Category Archives: Metrology

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July 12, 2005 — Providers of nanotechnology processing and metrology equipment are retooling their plans in the face of lower demand from semiconductor companies. Since Friday, two equipment makers have announced they were lowering their revenue forecasts for the second quarter and a new semiconductor industry report confirmed the equipment market will have a percentage decline in double digits this year.

FEI Co. (Nasdaq: FEIC) adjusted its second quarter revenue expectations on Monday to a range of $109 million to $111 million from a previous range of $114 million to $120 million. The Hillsboro, Ore., company, which makes tools for nanoscale characterization, analysis and modification, also announced a reorganization with various cost-saving components. It now expects second quarter earnings to be flat, down from a previously-anticipated 5 cents to 9 cents per share.

On Friday, Nanometrics Inc. (Nasdaq: NANO) said it expects revenues for the quarter to be down as much as 20 percent. It had previously anticipated revenues would be down between 0 percent and 10 percent. Nanometrics is based in Milpitas, Calif., and makes integrated and standalone metrology equipment for the semiconductor industry.

Both companies blamed a slowdown in the semiconductor industry for delaying both new bookings and shipments of previously booked orders. The mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Consensus Forecast, released on Monday by trade group SEMI at the annual SEMICON West exposition, confirmed their thinking. It forecasts that the equipment market will decline 12.1 percent to $32.6 billion in 2005.

“We see customers becoming cautious,” said Vahe Sarkissian, FEI’s president and CEO, in a conference call. “We see them deferring their buys to the degree they can.”

The softening of demand comes at a challenging time for FEI, which had planned to do more than break even in the quarter. In order to stay on track, the company announced a reorganization that includes a plant closure, a realignment of its product groups, and a restructuring of various charges designed to lower ongoing costs.

Concurrent with closing the plant, located in Peabody, Mass., FEI management said 30 employees had been terminated in the second quarter to reduce costs.

The product group realignment will be focused on three markets — nanoelectronics, nanoresearch and nanobiology — and is designed, in Sarkissian’s words, to “prioritize investment towards highest value opportunities.”

The financial restructuring includes asset writedowns, restructuring charges and modest gains from the sale of a product line. The company estimates about $15 million of restructuring charges will be incurred over the latter two quarters but that the changes will put the company in line to break even at under $100 million in revenue.

The reaction from analysts was mixed. WR Hambrecht’s John Roy downgraded the stock from a buy to a hold, though he is not setting a price target. ThinkEquity’s Stuart Pulvirent reiterated his accumulate rating, though he lowered his 12- to 18-month price target from $24 to $22. Investors agreed. At 2 p.m. Tuesday, the company’s stock was down $2.05 at $22.25.

The question for investors is whether the revised estimate and other news will be factored into the price by the time second quarter earnings are released on Aug. 3.

If CEO Sarkissian is right, the moves announced this week could position the company for an earnings-positive 2006 as demand stabilizes and growth returns. The SEMI forecast predicts single-digit growth in 2006 and a return to double-digit growth for the equipment market over the following two years to reach $44.3 billion in 2008.

July 6, 2005 – Soluris and CEA-Leti have announced that they have engaged a joint development program (JDP) involving Soluris’ Yosemite SP-1000 CD-SEM to help characterize the sub-45nm logic technologies at CEA-Leti’s new Minatec research facility in Grenoble, France.

Key to the agreement is the Yosemite’s implementation of critical shape metrology, a physics-based modeling algorithm, to extract three-dimensional shape information from the CD-SEM signal.

“As a source of innovation and technology transfer for the global semiconductor industry, we need[ed] a metrology tool providing a high accurate measurement data on sub-45nm technologies,” said Patrick Dussouillez, head of the Silicon Platform Division at CEA-Leti.

“This JDP with CEA-Leti is truly a win-win for both parties,” adds Robert Ricau, Soluris’ European VP of operations. “Using the Yosemite CD-SEM, CEA-Leti will obtain the information needed to develop next-generation technologies, and Soluris will gain insight into the metrology requirements that will be needed at the 65nm, 45nm, and even 32nm process nodes.”

