News Releases
ReVera Introduces High-K Metal Gate Production Metrology System
VeraFlex II offers 6X higher throughput and 6X lower cost of ownership
Sunnyvale, Calif., January 19, 2010 – ReVera Incorporated, the materials metrology company and leader in high–k metal gate metrology, today introduced its new VeraFlex II Production Metrology System. The VeraFlex II builds on the capabilities of ReVera’s widely adopted VeraFlex platform, which has proven itself a key enabler in the development and pilot production of high-k metal gate (HKMG) technologies. Designed to address the stringent requirements of volume production, the VeraFlex II offers dramatically increased throughput and significantly lower cost of ownership. Its proven direct measurement capabilities provide high measurement stability, actionable results and extendibility for future HKMG advancements.
VeraFlex II is immediately available and has been ordered by multiple leading edge semiconductor manufacturers for high volume HKMG production. VeraFlex technology is currently used worldwide on many development and pilot production applications, including HKMG gate dielectrics, work function metals and metal gates.
“Our VeraFlex technology has been vital to our customers’ HKMG development,” noted Tom Larson, Sr. Director of Sales and Marketing at ReVera, “and we are proud of the role we have played in the transition to these advanced gate dielectric processes. Now, as HKMG shifts into production, our customers are finding that their traditional production metrology approaches are ineffective, too costly and too complicated to implement. Ellipsometers for example, can cost as much as 40% more to use for HKMG applications than non–HKMG applications once the hidden costs are accounted for – including the engineering time to keep them stable, the time consuming effort to interpret the indirect results and the constant need for reference tools to validate the results.”
Larson continued, “VeraFlex II builds on the established performance of our VeraFlex platform and implements that core technology in a high productivity system designed for volume HKMG production. The result is six times higher throughput and six times lower cost of ownership, in a system that is fully extendible for future HKMG advancements.
VeraFlex™ II sets the standard for HKMG production metrology:
- High throughput – Six times higher than VeraFlex at required precision levels.
- High measurement stability – Accurate, unambiguous and robust measurements.
- Lowest cost of ownership for HKMG – Higher productivity, lower support costs and equivalent capital cost as compared to ellipsometers; no need for the added expense and delays of a reference tool.
- Direct measurement - Direct measurement of composition, multiple layer thickness and other parameters; robust and wide latitude recipes; no complex, time consuming correlations or reference tools needed by ellipsometers.
- Extendible - Broad, powerful capabilities offer extendibility for next generation HKGM applications; ellipsometers limited today with no viable extendibility without significantly higher cost and lower throughput.
About ReVera
ReVera Incorporated, the materials metrology company, is a leader in high-k metal gate(HKMG) production metrology solutions for advanced semiconductor processing. Its products are used globally by device manufacturers to measure, monitor and control critical HKMG materials properties in high-volume production, and to enable rapid development and control of complex, new processes. ReVera systems set the standard for HKMG metrology applications including gate dielectrics, work function metals and metal gates, and are backed by a global network of support partners and an experienced staff of applications engineering, field service, sales and logistics personnel. Visit www.ReVera.com for more information.