From Measurement to Innovation: Metrology for Next-Generation Semiconductors

11:30 am - 11:55 am

Semiconductor technologies are evolving rapidly in response to demands for higher computing performance, greater connectivity, improved energy efficiency and increasingly integrated functionality. Advanced materials, complex three-dimensional device structures and heterogeneous integration are expanding the performance of semiconductor technologies, but they are also creating measurement challenges that cannot always be addressed by conventional approaches.

This presentation will explore how the role of metrology is consequently shifting from the verification of manufactured products towards becoming an enabling capability throughout the semiconductor innovation cycle. Future semiconductor development requires measurements that can address increasingly complex materials and structures, connect information across multiple length scales, combine complementary measurement techniques and transform increasingly large datasets into actionable knowledge. Critically, these measurements must also be sufficiently fast and robust to support process development and, ultimately, in-line manufacturing.

Recent developments at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will illustrate this transition. Examples include advanced on-wafer RF metrology extending into the millimetre-wave and sub-terahertz regimes, enabling earlier and more reliable characterisation of emerging high-frequency semiconductor technologies, and high-speed spectral photoluminescence imaging that combines wafer-scale inspection with rich spectral information. The latter enables millions of spatially resolved spectra to be acquired across a 200 mm wafer in a couple of minutes, providing new opportunities to detect, discriminate and understand process variations at manufacturing-relevant speeds.

However, advanced measurement instrumentation alone does not guarantee trustworthy results. Traceability, measurement uncertainty, validated methods, interlaboratory comparisons and international standards remain essential to ensure that measurement data are reproducible and comparable across laboratories, companies and global supply chains. The presentation will conclude by considering the importance of international collaboration in establishing the measurement infrastructure needed for emerging semiconductor technologies.

Key Technologies Covered

Convergence of trends in semiconductor technologies
Trends in semiconductor metrology
On-wafer RF measurements
High-speed spectral photoluminescence (PL) imaging
Wafer-scale, spatially resolved spectral characterisation
International cooperation and measurement validation

Featured Speakers

Prof. Fernando De Castro

Dept Head of Science, National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

Prof. Fernando Castro is Department Head of Science at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), in the United Kingdom, where he leads Advanced Materials and Semiconductor Metrology activities across the laboratory. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and currently serves as Chair of the European Metrology Network on Advanced Manufacturing and Chair of VAMAS Technical Work Area 46 on Semiconductors.

Prof Castro received a MSc and PhD in Physics from the University of Sao Paulo, and worked as a post doc at EMPA, Switzerland, prior to joining NPL in 2010. He developed pioneering work on spatially resolved characterisation of functional properties of semiconductor materials and devices at multiple scales, including developing novel advanced scanning probe and optical spectroscopic techniques and instrumentation that are used to provide technical services and support industry.

Fernando delivered 100+ invited and keynote presentations in 25 countries and authored 120+ technical publications, including 80+ peer reviewed papers and 3 patent families. His work has influenced industrial innovation, national and international metrology strategies, and government policy.