ALBANY, N.Y. and Netherlands – July 9, 2013 – SEMATECH and TNO, an organization for applied scientific research, announced today that they have established a strategic partnership aimed to enable measurement standards for establishing traceability for outgassing rates and leak rate measurement in semiconductor tools and processing.
Semiconductor manufacturers are facing new contamination control and monitoring challenges, including component and materials’ outgassing which can introduce a variety of contaminants into semiconductor fabs, impacting many processes. The objective of the project is to develop metrological procedures and guidelines for the measurement of equipment that will help the industry to have recommended practices for comparing measuring and reporting outgassing data. In the course of the project, metrological procedures for the measurement of outgassing and qualification of material will be defined and validated to address nanoscale defectivity. The major gaps in the types of component and material that are currently limiting the performance of the tools due to outgassing resulting in nanosize contamination will be identified.
“Since there is currently no industry standard for quantifying outgassing performance, SEMATECH and TNO have partnered to develop a standardized method for characterizing outgassing rates of components and material for semiconductor processing applications,” said Michael Lercel, senior director of Nanodefectivity and Metrology, SEMATECH. “This joint project builds on SEMATECH’s proven technical expertise in nanoscale defect detection and characterization and TNO’s experience and innovative ability to deliver contamination free solutions to enable equipment solutions that can meet future challenges.”
“Collaboration between TNO and SEMATECH combines our respective strengths and expertise in the development of standard test for measuring outgassing and contaminants,” said Roland van Vliet, Business Line Manager Semicon at TNO. “We are pleased to have an industry leader in nanodefectivity and characterization of materials as a collaborator, whose considerable research and development network and exposure to industry problems can help us to develop a much needed solution to accelerate the equipment productivity and performance for the industry.”
About TNO
TNO is an independent innovation organization. TNO connects people and knowledge to create innovations that sustainably boost the competitive strength of industry and the welfare of society.
TNO’s more than 4000 professionals work on practicable knowledge and solutions for the problems of global scarcity. TNO focuses its efforts on seven themes Including Industrial Innovation : TNO reinforces the innovative strength of industry through innovation in products and processes, with a strong focus on sustainability. http://www.tno.nl
About SEMATECH
For over 25 years, SEMATECH®, the international consortium of leading semiconductor device, equipment, and materials manufacturers, has set global direction, enabled flexible collaboration, and bridged strategic R&D to manufacturing. Through our unwavering commitment to foster collaboration across the nanoelectronics industry, we help our members and partners address critical industry transitions, drive technical consensus, pull research into the industry mainstream, improve manufacturing productivity, and reduce risk and time to market. Information about SEMATECH can be found at www.sematech.org. Twitter: www.twitter.com/sematech
