Finnish 3D thin film semiconductor metrology specialist rounds up a successful ALD/ALE 2024 conference by announcing international contest winners.
Joensuu/Helsinki, Finland – August 23rd, 2024 – Chipmetrics Oy, a leading provider of metrology solutions for the semiconductor industry, announces the winner of its global conformality research competition, held in collaboration with international academic institutions. The aim of the research competition was to further research into Chipmetrics’ core business area, thin film growth in high aspect ratio semiconductor structures, with global competition entries ranging from USA in the west to Taiwan in the east.
The Conformality Research Team of the Year award was presented to the team from Fraunhofer IPMS CNT for its innovative leading-edge research of conformality and characterization of ferroelectric ALD films in high aspect ratio structures.
“Our team strives to advance materials for e.g. ferroelectric technologies, from material deposition and development, to characterization, and to application. We conducted in-depth surface characterization on ALD deposited doped hafnium oxide thin films in the test structures,” says Jennifer Salah Emara from Fraunhofer IPMS. “We advanced the surface characterization of the thin films using XPS and ToF-SIMS techniques. Both analytical techniques provided a complementary and in-depth analysis of material formation. Advancing on these techniques, in-situ characterization can be a vision for the future.”
“What we are doing, what we are looking into is using ALD for doping materials, especially hafnium oxide for pyroelectric applications. For that the lanthanum concentration should be really low, which we achieved with the ALD process on a planar surface. We also needed information on the distribution of the elements inside a trench, especially the dopant inside a high aspect ratio structure,” says Sascha Bönhardt from Fraunhofer IPMS about his experience with the PillarHall test chips. “I see a lot of potential here for more interesting data in the future and environments for ALD processes in general.”
A second award for Prospective Contributions to ALD Conformality Research was awarded to the team from the University of Texas at Dallas for groundbreaking research of the Atomic Layer Deposition, showcasing potential advancements in ferroelectric hafnia applications and future technological breakthroughs.
The conformality research team of the year at Fraunhofer IPMS will receive 10 units of Chipmetrics test chips products of their choosing, while the University of Texas will receive 5 pieces of PillarHall LHAR5 test chips to further thin film research.
“Our goal with the global contest was to highlight the importance of ALD thin film conformality research to accelerate advanced 3D semiconductor process development,” says Mikko Utriainen, CEO of Chipmetrics. “This was our first campaign supporting semiconductor programs at global universities. We will continue to look for new ways to engage researchers to utilize the advantages of Chipmetrics test chips to accelerate new materials and new processes forS advanced semiconductor manufacturing.”
Chipmetrics at ALD/ALE 2024
With over 1,000 visitors, ALD/ALE 2024 hosted numerous presentations and poster sessions at Messukeskus in Finland’s capital Helsinki. Celebrating 50 years of ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition), originally a Finnish invention, representatives from semiconductor industry heavyweights as well as startups and academic institutions showed interest in Chipmetrics and its metrology solutions that were demonstrated in collaboration with Park Systems.
- 2 Chipmetrics presentations for +100 people
- Several on-site test chip measurements in collaboration with Park Systems
- Over 200 visitors to the Chipmetrics booth
- 50 sauna hats handed out
“The show has been really successful, it was the best matching conference I’ve ever visited,” says Arash Mirhamed, Application Specialist at Park Systems. “The Chipmetrics test chips are a perfect match to our metrology tools. Most visitors to our booth were familiar with conventional Ellipsometry as well as with the Chipmetrics Pillar Hall chips, but they had never heard about our Imaging Ellipsometry with a lateral resolution of one micron. They were impressed how we work together an offer a complete solution.”
For more information on Chipmetrics, future academia contests and its ALD/CVD test chips, visit chipmetrics.com.
About Chipmetrics
Chipmetrics Oy develops and delivers metrology solutions for manufacturing processes for the semiconductor industry, focusing on innovative metrology chips and ALD measurement services. Its main product is the PillarHall® metrology chip for near-instantaneous thin film process conformality measurement. Founded in 2019, its head office is in Joensuu, Finland, with employees and sales partners in Japan, South Korea, USA, and Germany.
For more information, visit www.chipmetrics.com.
Press contact:
Jonas Klar
Chipmetrics Oy
[email protected]
[email protected]