By Mike Yeh, Shu-Ping Fang, Bo-Jau Tsau, C.C. Huang, Benjamin Lin, United Microelectronic Corp.; Steven Fu, Jay Chen, Regina Freed, Ted Dziura, Mike Slessor, KLA-Tencor Corp.

This work evaluates the capability of a spectroscopic ellipsometry-based profile technology as a new metrology tool to monitor polysilicon gate processes at 130nm and 90nm nodes. This study proves that this method can consistently flag different profile excursions of polysilicon gate (e.g., small notching, footing, or undercut).

A common issue for etching processes is the existence of a small notch or foot at the bottom of a polysilicon gate. There are many causes of poly gate profile excursions; a change in the grain size of polysilicon, etching condition, energy and dose of ion implantation could lead to different profiles. Even in a single chip, n-doped poly and p-doped poly generally show different profiles. With decreasing device size, it becomes even more important to control the profile of the polysilicon gate because a small notch or foot could have a major impact on the length of the polysilicon gate, and the performance of the device would then be affected significantly, especially for cutting-edge devices. Tighter control of gate profile leads to tighter distribution of transistor speeds, resulting in optimized and more consistent performance.

Read the complete article in a pdf format.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact: Julie MacShane, Managing Editor, SST at email: [email protected].

June 29, 2005 – Rudolph Technologies Inc. has signed a definitive merger agreement with August Technology Corp. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both companies, is subject to customary regulatory approvals and shareholder vote of each company, and is expected to close in the 4Q05.

The combined company, which will continue to be known as Rudolph Technologies Inc., will be one of the largest semiconductor inspection and metrology companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, each August shareholder will receive either $10.50/share in cash or in Rudolph stock (based upon the exchange ratio pursuant to the agreement of 0.7625x and the closing price of Rudolph stock on June 27, 2005), reflecting aggregate consideration of approximately $193 million.

After the closing of the merger, Rudolph’s Paul McLaughlin will continue as chairman and CEO and Steven Roth will remain CFO. Jeff O’Dell, current CEO of August, will join Rudolph’s Board of Directors, and Stan Piekos, current CFO of August, will become Rudolph’s chief corporate development officer. The company’s board will increase to 12 people, including 8 members from Rudolph, 3 members from August, and 1 additional board member to be jointly appointed.

“We believe this merger creates exciting upside opportunities for our customers, our shareholders and our employees,” said McLaughlin.

“As a combined entity, we are better positioned to offer our customers complete inspection and metrology solutions for front-end and back-end wafer processing. The merger also strengthens our financial position as we expect to enjoy substantial cost efficiencies and revenue synergies, while leveraging increased scale and a stronger market presence.”

Commenting on the merger agreement, Jeff O’Dell, August Technology’s co-founder, chairman and CEO, added, “After thorough due-diligence, we believe a merger with Rudolph will drive the greatest value for all stakeholders. As a combined entity, we are stronger and more efficient, and our prospects for growth are increased. This is a unique opportunity for the shareholders of August and Rudolph to participate in the upside potential of a new leader in metrology and inspection solutions. I am very pleased with today’s merger and excited about the prospects for The New Rudolph.”

Stan Piekos, August Technology CFO, added, “The significant role of the August management team will provide continuity for August’s customers and our employees. This transaction allows our shareholders a greater ability to participate in the accelerated growth potential of the combined company. These are some of the compelling reasons for merging with Rudolph, which we believe would not be available from other potential opportunities, including KLA-Tencor.”

Piekos concluded, “August is concerned that an August/KLA-Tencor transaction would involve significant antitrust risk, including a lengthy investigation by the Department of Justice, which in turn could prevent any proposed transaction from closing. This could cause substantial uncertainty for August, its customers, employees and vendors, and ultimately hurt shareholder value.”

The New Rudolph will be headquartered in Flanders, NJ and maintain two centers of excellence; the inspection business based in Bloomington, MN and the metrology business based in New Jersey.

On a pro forma basis, the combined company would have trailing twelve month ended March 31, 2005 revenues of approximately $160 million and a base of approximately 600 employees. The merger is expected to be accretive to Rudolph’s earnings within the first year.

