Bede X-ray Metrology recently launched its wafer edge defect inspection capability that uses the company’s BedeScan defect-inspection system. The tool is capable of looking at process-induced defects on the surface of the wafer. It can also detect crystallographic abnormalities inside the wafer, which can lead to wafer breakage and device-yield problems.

“The ability to look closely at the wafer edge is becoming more crucial at the 90 nm technology node and below,” says Keith Bowen, Bede’s chief scientist. “Problems with wafer breakage during [integrated circuit] processing can be attributed to structural defects in the edge of underlying wafers.”

The BedeScan has a variety of applications requiring sensitivity to dislocations, precipitates, mechanically introduced cracks and inclusions at any depth within the wafer. It monitors pin marks, thermal slip dislocations, misfit dislocations, back-side and front-side scratches, surface, precipitates, inclusions, overall lattice parameter and strain variations, and buried mechanical edge damage.

Bede X-ray Metrology is a global provider of X-ray metrology systems to the semiconductor industry. For more information, visit www.bede.com.

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