e-beam inspection sys from KLA for use in latest semiconductor chip fabs

KLA-Tencor has announced the eS805, a new electron-beam inspection system for use in latest semiconductor chip fabs. eS805 is designed to detectvery small defects and defects that cause electrical problems in the integrated circuit, such as opens, shorts or reliability issues. The eS805 is also designed to provide supplementary information to the fab's optical inspection systems, with the goal of boosting the ability of the optical inspectors to preferentially capture defects that matter. "As our customers move toward single-digit nanometer design rules, they will need unprecedented sensitivity to defects of interest—while sampling enough of the wafer to catch a defect excursion," said Bobby Bell, executive vice president of KLA-Tencor's Wafer Inspection Group. "We believe that optical inspection will continue as the dominant defect inspection approach; its speed is essential for adequate wafer coverage, and our engineers have demonstrated some impressive ideas for stretching optical sensitivity to meet our customers' anticipated requirements. Electron-beam inspection will continue to complement optical inspection as needed, and we are continuing to innovate within our e-beam product lines for speed, application breadth and novel methodologies. The new eS805 represents a significant step forward in KLA-Tencor's continually evolving e-beam/optical defect solution, a valuable...