Flexible Defect Inspection System for CMOS Image Sensor Applications
(Nanowerk News) Today KLA-Tencor Corporation, the
world’s leading supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the
semiconductor and related industries, extended its product offerings in the CMOS image
sensor (CIS) market by announcing the 8900 defect inspection system. KLA-Tencor’s new
8900 offers selectable illumination wavelengths, color-matched to CIS pixels; simultaneous
brightfield and darkfield optical channels to enable capture of a wide variety of defect types;
and adjustable sensitivity and throughput settings for cost-effective defect management from
initial product development through volume production of color filter arrays (CFA).
Image sensors are devices that convert light into electrical signal, for use primarily in
cameras. A color filter allows each pixel of the sensor to respond to a specific color—
typically red, green or blue (RGB). The CFA is constructed in single-color, patterned layers,
with one filter on top of each sensor pixel. Each pixel is capped with a micro-lens. As yield-limiting
defects can occur at any step in the assembly process, the 8900's ability to inspect
any of the filter or micro-lens layers can help reduce materials waste and cycle time.
An 8900 defect inspection system was recently installed at the first 300mm advanced CFA
fab of Toppan Printing Company, Ltd., an industry leader in color filters. “State-of-the-art
defect control is important to our ability to provide advanced color filters reliably,” said Keiichi
Hara, Chief Manager, On-chip Color Filter Department, Kumamoto Plant of Toppan
Electronics Products Co., Ltd. “The 8900 has improved our defect control capability and
changed our strategy. Because the 8900 is sensitive to a wide range of defect types and
has high throughput, it is performing all the defect inspections in the CFA process. This
previously required multiple inspection tools. The 8900 can also automate the defect
monitoring tasks that used to require manual inspection, making our cycle times shorter and
more predictable.”
“Image sensor fabs have been using a combination of defect inspection systems, including
manual inspection, to cover CFA process development, line monitoring, and incoming and
outgoing quality control,” remarked Oreste Donzella, Vice President and General Manager
of the SWIFT division at KLA-Tencor. “This strategy can lead to errors and inefficiencies. For
example, manual inspection results have high variability. Even with automated systems,
critical defect excursions can be missed because the results are difficult to compare among
different systems. In developing the 8900, we leveraged KLA-Tencor’s extensive experience
in brightfield and darkfield micro and macro inspection to provide image sensor fabs with a
single, flexible system to address the breadth of their CFA inspection requirements. We
believe that the 8900 will allow fabs to improve resource allocation, increase the yield of
their current products and accelerate delivery of their latest image sensors.”
Key features of the 8900 defect inspection system include:
Simultaneous brightfield and darkfield optical paths to capture a wide range of defect types in a single pass, such as micro-lens deformation; resist and fall-on defects; color contamination; large stains and striations;
Selectable LED inspection and review illumination spectrum matched to CIS filter colors;
Sensitivity consistent with requirements of advanced CIS roadmaps;
Throughput above 110 wafers per hour at production sensitivity, for 300mm semiconductor wafers;
KLA-Tencor Corporation, a leading provider of process control and yield
management solutions, partners with customers around the world to develop state-of-the-art
inspection and metrology technologies. These technologies serve the semiconductor, data
storage, compound semiconductor, photovoltaic, and other related nanoelectronics
industries. With a portfolio of industry-standard products and a team of world-class
engineers and scientists, the company has created superior solutions for its customers for
over 30 years. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, KLA-Tencor has dedicated customer
operations and service centers around the world. Additional information may be found at
www.kla-tencor.com.
Printer-friendly
E-mail this article
Daily News Email Digest
News Feeds
Join us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
