Park Systems introduces the Automatic Defect Review (ADR) AFM for 300mm bare wafers, a fully automated AFM solution that improves throughput of AFM defect review by up to 1,000%. The 300mm bare wafer ADR AFM is a new process for identifying defects designed specifically for the semiconductor market without the need of reference markers.  In terms of accuracy and productivity, Park’s new ADR process speeds up and improves the way defects are imaged and analyzed compared with more traditional manual AFM methods of defect review on the market. Furthermore, it is able to do this without the laborious and often damaging reference marks created on a sample wafer. Additionally, this new Park ADR AFM offers a significantly longer tip life than those of competitors by 10x~20x thanks to Park’s ground breaking True Non-Contact Mode AFM technology.

The new 300mm bare wafer ADR provides a fully automated defect review process by AFM from transfer and alignment of defect maps to the survey and zoom-in scan imaging of defects that uses a unique remapping process that does not require any reference marker on a sample wafer. Unlike SEM which leaves destructive irradiation marks, square-shaped, on defect sites after its run, the new Park ADR AFM enables advanced coordinate translation with enhanced vision that uses the wafer edge and notch to automatically enable the linkage between a defect inspection tool and Park AFM. Since it is fully automated, it does not require any separate step to calibrate the stage of the targeted defect inspection system, increasing throughput by up to 1,000 percent.