Sonoscan’s Dual Scanning™ on the AW300™ automated acoustic imaging system for 300mm wafers utilizes two transducers that simultaneously scan two wafers, providing optimum throughput in production environments.
Sonoscan’s (www.sonoscan.com) transducer electronics have been known as the fastest in the industry for a long time now. Having dual transducers makes it possible for the AW300 to match cycle times for handling and scanning. The system is thus optimized for use in production, and the number of wafers inspected per hour increases.
Only a few millionths of a second are needed for a pulse from the transducer into and back from material interfaces, including defects. During this time, despite its high forward speed, the transducer hardly moves at all relative to the speed of the pulse.
The data collected will identify which devices have anomalies that meet the user’s definition of a “rejectable defect”. A device having a small anomaly in a location that renders it harmless would pass inspection based on the user’s criteria for the automated digital image analysis.
Overall throughput speed is further enhanced by the AW300’s wafer-handling robot that positions wafers very precisely for scanning. Careful placement of the wafers aligns each device for automated analysis, such as wafer map, that will increase productivity by eliminating bad devices.