Sponsored by Businesswire

In a newly released whitepaper, Fractilia, LLC – the semiconductor industry’s leader in stochastics metrology – reveals that uncontrolled random patterning variations at the latest technology nodes are costing manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars per fab in lost yield and delayed production. These devastating variations, known as stochastics, now represent the single largest barrier to achieving expected yields in high-volume manufacturing (HVM) at advanced nodes. Fractilia’s analysis offers a roadmap for solving this problem – combining accurate measurement, probability-based process control, and stochastics-aware design strategies to recapture billions in unrealized value.

“Stochastic variability is contributing to multibillion-dollar delays in introducing advanced process technology into high volume manufacturing,” stated Chris Mack, Chief Technology Officer of Fractilia. “Yet conventional process control approaches have been ineffective in addressing these random effects. Closing the stochastics gap requires completely different methodologies that device makers need to validate and adopt in order to successfully move advanced process technologies into high volume manufacturing.”

“In fact, the growth of the electronics industry is currently limited by stochastics,” Mack added.

The whitepaper represents the first-ever analysis of the impact of stochastics effects from the perspective of resolution.

The Stochastics Gap

A gap has emerged between the size of features that can be patterned in research and development and the size of features that can be reliably manufactured at high volumes at historical expected yields.

This resolution gap is largely caused by stochastic variability – the random variability in the behavior of molecules, light sources, and even atoms in the materials and equipment used in semiconductor lithography. Unlike other forms of process variability, stochastic variability is inherent to the materials and technologies used in the manufacturing process and must be addressed using a probability-based analysis that differs from current process control approaches.

“We have seen our customers make dense features as small as 12 nanometers in research and development, but when they try to move it into manufacturing, stochastic failures are affecting their ability to achieve acceptable yield, performance, and reliability,” said Mack.

Historically, stochastic variability did not have a major impact on high volume manufacturing yield. Stochastic effects were enough smaller than critical feature sizes that the probability of yield-killing stochastic defects was low. However, with the substantial increase in lithography capability enabled by the adoption of EUV and high-NA EUV technologies, stochastic variability consumes a much larger percentage of the error budget in advanced manufacturing processes.

Fortunately, this stochastics gap is not a fixed size. In the whitepaper, available for download at www.fractilia.com, Fractilia details the causes of this stochastics gap and solutions for addressing this gap, including stochastics-aware device design, materials advancements, and stochastics-aware process control.

“The stochastics gap is an industry-wide problem,” stated Mack. “This issue can be minimized and controlled, but it all starts with accurate stochastics measurement technology.”

About Fractilia

Fractilia is the world leader in stochastics metrology and control solutions for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Fractilia’s patented Fractilia Inverse Linescan Model (FILM™) technology provides highly accurate and precise measurements of stochastics, which are the single largest source of patterning errors at advanced nodes. As a result, customers can improve device yield and performance as well as patterning productivity. Fractilia’s accurate and precise measurements are optimizing processes throughout the industry and are used as the lingua franca for common language communication between process groups and different companies. The company’s solutions include its MetroLER™ product for process development and engineering analysis, and its Fractilia Automated Measurement Environment (FAME™) products for fab ramp and production applications. Fractilia is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has more than 20 issued patents covering its FILM and related technologies. For more information, visit www.fractilia.com.