VP, North America and Explorer Product Manager UNISERS AG
Dr. Marie Tripp is a seasoned professional in the semiconductor industry, with expertise in supply chain management, sales, manufacturing R&D, and high-volume production. Her technical specialties include semiconductor metrology and process control equipment, focusing on wafer and EUV mask inspection, optical metrology, and analytical failure analysis. Currently, Dr. Tripp serves as VP, North America and Explorer Product Manager at Unisers AG, where her leadership is enabling an early-stage startup to find and eliminate contamination in semiconductor manufacturing. Previously, she held multiple roles at Intel Corporation, including positions in manufacturing R&D and supply chain management. Dr. Tripp holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado and has served on advisory boards such as the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the NSF STROBE Science and Technology Center.
Abstract
Bridging the Gap Between Liquid Contamination and On-Wafer Defectivity
The IRDS Yield Enhancement Roadmap calls out insufficient metrology for control of particles and particle precursors as among the key challenges for the semiconductor industry. Finding the contamination is only half of the challenge. Contamination characterization is necessary to rapidly identify a particle source. Previous work presented at SPCC in 2024 discussed using Surface Enhanced Particle Sizing (SEPS) for reliable detection of particles on a 300mm wafer. SEPS is a two-step process: (1) vacuum-based coating of a metallic film on an unpatterned monitor wafer and (2) optical inspection to determine the particle location, size, and morphology. SEPS alone can be used to classify the morphology of particles as single particles, shallow defects such as film-type defects, or high-ellipticity defects such as scratches and streaks.
This work will include results from a study showing automated SEPS sizing is material independent. It will also discuss a novel defect review workflow for index-of-refraction characterization of particles. Scanning surface inspection systems (SSIS) are commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing for inspection of unpatterned wafers. SEMI M52 and M53 standards discuss particle sizing for SSIS as light scattering equivalent (LSE), where the size reported is not the true size but the size equivalent if the particle were composed of polystyrene latex (PSL). A defect inspection-review workflow combining SSIS and automated SEPS on Explorer G1 enables rapid index-of-refraction characterization and the ability to distinguish between different particle types, including silicon, metallic, or organic. Finally, examples will be provided where unknown particles are classified, providing new information for faster troubleshooting.