by Ed Korczynski, Senior Technical Editor
With High-k (HK) dielectrics and metal-gates (MG) now being ramped into CMOS production at Intel and IBM, much of the excitement at this year’s SEMICON West centered around manufacturing technologies needed for these new materials. Much of the discussions in equipment supplier-sponsored seminars and panels centered on the challenges of working with these new materials — particularly the tricky setup of affordable in-line metrology for these new ultra-thin materials.