A New Way to Inspect Defects in Chips, Displays

Dr. Kim Yeong-shik of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) measures a three-dimensional nano device with a tool that can simultaneously measure the thickness and refractive indices of nano devices with a single image.

A new measurement technique has been developed that can detect internal defects of semiconductors or displays with a single image.

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) announced on Feb. 11 that a research team led by Kim Young-shik has developed a three-dimensional measuring tool that can measure the thickness and refractive indices of nano devices using a single image.

The advancement in packaging technology has allowed chip companies to break the barriers of speed and capacity and develop multi-layered three-dimensional nano devices. 3D nano devices are widely used in high-tech sectors such as semiconductors, flexible displays, and IoT sensors.

However, the product defect rate climbs in conjunction with an improvement in device performance. Yet the development of technology that can detect defects in a non-destructive manner on a real time basis has been slow.

The KRISS team has developed a three-dimensional nano-device measuring device that combines an image spectrometer, a polarization camera, and an objective lens in one system. This instrument combines a complex process to conduct measurement many times into a single process and features a spatial decomposition capacity more than 10 times higher than other instruments.

When a three-dimensional nano device passes through the measurement equipment, a specific interference fringe is generated on the objective lens. The fringe is calculated as thickness and refractive index value of the nano device through an image spectrometer and a polarization camera. Through this, this method can measure the thickness and refractive indices of advanced devices used in semiconductors and displays, and maintain desired quality by securing high device yields.

The results of the study were published in the international journals “Optics Express” and “Optics Letters”, respectively.

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