ADE Receives Order for Patterned Wafer Metrology System from Leading Analog and DSP Manufacturer; NanoXam Noncontact Surface Top
November 08 2005 - 11:32AM
Business Wire
ADE Corporation (Nasdaq: ADEX) today announced the receipt of a
purchase order for its new NanoXam(TM) patterned wafer metrology
system from a leading analog and DSP semiconductor manufacturer. As
a result of a successful on-site evaluation program, the NanoXam
system was selected by one of the company's 300mm production
facilities to control dishing and erosion in leading edge CMP
processes and to develop processes for 45nm node advanced products.
"As part of our growth strategy to extend ADE's advanced surface
topography technology into the semiconductor device fab, we have
been working with a leading semiconductor manufacturer to test
NanoXam in a world class fabrication environment," stated Dr. Chris
L. Koliopoulos, president and chief executive officer of ADE
Corporation. "This opportunity for copper and tungsten applications
development has allowed ADE to gain leading edge CMP yield
experience and to tailor our NanoXam patterned wafer tool as a cost
effective, in-line process control solution. We are extremely
pleased with NanoXam's performance in the field and with the
interest level that we are seeing for this leading-edge product.
Customer adoption of this new tool has opened new and larger market
opportunities for ADE." The NanoXam design uses optical non-contact
interferometry to measure the surface topography of product wafers,
providing rapid feedback of copper and tungsten planarization
processes while monitoring dishing and erosion. NanoXam's
capability for large area 3-D views provides a consistent metric
for the selecting and optimizing of expensive consumables in the
CMP process. In ECD copper plating, NanoXam measurements provide an
innovative solution for characterizing copper layer uniformity and
visualizing loading effects. "The NanoXam system provides true 3-D
wafer surface topography measurements, enabling customers to
quickly optimize and monitor leading edge processes, including
tungsten and copper CMP and copper ECD, by allowing non-contact
measurements in active areas of product die or on scribe line
monitors," continued Dr. Koliopoulos. The NanoXam system, designed
for 200mm or 300mm patterned product wafers, provides stable
step-height analysis and 3-D surface topography maps with full
pattern recognition. The NanoXam's user friendly recipe structure
allows multiple die sampling to identify process non-uniformities
within-wafer, wafer-to-wafer and lot-to-lot. With fast data
acquisition through its non-contact design, NanoXam provides users
with a higher value statement and lower cost of ownership when
compared to traditional stylus contact profilometry or AFM tools.
About ADE Corporation ADE Corporation is a leading supplier of
metrology and inspection systems required for production in the
silicon wafer, semiconductor device, magnetic data storage and
optics manufacturing industries. The Company's systems analyze and
report product quality at critical manufacturing process steps for
yield enhancement, providing quality certification data that is
relied upon by semiconductor wafer, device and computer disk
manufacturers. The Company's systems also are used for production
measurements in the semiconductor chip fabrication process. To
learn more about ADE, visit the Company's Web site at www.ade.com.
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