June 28, 2005 — August Technology Corp. a supplier of inspection and defect analysis solutions for the microelectronic industries, and Nanometrics Inc. have terminated their merger agreement dated Jan. 21, 2005. The board of Bloomington, Minn.-based August Technology also has adopted a shareholder rights plan.

In accordance with the terms of its merger agreement with Nanometrics, August Technology paid a termination fee of $8.3 million, plus expenses, to Nanometrics. Nanometrics, based in Milpitas, Calif., designs, manufactures and markets high-performance process control metrology systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors, integrated circuits and flat panel displays.

May 31, 2005 — Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO), a developer of atomic force microscopy (AFM) products, announced last week that it signed a joint development program with CEA Leti, an applied research electronics laboratory in Europe, and Team Nanotec, a fabricator of AFM probe tips.

Under the terms of the two-year agreement, Veeco, Leti and Team Nanotec will jointly develop tips to be used in Veeco’s AFMs for the semiconductor market. Each organization has designated a team of personnel and will provide resources including tips, tools and samples for the project.

The goal of the collaboration, according to prepared statements of Paul Clayton, vice president and business unit manager of Veeco’s automated AFM business, is to develop production-worthy AFM tips and qualification standards that will meet semiconductor customers’ future technology requirements for 65nm, 45nm and sub-45nm metrology.

May 24, 2005 – Oraxion Diagnostics, a provider of advanced metrology systems, has named industry veterans Bang C. Nguyen as CEO and director and Jonathan M. Sabol as COO.

Bang’s last position was the COO of GenoRx a DNA chip start-up company. Prior to GenoRx, Bang was the VP of marketing and sales at NuTool. He also spent 12 years at Applied Materials in a variety of technical and management roles leading to his appointment as VP and GM of their copper plating group.

Bang pioneered the development and commercialization of sub-atmospheric CVD technologies that became industry standards for high aspect ratio gap fill applications, the Oraxion release said. Bang has published numerous technical papers in the field of semiconductor processing and has been awarded 12 US patents for his work in CVD technologies.

Prior to joining Oraxion, Sabol served as VP and GM of Asyst Technologies, where he was responsible for the Equipment Solutions and Fab Solutions business units. He also spent 9 years at Applied Materials in a variety of marketing and management role.

May 4, 2005 – Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif. supplier of tools and services for metrology, etch, defect review, inspection and failure analysis, announced the release of its latest high-resolution in-lens Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), the new Model S-5500. The S-5500 is guaranteeing 4 angstrom (0.4nm) image resolution in secondary electron (SE) mode.

The company says that the diverse capabilities of the instrument bridge many research fields, from silicon-based device design and characterization to biological applications with high throughput and fast sample exchange. This allows the user to achieve high quality results quickly and easily.

“Advances in transmitted electron detection technology and countermeasures against environmental interferences make our new in-lens SEM design a powerful investigative tool for nanotechnology research,” said Robert Gordon, vice president and general manager, Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc.

“Demonstrating and certifying compliance with RoHS is a complex undertaking made more difficult by the electronics industry’s distributed design and manufacturing supply chains, and the incompatibility between the current tin-lead (SnPb) and RoHS-compliant lead-free manufacturing processes. The industry must have means of differentiating RoHS-compliant products that is common across all of the companies involved in, or contributing to, product manufacture, including component suppliers, component distributors, EMS providers, OEMs, and their design partners. We are convinced that the only practical way to accomplish this goal is through separate part numbers that can clearly identify RoHS compliance and manufacturing process compatibility,” according to a statement released by iNEMI.

(April 29, 2005) Aurora, Ill. &#8212 The U.S. Navy’s Calibration department, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), had to replace an old CMM machine to advance their Metrology R&D department due to the rapid advancement of weapon technology. With this recent advancement, its needed measurement technology must also advance to enable correct determination of new system effectiveness.

