Advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes have greater sensitivity to temperature, and, consequently, monitoring temperature variation has become a more critical component of semiconductor production. Process and equipment engineers utilize SensArray thermal information in several ways: Wafer surface temperature monitoring is an indicator of manufacturing equipment performance. This information helps IC manufacturers ensure equipment health, thus enabling them to increase equipment uptime and reduce tool maintenance costs and cost of ownership. Temperature variation between multiple equipment sets is a critical parameter in the qualification of tools, thus enabling faster production ramps. Tracking temperature variation data enables faster root cause analysis of process excursions and detects trends that indicate possible future excursions.
"KLA-Tencor's SensArray products enable customers to significantly improve uptime of critical manufacturing equipment and improve process uniformity," stated Dr. Lena Nicolaides, vice president and general manager of the SensArray-VLSI Division of KLA-Tencor's Growth and Emerging Markets (GEM) Group. "Today customers are investing $4 billion or more to start a 32nm fab; implementing tools like KLA-Tencor's wireless temperature monitoring products allow IC manufacturers to improve their return on this investment by enabling a faster production ramp and more effective use of capital."
KLA-Tencor's broad portfolio of SensArray products are currently in use by IC manufacturers throughout the world, and the new product suite is immediately available.
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