Veeco Wins Orders for Automated Semiconductor Tools

PLAINVIEW, N.Y., Jan. 11 -- Veeco Instruments Inc. has received multiple-unit orders valued at $4.7 million for its Dimension 9000TR atomic force microscope and its recently introduced chemical-mechanical polishing metrology tool, the Dimension Vx Atomic Force Profiler (AFP). Semiconductor manufacturers in Europe, the US, and Asia/Pacific Rim placed the orders for the semiconductor production metrology tools, which are manufactured at Veeco Metrology Group's Santa Barbara facility.
Veeco's Dimension 9000TR measures STI, RC1, RC2, RR and other trench structures in logic and memory manufacturing. The company said the device allows automation of on-line process monitoring by offering self-calibration, automatic tip evaluation/replacement, wafer handling, pattern recognition, and recipe-driven automated measurement sequences and data analysis. Veeco described its Dimension Vx AFP as combining AFM resolution with the long-scanning -- up to 100 mm -- capabilities of a stylus profiler. The Vx AFP was designed for non-destructive measurement of dishing, erosion, and recess for line widths of 0.13 µm and below. Veeco said that both tools are available in 200-mm and 300-mm versions.