June 20, 2012 – PRNewswire — Qcept Technologies Inc. has received more than 30 orders from 8 customers for its new ChemetriQ Inspection Services (Q-Services), which enable semiconductor manufacturers and equipment vendors to begin implementing non-visual defect (NVD) inspection programs tailored to their needs prior to purchasing a Qcept ChemetriQ NVD inspection system.
NVDs include sub-monolayer organic and metallic residues, process-induced charging, and other undesired surface non-uniformities that cannot be detected by conventional optical inspection equipment.
Customers send their substrates to Qcept, where an inspection scan is performed with its proprietary scanning Surface Potential Difference Imaging (SPDI) sensor technology. Data analysis and reporting are done relative to the customer’s experimental studies.
Q-Services can be used for traditional semiconductor substrates and non-wafer-shaped substrates, as well as sub-200mm wafers. Users include semiconductor device makers; infrared and CMOS image sensor (CIS) manufacturers; and wafer cleaning, plasma etch, plasma ash, and e-beam equipment companies using Q-Services to support their new product development programs and optimize their processes of record.
DRS Technologies used Qcept’s Q-Services offering to study rinse margins on existing processes, identifying opportunities to reduce rinse times and chemical usage, as well as achieve cycle time savings, said Tom Ratcliffe, VP site manager of DRS Technologies Imaging and Targeting Solutions’ Texas facility.
"As we develop next-generation process capabilities for our CMOS image sensor products, it is important that we understand what surface non-uniformities and within-wafer charge variations, if any, may exist," said J.C. Hsieh, R&D senior director at VisEra Technologies Company Ltd. "Our existing inspection capabilities are focused on physical particle defects, which are blind to the surface conditions for both thin residues and charge.” VisEra used Q-Services to inspection the surface conditions of their wafers.
Qcept Technologies provides wafer inspection solutions for non-visual defect (NVD) detection in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. More information can be found at www.qceptech.com.