Leti Installs k-Space MOS ThermalScan to Advance 3-D Integrated Circuit Development

DEXTER, Mich. - March 21, 2017 - PRLog -- k-Space Associates, Inc., manufacturer of in situ, ex situ, and in-line metrology tools for the semiconductor industry, announced that Leti, an institute of CEA and leading innovator in nanotechnology research and technology, has installed a kSA MOS ThermalScan system for the  measurement of film stress and wafer curvature.

The custom kSA MOS ThermalScan is capable of measuring wafers up to 300mm in diameter from 20°C to 1000°C. The system is configured to use either a full 300 mm quartz viewport for full wafer mapping at temperatures up to 600°C, or 300mm x 20mm linear slit viewport for linear scans up to 1000°C.

"k-Space has clearly shown us their expertise in the measurement of film stress. We are able to measure the curvature of our samples with very high reproducibility," commented Dr. Lionel Vignoud, Research Engineer at Leti's Electronic and Information Technology Laboratory. "Understanding film stress as a function of temperature is critical to our work in 3-D integrated circuits where having flat samples is needed for vertical integration and long term stability of the circuits.  k-Space is the only supplier that offered a complete solution to our measurement needs and the tool is working well for our applications."

Dr. Charles Taylor, Product Development Manager at k-Space commented that "No other film stress measurement tool on the market can accurately measure film stress over such a wide temperature range. The key to thermal stress measurements is uniformity - since temperature non-uniformity leads to wafer bow that is unrelated to film stress.  We have collaborated very closely with our vendors to develop a tool capable of reaching the temperature ranges required by our customers while maintaining wafer temperature uniformity.  Combined with our patented multi-beam laser array measurement technique that allows localized curvature measurements with high spatial resolution, the MOS ThermalScan provides unparalleled resolution and repeatability in thermal stress measurements."

k-Space Associates, Inc., 2182 Bishop Circle East, Dexter, MI 48130 USA
Tel. (734) 426-7977 ● Fax (734) 426-7955 ● requestinfo@k-space.com ● http://www.k-space.com

About k-Space Associates, Inc.

k-Space Associates, Inc. is a leading supplier of advanced instrumentation and software for the surface science and thin-film technology industries. Founded in 1992, its systems are used for monitoring wafer temperature, thin-film stress, film deposition rate, film thickness, material absorption properties, spectral reflectance, and Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) images. Backed by a commitment to ongoing support, these solutions are currently used worldwide in research and production line monitoring of semiconductor-based electronic, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic devices. Extensive input and close collaboration with its worldwide customer base has led to the development of today's most powerful thin film characterization products.