In-Line 3D SEM Metrology and Inspection for Technology Inflections in Memory, Logic and Advanced Packaging

下午 2:40 - 下午 3:05

As the semiconductor industry continues to scale to smaller technology nodes and increasingly complex three-dimensional (3D) architectures in memory, logic, and advanced packaging, the need for rapid ground truth and actionable process-control data has become increasingly critical. Traditional workflows rely on near-line laboratories to perform cross-sectional SEM and TEM analysis. These techniques often require days turnaround and the expertise of advanced users, resulting in delays between the insight fabs need and the lab’s measurement feedback.

This presentation highlights recent advances in wafer-level 3D SEM metrology and inspection that enable in-line characterization of buried structures directly within the fab environment, significantly reducing time to actionable data. Three-dimensional critical dimension (CD) metrology can now provide rapid ground-truth measurements for process monitoring, overlay characterization, optical CD model calibration, and insight into buried defects. Capabilities that historically required specialized laboratory analysis over several days can now be completed within hours.

These throughput improvements are enabled by wafer dual-beam (WDB) plasma focused ion beam (PFIB) technology that combines high-speed milling, high-resolution SEM imaging, 3D volume reconstruction, and AI/ML-enhanced metrology and defect characterization. We will demonstrate multiple approaches for cross-sectioning and subsurface feature exposure that enable high-resolution SEM imaging of buried structures.

Leveraging advances in computational parallelization, fabs can now access advanced 3D SEM tomography workflows based on volumetric reconstruction and virtual image slices. By generating a series of high-resolution SEM images through sequential milling, these techniques enable synthetic metrology measurements and comprehensive three-dimensional characterization of complex semiconductor structures.

Key Technologies Covered

SEM-FIB for 3D CD Metrology
Hybrid Bonding Overlay control
3D Tomography
Lab to Fab strategy

Featured Speakers

Mr. Nimrod Shuall

Director of Marketing Fab Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Nimrod Shuall has over 20 years of experience in semiconductor metrology and inspection across logic, memory, and advanced packaging applications. Since joining Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2025, he has led the deployment and commercialization of Wafer DualBeam FIB-SEM solutions for inline process control and advanced failure analysis applications.

Prior to Thermo Fisher Scientific, Nimrod held a variety of applications, marketing, and customer-facing leadership roles at KLA, where he specialized in photolithography process control and advanced metrology solutions. His expertise spans optical and SEM-based metrology, critical dimension (CD) measurement, thin-film characterization, and the introduction of new metrology technologies for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing.

Nimrod holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.