Unpatterned surace inspection

06/01/1997

Unpatterned surface inspection

The Surfscan SP1 is an in-line, unpatterned surface inspection system that detects all defect types in a single pass at throughputs of up to 150 wafers/hour on 200-mm wafers, and 100 wafers/hour on 300-mm wafers. Material defects and contaminants down to 79 nm are uniformly and repeatably detected. The system features Stationary Beam Technology, which combines a stationary illumination beam, axi-symmetric collection optics, multiple dark-field collection channels, and an automated bright-field collection channel based on Nomarski differential phase contrast technology. A real-time defect classification algorithm classifies many defect types as they are inspected. Tencor Instruments, Milpitas, CA; ph 408/571-7039, fax 408/571-2707.