SurfaceWave™
The SurfaceWave™ process uses two lasers to create an acoustic wave which travels across the surface of a metal or dielectric film. This process provides precise measurements of the thickness and uniformity of blanket and patterned metal films, including barrier/seed layer thicknesses, providing timely information for the control of copper-based processes. It is effective on a variety of metallic materials involved in the semiconductor manufacturing process, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, tantalum, tantalum nitride, tungsten titanium, and titanium nitride. The process has become a proven metrology technique for pre- and post-CMP applications, measuring Damascene structures, plus CVD, PVD, and ECD process control.
The Semilab AMS SurfaceWave metrology tool is the AMS 3300.