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METARA LAUNCHES PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE ON HARSH CHEMISTRY
CONTAMINANTS WITH NEW METROLOGY TOOL
Company Bolsters SENTRY Product Line with New
Harsh Chemistry Metrology (HCM) System
Sunnyvale, Calif., June 7, 2006—Metara Inc., a leader in the semiconductor industry's in-line chemical metrology space, today launched the SENTRY Harsh Chemistry Metrology (HCM) system—the first and only automated, real-time, proactive analysis solution for harsh chemistries used in today's manufacturing processes. The new tool is built to detect metallic and, eventually, organic species, providing chipmakers with a breakthrough pre-emptive technology to detect contaminants in harsh process chemistries long before they become a yield threat.
The SENTRY HCM is the latest addition to Metara's portfolio of in-line chemical metrology tools that already includes the SENTRY CCM, which monitors copper electroplating and cobalt bath chemistries, and the SENTRY TCM, which monitors benign chemistries for trace contaminants. When combined, this broad tool family offers semiconductor manufacturers a powerful technology solution that enables the safe and rapid detection of process contamination at the earliest possible time. Shipment of the first system has already occurred.
Today's complex semiconductor manufacturing process has imposed rigorous new purity standards on the harsh chemistries that are used in processing tools. These chemistries include concentrated hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids that are deployed in full strength or mixed with other chemicals for various etch and wafer-cleaning steps. Until recently, fab personnel relied on dispatching sporadic "grab samples" to analytical labs to test for purity. This manual, off-line approach dilutes the sample with ultra-pure water (UPW), which reduces the concentration of the potential contaminant, thereby making it much less sensitive to discovery. This approach is not only labor-intensive and subject to human error, but it is also slow and highly unreliable. Furthermore, it is inherently hazardous and often fails to detect serious contaminants in time to avoid a disastrous yield excursion.
Metara's automated HCM tool overcomes these yield-threatening challenges while simultaneously slashing the turnaround time from days to minutes. Built on the proven SENTRY platform, the system features a breakthrough combination of proprietary hardware and software that neutralizes the harsh chemistries without diluting the sample with UPW, thereby allowing all metallic contaminants to flow through and facilitating easy, accurate and timely detection.
At the heart of the system is Metara's proprietary In-line Mass Spectrometry (ILMS) technology, featuring an innovative electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometer. This core engine has the ability to perform the sensitive, high-resolution measurement of anions and cations required for accurate process control and contamination detection. It is a proactive method that speedily determines the root cause and severity of a problem and allows for prompt corrective action before yield is threatened. Finally, to facilitate the speedy and simple interpretation of data, the system is also equipped with an advanced spectral data analysis engine which automatically applies peak fitting algorithms to the spectral to generate easily understood graphical results.
Calling the SENTRY HCM the ultimate "pre-emptive" chemical metrology technology, Metara's vice president of sales and marketing, Randy Clegg, said, "The use of complex harsh chemistries in today's manufacturing environment presents great potential for yield and safety disasters. With its breakthrough analysis capabilities, Metara's HCM has demonstrated exceptional results in pre-emptively detecting yield-killing excursions, allowing customers to avoid catastrophic yield busts well before they become a threat. Moreover, like the other tools in the SENTRY family, the HCM removes the manual component of this critical chemistry analysis step, greatly improving the reliability of the process and removing the potential for environmental health and safety errors."
To learn more about Metara's technology, please visit the company at SEMICON West,
July 11-13, 2006 at the Great Room 1 in the W Hotel, San Francisco, Calif.
About Metara Inc.
Metara Inc.—a pioneer and technology leader in the in-line chemical metrology arena—is focused on helping the global semiconductor industry monitor and control chemical processes. The company's breakthrough technology enables chipmakers to continuously monitor the composition of their critical process chemistries in real time, so that they can a) optimize process results in critical steps, such as copper plating; and b) detect and prevent contamination that can result in process defects and yield loss. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.metarainc.com.
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