“It starts with optics”. Optical technologies are opening up new potential within TNO, says senior optical designer Stefan Bäumer. Society makes demands, we offer solutions.
One of the main drivers in the semiconductor industry is shrinkage – the race for smaller and smaller features. In chip manufacturing the smallest contamination particles can make a product useless. To prevent this, it is essential to be able to detect particles of around 20 nanometres or less. TNO has developed a special scanner, the Rapid Nano, which can detect such small particles.
The Rapid Nano is an affordable tool for particle inspection of EUV blank reticles and reticle substrates (152 x 152). The Rapid Nano is suitable for scanning the complete surface of a blank reticle in a protective scanbox. The inspection system makes use of a double dark-field concept whereby information is recorded by a high-definition camera. The data is stored as raw image format and is made available for off-line data processing and reviewing. The solution has particular many benefits. Nanometre particles are scanned in the patented clean box at a velocity of 100 cm2 per hour. Moreover, the solution can be customised to the customer’s process. The scanner was used successfully during the development of the robot that transported the EUV masks in the first EUV wafersteppers of ASML, and in the manufacture of image sensors.
Scientific interests
- optical design, high resolution imaging
- Semicon system metrology and inspection
Expertise:
- Optical design for high precision advanced optical system.
- Wave optics modeling of nano scattering events and phenomena.
Models and equipment:
- Optical design and modelling tools
- Rapid Nano nano-particle inspection tool
