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By Benjamin Bunday, Aaron Cordes, Pete Lipscomb, Milt Godwin, Victor Vartanian & Michael Bishop, International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI); John Allgair, ISMI/AMD assignee; Doron Arazi, ISMI/Spansion assignee; Kye-Weon Kim, ISMI/Samsung assignee, Austin, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT

For a state-of-the-art fab to achieve profitable production yields, successful in-line metrology is essential. Full functionality and high circuit speed are achieved only through control of defectivity and tight distributions of feature sizes. In-line monitoring of applicable metrics is key to ensuring success. It is also used to fine-tune production processes for improved yield and circuit speed. Metrology has now become an inherent part of missioncritical production processes. This article gives a high-level overview of the findings of the ISMI metrology program to review some of the major manufacturing challenges at future ITRS technology nodes.