In booth 4168, Hall 4, at SEMICON Japan 2014 in Tokyo (3-5 December), Nanometrics Inc of Milpitas, CA, USA (a supplier of process control metrology and inspection systems) is launching its latest photoluminescence (PL) system, Imperia, for compound semiconductor manufacturing.
The Imperia is a fully automated non-contact optical system offering comprehensive metrology and inspection for high-brightness light-emitting diode (HB-LED) manufacturing applications. The system enables rapid simultaneous PL measurement and defect inspection. Due to its software capabilities, the Imperia provides critical defect analysis, classification and yield prediction for critical steps in substrate, epitaxial junction formation, and interconnect processes.
“As HB-LED technology continues to evolve with higher brightness, improved power efficiency and adoption into more demanding end-market requirements, manufacturers are increasingly requiring faster information turnaround to ensure optimal throughput and yield,” notes David Doyle, VP of the Materials Characterization Group at Nanometrics. “The Imperia system can quickly determine LED performance long before wafers reach the expensive back-end-of-line processes, enabling HB-LED manufacturers to easily take corrective action for process tuning and contain process excursions early, resulting in lower production costs and shorter cycle times,” he adds.
Imperia systems were delivered to leading manufacturers in third- and fourth-quarter 2014 and have quickly proven valuable for process control metrology and inspection in advanced devices, says Nanometrics.
