Jul 15 2015
Nanometrics Incorporated, a leading provider of advanced process control systems, today kicks off formal commemoration of its 40th Anniversary Year in conjunction with SEMICON West, the industry’s premier trade show, being held July 14-16, 2015 at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Nanometrics’ booth, located in the South Hall, #1405, will prominently highlight its 40th Anniversary theme of Technology Innovation and feature the company’s latest portfolio of advanced 3D metrology and process control solutions for optical critical dimension (OCD), thin film, advanced packaging/3D-IC, topography and materials characterization applications.
Karen Savala, President, SEMI Americas offered the following, “SEMI is pleased to celebrate Nanometrics’ 40th anniversary and to recognize their significant accomplishments in driving technological innovation for our industry.”
Founded by the late Vincent J. Coates in 1975 to commercialize spectroscopic optical measurement applications, Nanometrics first introduced the ground-breaking NanoSpec®/AFT system in 1977 for automated optical measurement of film thickness on product wafers using spectroscopic reflectometry. Film thickness metrology continues to be a mainstay in the company’s applications portfolio to this day with spectroscopic reflectometry technology being complemented by the addition of spectroscopic ellipsometry, interferometry, and photoluminescence mapping to expand the applications space.
Over the years, Nanometrics has consistently led innovation in key applications such as integrated (on process tool) metrology-based advanced process control (APC), scatterometry-based OCD measurement, interferometry-based 3D measurement, and photoluminescence wide-band gap materials characterization.
Key milestones over Nanometrics’ 40 year history include:
- 1975 Founding of the Company on January 2nd
- 1977 Launch of the NanoSpec/AFT for film thickness measurement on semiconductor wafers at a price of around $35,000 USD
- 1984 Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ
- 1985 Introduction of the NanoSpec/AFT 200 Series – First 150 mm wafer capable system
- 1994 Introduction of the NanoSpec 8000/8300 Series -- Fully automated 200/300 mm capable system incorporating both spectroscopic reflectometry and spectroscopic ellipsometry
- 1998 Introduction of the NanoSpec 9000 Series – Pioneering Integrated Metrology for in-tool CMP and CVD film thickness measurement
- 2001 Introduction of NanoOCD 9300 standalone system and the 9010 integrated metrology module – the first systems for scatterometry-based OCD applications
- 2004 Introduced Atlas® combined OCD/Thin Film Metrology System
- 2006 Acquired Accent Optical Technologies, adding photoluminescence imaging for HB-LED and optoelectronics to the product portfolio
- 2008 Introduced next generation IMPULSE® integrated metrology module for both OCD and film thickness and acquired Tevet Process Control Technologies, including the T3 integrated metrology module for full wafer thickness mapping
- 2008 Introduced NanoCD™ Suite incorporating the industry leading NanoDiffract® OCD modeling/analysis software and NanoGen™ server cluster
- 2009 Acquired the UniFire® product line from Zygo Corporation for 3D metrology applications in advanced packaging and 3D-IC along with wafer level and local topography characterization applications
- 2011 Introduced the Atlas II, incorporating full Mueller Matrix enabled OCD measurement on advanced finFET and 3D-NAND device structures
Today, Nanometrics has an installed base of more than 6,500 systems shipped to date, including more than 500 Atlas/XP/II/II+ systems and over 1,500 integrated metrology modules shipped. The market leading Atlas II+ system is presently installed at all of the top 10 leading edge device manufacturers for OCD and thin film metrology applications in advanced finFET logic, 3D-NAND and DRAM production.
Dr. Timothy J. Stultz, Nanometrics President and CEO noted, “We are a 40-year old company with the same energy and innovative spirit that we had as a start-up – tackling the greatest challenges in the history of semiconductor technology. Building on our legacy of technology and track record of first to market solutions, over 550 employees in more than eight countries continue this legacy by pursuing excellence in everything we do.”