues, water marks, scratches and corrosion;
In the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process steps, defects of interest include: Scratch detection, residue detection, unpolished/insufficiently polished areas and brush marks;
In the outgoing quality control (OQC) process step, defects of interest include: particles, pinholes, peeling, residues, water marks, scratches and corrosion.

Camtek’s Eagle platform can handle all these challenges and detect typical defects of interest at full production rate.

Capabilities

Full coverage inspection providing zero PPM to the most advanced technology nodes
Enhanced 2D detection algorithms with color variation robustness
Sub-pixel alignment mechanism
Backside inspection, including: Modular backside unit, detection of macro cracks, scratches, contamination and wafer chippings
High throughput in high-volume manufacturing rate
Combined dark and bright field illumination
Capability to merge front side inspection and back side inspection results
Creating recipes offline maximizing tool utilization
Analytic tools, including Automatic Defect Classification (ADC) and yield management system