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April 20, 2005 — Oregon’s nanotechnology initiative appears to be holding steady even if one of its leading industrial supporters has faced a bumpy start this year. Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), one of the state’s signature research centers, is on the docket for more state and federal funding, and continues to win the support of its business and political leaders.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski encourages the state to create a climate for innovation, including scientific research. He advocates joint efforts between universities, federal labs and industry, hoping to speed transfer of technology to business applications.

The state also has an advocate in Washington, D.C. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introduced a bill that led to the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. The act, signed in late 2003, authorized nearly $3.7 billion for nanotechnology over fours years.

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One of Kulongoski’s favorite projects is ONAMI, based in Corvallis, which the governor cited as an example of “collaborative partnerships that work.” ONAMI’s function is to put a roof over research currently going on at Oregon State University, University of Oregon and Portland State University, as well as projects undertaken by private industry. The partnership includes Battelle, which manages Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash.

“There is $7 million for ONAMI in the governor’s budget, and no matching is required,” said Robert D. “Skip” Rung, executive director of ONAMI. The state Legislature is currently considering that request in the 2005-2007 biennium budget.

Other state government funds so far have gone primarily to construction and engineering education. The governor’s recommended budget for the coming two years also asks for $21.7 million to engineering education and research, with the lion’s share going to OSU, and the rest to seven other universities.

Some of those dollars are expected to stick to micro and nanotechnology projects as well, but activation of ONAMI has been slower than expected and rumored cutbacks at Hewlett-Packard Co, the institute’s chief private sector sponsor, have created some uncertainty.

HP’s printer division in Corvallis has contributed a large part of one of the buildings on its local campus at no charge to the institute. The division may be a target for layoffs this year, with estimates ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent of HP’s 4,300 workforce. Reports of possible cuts overlapped with the announcement in early February that HP’s chief executive, Carleton Fiorina, had abruptly stepped down.

Rung and HP spokesman Brigida Bergkamp downplayed the rumors. “I have no non-public information on what HP might do. But it will not have any effect on ONAMI,” Rung said in an e-mail. He added that HP is not cutting back on its support of the institute.

Bergkamp said the company collaborates with ONAMI on research and development projects, but they are two separate, independent entities. “Nanotech is a vibrant part of HP’s business,” she said. “We’re committed to a presence in Corvallis. We will continue to adjust our workforce according to business and customer needs and to reflect patterns in the marketplace, and this includes hiring.”

HP is not ONAMI’s sole industrial partner. Hillsboro, Ore.-based FEI Co. and Portland-based Electro Scientific Industries have worked to support ONAMI. FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC) makes tools for nanotechnology researchers and manufacturers. ESI (Nasdaq:ESIO) specializes in production laser systems for microengineering applications.

Oregon is wooing additional business partners as well. At a 2004 meeting of leaders in venture capital and engineering firms, Rung joined three executives on a panel about fostering innovation and technology projects in Oregon. Michael Baker, chief executive at Home Dialysis Plus, and Chuck May, senior director of operations at LSI Logic, both of Portland, and Thomas Rueckes, chief scientific officer at Nantero Inc. of Boston, discussed how to translate micro and nano research into companies and jobs.

In another example of collaboration, the Oregon Business Plan, a group of high-tech CEOs and state government finance officials, tries to spur economic development in the state, incorporating the governor’s goals to support signature research centers and commercialize research.

To that end, they are attempting to raise $10 million in state and private funding to keep ONAMI going. That sum should support basic operations and attract at least $60 million to $80 million in federal research project grants.

They hope state spending will be matched by federal and private funds. In 2004, nearly $20 million worth of federal research and development products were awarded to the institute.

The group also wants to identify markets for at least two technology-based industry clusters that can convert university research into new products and businesses.

Meanwhile, ONAMI recently brought in Dennis Stiles, PNNL’s program manager in Corvallis, and John Carruthers, PSU physics professor, as new co-directors of the institute. They join current directors from University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

Carruthers was previously director of components research at Intel Corp. and will head a new effort in nanoscale metrology in downtown Portland, where an advanced transmission electron microscope and nanotube and nanowire fabrication facilities already exist. Stiles will be the first of up to 20 PNNL staff in Corvallis at OSU’s Microproducts Breakthrough Institute, an ONAMI partner located on the OSU campus.