After a 12-month competitive evaluation, a major foundry has made Nova’s ‘NovaT500’ and ‘NovaMARS’ optical CD metrology system and software, ‘tool of record’ for both the 22nm and 32nm technology nodes. The selection defines Nova as the sole provider of Stand Alone Optical CD metrology for both back end and front end of line applications including Lithography, Etch, CMP and advanced thin film applications. Further orders are expected from this foundry, Nova said.
"The selection of Nova's metrology solution by one of the world's technology leaders is clear recognition of the technology leadership we have attained in the stand alone Optical CD market over the past few years. Our solution was evaluated against competing technologies over the past 12 months in the most advanced and challenging development environments and was able to cope with the most complicated next generation applications across several key areas of the fab", commented Dr. Boaz Brill, VP Technology Development at Nova.
Nova said that this was now its third confirmed foundry customer for this technology, which is claimed to offer a throughput of 250 Wafers Per Hour (13 measurement sites).