FemtoMetrix, a developer of non-destructive optical inspection systems, announced today that it has entered into a patent and technology license agreement with The Boeing Company. This license allows FemtoMetrix to include new, enhanced inspection capabilities into its non-destructive optical inspection products, enabling enhanced yield and reliability at all process nodes.

A prime concern for semiconductor fabricators is the inability to test starting materials in a comprehensive non-destructive manner prior to use. Undetected defects in semiconductor starting materials cause device failure and are a critical problem in the IC (integrated circuit) industry. FemtoMetrix has developed a novel quality assurance tool for semiconductor materials inspection that identifies yield and reliability killing defects prior to the final manufacture of the end product.

Femtometrix’ non-destructive technique is a contactless, optical characterization method for characterizing surfaces, interfaces, thin films, as well as bulk properties of materials. These inspection systems enable fabs to improve yield by detecting Non-Visual Defects optically. Such defects include surface and buried metallic and organic contamination, as well as other yield killing non- uniformities that cannot be seen by other in-line tools.

Alon Raphael, President of FemtoMetrix stated, “We are excited to be using Boeing’s technology to create an optical in-line solution with high throughput for Non-Visual Defects to meet the advancing needs of device fabricators worldwide.”

“When we can redeploy our technology to help another company accelerate their innovation, we consider that a success,” said Peter Hoffman, Boeing vice president of Intellectual Property Management.