High Sensitivity Accelerometers for Monitoring Semiconductor Manufacturing

Semiconductor manufacturing processes are extremely complex and rapidly evolving. As consumer demand for smaller sizes and more advanced capabilities continues to grow, it becomes more challenging to avoid manufacturing errors at the nanometer scale. Additional demands for increased throughput require faster-moving manufacturing and inspection machinery, making semiconductors susceptible to higher vibrations during production. These vibrations can corrupt the patterns deposited on the semiconductors, leading to circuit failures in the finished parts. To combat this, accelerometers are used by semiconductor manufacturing to take routine vibration measurements for real-time, closed-loop control of health monitoring and process control systems. We will discuss how they work and their basic operating parameters in this white paper, along with how these parameters can be tuned to dramatically increase sensitivity and measure displacements at the nanometer scale.

Table of contents:

• A Primer on Semiconductor Manufacturing
• Vibration Sources
• Accelerometers
• General Behavior
• Key Specifications
• High Sensitivity Accelerometer Options
• Nanometer Level Deflection Measurements: How Low Can We Go?
• Multi-axis Measurements
• Conclusions