Nova (Nasdaq: NVMI) announced today two break-through Integrated Metrology solutions, reinforcing the company’s Optical CD portfolio technology leadership. The new platforms, Nova i570 HP and Nova ASTERA, will enhance Nova’s ability to support customers in the most advanced Memory and Logic nodes. The new portfolio will strengthen Nova’s partnerships with its customers for the development and manufacturing of next- generation IC architectures.
The continuous efforts to scale chips’ performance create multiple process complexities, growing challenges in development time and difficulties in yield building. To meet the demand for tighter specs and smaller process windows, IC manufacturers require solutions that provide better metrology performance and reduce the overall measurement uncertainty. The ever-growing fabrication complexity dictates the need to measure in-die with minimal within-wafer and within-die variation. Furthermore, measuring in-die, requires even more accurate solutions, which traditional integrated metrology solutions cannot provide.
The Nova ASTERA platform is a first of a kind in the industry, providing stand-alone level performance in a compact form factor of integrated metrology. The new platform utilizes multi-channel measurements, providing the best solution in the market in terms of accuracy, precision, tool-to-tool matching and extendibility. The platform brings unmatched capability to the world of integrated metrology, enabling robust measurement for challenging OCD applications in DRAM, 3DNAND and Logic. Nova ASTERA offers the fastest available application time-to-solution, utilizing advanced physical and machine learning algorithms. The platform’s rich spectral information content provides the necessary sensitivity for solving complex 3D Optical CD applications that require monitoring growing number of parameters. Nova ASTERA is targeted to support the development of the most advanced device technologies, beyond 3nm Logic and 256 Layers, multi-deck 3D-NAND nodes, and as such, is expected to enter the market over the course of the coming years.
The Nova i570 HP normal channel SR platform is the embodiment of Nova’s mission, as the Integrated Metrology market leader, to provide the highest performance platform for high volume manufacturing fabs. The new addition to the i5XX series offers the highest throughput in the market, supporting the new faster CMP polishers and allowing better within-wafer variation control by measuring more sites, as well as pre and post-wafer measurements. Enriched with Nova’s advanced modeling and algorithmic solutions, the i570 HP provides major enhancements in metrology accuracy, precision and tool matching capabilities.
“As the market leader in the Integrated Metrology domain, we have a strong commitment to always redefine the limits of what our customers can achieve through our technology”, said Effi Aboody, GM, Dimensional Metrology Division at Nova. “The Nova i570 HP will provide customers with the highest productivity and metrology performance available in the market today, while the Nova ASTERA is a game changer that trailblazes into new, never-before-achieved performance from IM tools. These new additions to our portfolio will allow our customers to shorten R&D cycles and increase efficiency in high volume manufacturing. Coupled with our advanced machine learning and modeling suite, we set the bar higher than ever before for Integrated Metrology solutions.”