Lasertec Corporation announced today that ROHM Co., Ltd. (“ROHM”), a company in power semiconductor device manufacturing, selected the latest model of Lasertec’s SICA, SiC wafer inspection and review system.

ROHM provides various high-quality high-performance semiconductor devices that feature the state-of-the art process and design technologies for worldwide customers. Their corporate mission is “Quality is our top priority.” ROHM is a global leader in the manufacture of power devices, especially of silicon carbide or SiC devices. ROHM has decided to introduce the latest model of SICA as part of its efforts to further enhance SiC device quality and production infrastructure.

Silicon carbide is a new material with properties suitable for power semiconductors and is viewed as a vitally important option for power device manufacturing. For mass production of SiC wafers and devices, further quality enhancement is expected. Amid various challenges, one of the critical factors in the mass production of high quality devices is to reduce defects that are commonly generated during grind and epitaxial processes. In this respect, it is extremely important to have a capability to accurately and quickly detect and categorize defects that affect device performance. Defects of interest (DOI) include not only scratches and epi-defects on wafer surface but also crystal-related defects such as basal plane dislocations (BPD) and stacking faults (SF) inside epi-layers. Eliminating these killer defects early in the process ensures high device yield in mass production.

The latest model of SICA incorporates a photoluminescence-based technology that enables the simultaneous detection of both surface defects and crystal defects at a significantly higher throughput. Lasertec will continue to pursue the development and advancement of defect inspection technologies in order to facilitate the further enhancement of power device quality and productivity.