Tevet Process Control Technologies Ltd.

Nanometrics Inc.

Bactusense Technologies Ltd.

Ofer Du-Nour

Vladimir Rubinstein

Yaron Ish-Shalom

Systems for the monitoring of bacterial levels in samples, using spectral analysis of the light diffracted from a substrate with an ordered array of pores having diameters enabling the targets to enter them. The trapping pore array is cyclically illuminated by light of different wavelengths, and the light diffracted from the pore array is imaged by a 2-dimensional detector array, with one pixel, or a small group of pixels receiving light from each associated pore. The temporal sequence of frames provides a series of images, each from the reflection of a different wavelength. A time sequenced readout of the signal from the pixel or pixels associated with each pore region, provides a spectral plot of the reflected light from that pore region. Spectral analysis of the light intensity from this series of different wavelength enables the effective optical thickness (EOT) of each pore to be extracted.

High sensitivity real-time bacterial monitor

Various embodiments include a metrology tool comprising an emitter configured to emit an incident light beam at a production substrate including an ARL, a receiver configured to receive a reflected light beam from the production substrate, a spectrometer configured to determine a digital signal representing an intensity of a wavelength within the reflected light beam, and a processor configured to determine a spectrum of the reflected light beam from the digital signal, select a suppression band based on an expected wavelength representative of a portion of the ARL, and determine a property of the ARL based on a portion of the spectrum in the selected suppression band.

Method and apparatus for measuring thickness and optical properties of a thin-film on a substrate

Various embodiments include a method for providing instructions to a process tool. The method includes emitting an incident light beam at a substrate, receiving a reflected light beam from the substrate and determining a spectrum of the reflected light beam. The method further includes determining a first property of a first layer of the substrate and a second property of a second layer of the substrate, based on the spectrum determination. The method further includes comparing the first property of the first layer to a first reference property and comparing the second property of the second layer to a second reference property. The method further includes determining the instructions based on the first property comparison and the second property comparison; and providing the instructions to the process tool.

Method and apparatus for process control with in-die metrology

Thickness measurement apparatus for measuring layer thicknesses on patterned areas of a semiconductor wafer, comprises: a spectrum analyzer for obtaining reflection data taken from a patterned area and obtaining therefrom a frequency spectrum, a peak detector for searching the spectrum to find peak frequencies within said spectrum, the search being restricted to regions corresponding to peak frequencies found in an earlier learning stage, a frequency filter, associated with the peak detector, for filtering the spectrum about said peak frequencies, and a maximum likelihood fitter for using parameters obtained in the learning stage to carry out maximum likelihood fitting of said filtered spectrum to obtain the desired layer thicknesses. By carrying out maximum likelihood fitting using parameters obtained beforehand in a high resolution non-real time learning stage, it is possible to provide high resolution results in real time.

Method and apparatus for thickness decomposition of complicated layer structures

A method or apparatus for measuring lateral variations of a property such as thickness or refractive index of a transparent film on a semiconductor, in a region of repeated patterning comprises: illuminating over the patterned area with a beam of light of multiple wavelengths, the beam having dimensions to include repeated patterning; detecting the intensity of light reflected over the patterned area for each wavelength; producing a signal defining the variation of the intensity of the detected light as a function of the wavelength of the detected light; decomposing the signal into principal frequencies thereof, determining from the principal frequencies, values of the thickness etc. of the transparent film; and applying the values to repetitions within the repeated patterning.

Method and apparatus for measuring lateral variations in thickness or refractive index of a transparent film on a substrate

The use of an intensity spectrum as a fingerprint to determine the layer structure of a semiconductor wafer product or partial product, thereby to determine the routing history of the product through a production line and prevent routing errors. Also, a production line having a plurality of successive stages for construction of a product such as a semiconductor wafer, and routers for transferring partly constructed product between the stages such that each stage receives a respective predefined partly constructed product as its input. The production line comprises: a predetermined intensity spectrum for at least one stage representing the respective part construction for the stage, an intensity spectrum deriver located at said at least one stage operable to obtain intensity spectra of incoming partly constructed product, and a comparator, for comparing said obtained intensity spectra with said predetermined intensity spectrum, to determine whether said incoming partly constructed products correspond with said respective predefined part construction for the stage.

Method and apparatus for production line screening

Integrated measurement apparatus and method for measuring layer thickness and bow in a wafer. The apparatus comprises: a monochromatic light source, a white light source, a first switch for switching between the white light source and the monochromatic light source, a plurality of optical heads for directing light from the switched light source onto different locations on a semiconductor wafer surface, a first optical processor for spectral processing of reflected light from the wafer, a second optical processor for processing of reflected light to determine an extent of bow in the wafer, and a second optical switch to switch reflected light from the wafer between the first optical processor and the second optical processor so that the white light is spectrally processed to determine layer thicknesses and the monochromatic light is processed for bowing.

Growing community of inventors

Timrat, Israel

Ofer Du-Nour