PFI-RP: Advanced Nanopositioning Stages for High-Throughput Semiconductor Metrology

Award ID: 1941194

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is to enable high-throughput inspection of semiconductor wafers via unprecedented positioning performance at an economically viable price-point. Process control, such as inspection of defects on semiconductor wafers, is currently a bottleneck for semiconductor manufacturing yield. Market demand for higher performance, increased functionality, smaller size, and lower prices in electronic chips has continued the push the industry towards smaller linewidths (currently at the 7 nm node) and more complex chip designs. This has resulted in an increasingly large number of defects per wafer, which impacts the chip functionality and therefore overall manufacturing yield. While it is desirable to inspect and evaluate more defects more frequently during the fabrication process to achieve high yield, the current slow rates of inspection lead to a throughput bottleneck. The technology developed via this project aims to overcome this tradeoff between inspection throughput and yield. The societal impact of this project will ultimately be in the form of cheaper electronics (processors, memory, sensors, etc.) that will broaden access to computers, mobile devices, automobiles, robotics, automation, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, among others. The proposed project aims to develop nano-positioning technology that achieves a range of several millimeters of motion, high speed, smaller settling time, nanometric accuracy, and low heat generation specifications previously considered impractical in a compact and cost-effective package. This project will develop nano-positioning stages that meet stringent motion specifications motivated by the needs of the semiconductor industry through innovations in parallel kinematic design, non-linear flexure mechanics, and structural dynamics with novel electromagnetic actuator architectures. These advanced nano-positioning stages will be incorporated within semiconductor process control equipment to rapidly move wafers from one defect to another. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Samir Iqbal