Veeco Instruments Inc., announced today that its new InSight(TM) 3D Automated Atomic Force Microscope (3DAFM) Platform has been accepted by a key global semiconductor customer. The InSight is the only metrology system available with the accuracy and precision required for non-destructive, high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) measurements of critical 45nm and 32nm semiconductor features, coupled with the speed to qualify as a true fab tool. Veeco's InSight 3DAFM was designed specifically to address Critical Dimension (CD), depth and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) metrology in a production environment.
Mark Munch, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Veeco Metrology, commented, "We are pleased that our first beta customer, one that is known as a technology innovator, has signed off on the tool, which has been running in a production environment for three months. With three times the throughput (30 wafers per hour) and two times the measurement accuracy and precision of our previous AFMs, Veeco's InSight represents an entirely new approach for semiconductor 3D metrology."
"InSight is the only tool on the market today providing in-line, accurate, non-destructive 3D information to drive shorter process development and manufacturing ramp times, thereby improving our customers' cost of ownership and decreasing their manufacturing risk," added Paul Clayton, Vice President, Veeco's Auto AFM Business Unit. "Traditional in-line metrology techniques have been seriously limited in their ability to measure CD at 45nm and below."