The Stochastics Control Company
The world leader in stochastics measurement and control
There’s a new class of yield killers in semiconductor fabs called stochastics, and chipmakers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with them. Stochastics are random and non-repeating errors, and in EUV processes they can make up over 50 percent of the total patterning error budget.
Stochastics are a growing yield problem and, at EUV, can be responsible for more than 50% of the total patterning error budget.
Stochastics have forced fabs to make a trade-off between yield and productivity. By increasing the dose on EUV lithography scanners, fabs can reduce the effects of stochastics and increase yield. But there’s also a large cost: the significant reduction of the throughput of their process tools.
When fabs accurately control stochastics, they both improve the productivity of their process tools and increase their yields.
Fractilia measures all four major stochastic effects simultaneously.
In order to control stochastics, fabs must first measure them accurately. But standard measurement methods cannot provide the accuracy and precision required.
Fractilia solves this problem. By combining the patented fourth-generation FILM™ technology with true computational metrology, Fractilia’s products measure all major stochastic effects simultaneously with the accuracy and precision needed to develop and control manufacturing processes.
Fractilia is the world leader in stochastics measurement and control. Fractilia’s FAME™ and MetroLER™ products enable fabs to make better decisions faster and solve yield issues for the entire semiconductor lifecycle.
The benefits are enormous from R&D through manufacturing and also for OPC.
FILM™ — an enabling technology
Fractilia’s patented FILM™ technology is a physics-based algorithm for edge detection that rejects noise without resorting to image filtering or smoothing. The result is robust edge detection without modifying the true characteristics of the feature edge you are detecting.
Fractilia has seen exponential growth in the number of SEM images measured by customers using its products.
Highest signal to noise
Fractilia’s fourth-generation FILM model provides the highest signal-to-noise of any edge detection methodology in the industry.
Measures and subtracts out SEM errors
The noise in a SEM image adds to the uncertainty of the measurement and produces an inflated, biased result. The amount of this noise changes with nearly everything — process conditions (e.g., dose/focus), feature size, SEM settings, SEM tools, etc. Fractilia solves this problem by measuring the random noise in a SEM image and then statistically removing the noise to produce a far more accurate unbiased measurement. Systematic SEM errors are also measured and removed.
No user-defined parameters
Unlike other tools, Fractilia’s products are self-calibrating and require no user-defined input parameters. This capability allows all measurements to be fully automated and provides the same accurate results across all users. In addition, all measurements and analyses are completely repeatable.
Robust solutions
Our FAME™ and MetroLER™ products also include hundreds of other unique and proprietary capabilities that have been developed and tested on millions of SEM images by customers worldwide over many years. Our attention to detail results in the most accurate, robust and easy-to-use products available.
Measure the wafer, not the image
Fractilia’s solutions provide:
The de-facto industry standard for unbiased roughness measurements (LWR, LER, PSD(0), etc.)
High-precision CD measurement, with systematic and random SEM errors removed
Extremely accurate measurement of line-end tip-to-tip features with improved repeatability, even for high-noise and low contrast images
Extremely accurate measurement of defectivity for lines/spaces, contacts/pillars and tip-to-tip features for any size data sets up to millions of features
Measurement of local CDU, global CDU, local edge placement error (EPE), pattern placement error and many other key metrics, accurate even for high-noise and low contrast images
More accurate determination of best focus/best dose using Fractilia’s patent-pending Probabilistic Process Window capability
Accurate metrology for large field-of-view images (images with large systematic across-SEM-field variations)
Reduced resist shrinkage by using lower-dose SEM measurements at the same accuracy/precision
More accurate calibration of OPC models
Accuracy on any patterning technology at any node at any process step for both ADI and AEI: EUV, high-NA EUV, 193, 193i, SADP, SAQP, SAOP, DSA, and more
Benefits from R&D through manufacturing
Contact us for more information or to schedule a demonstration.