High speed full wafer monitoring of surface, edge and bonding interface for 3Dstacking

3D integration requires innovative process control solutions to ensure the integrity of the device wafers that are bonded, thinned and then de-bonded before permanent bonding. Right now, most 3D-TSV pilot lines use a number of semi-auto or manual inspection tools: Microscopes, interferometers, profilometers and acoustic microscopes. Other sites use automated scanning inspection tools that are not adapted to detect specific 3D integration defectivity. Leading the field, IMEC and Nanda Tech partnered to tailor the Spark platform to the requirements of 3D integration process control. From the pilot line to the high volume manufacturing fabs, Spark provides a flexible process control platform, adapted to handling bonded wafers and finding the defects of interest that will affect expensive customer wafers.