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Deposition and etch equipment maker Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology (OIPT) Ltd of Yatton, UK has launched the Plasma Accelerator for advanced die processing, its latest upgrade for dry etch de-processing in semiconductor failure analysis (FA).

The Plasma Accelerator delivers increased etching speeds, better duplication rates, straightforward operation and low damage, while supporting a full range of dry-etch FA processes including passivation removal and IMD (inter-metallic dielectric) and ILD (inter-layer dielectric) etch, ensuring that a clean, smooth etched surface is produced with no metal de-lamination or erosion, claims OIPT.

The upgrade also enhances process throughput by delivering up to 20 times faster etch rates, increasing overall tool utilization and decreasing process gas usage by 90% while ensuring rapid investigation of the suspected failure. Typical process times are reduced to less than 5 minutes to expose four metal layers – eight times faster than conventional ICP (inductively coupled plasma) mode processes and 20 times faster than RIE (reactive ion etching), claims OIPT.

The Plasma Accelerator upgrade can be used with both new and existing Plasmalab µEtch300 and Plasmalab µEtch200 systems, which allow a range of processes from passivation removal to anisotropic oxide removal, from small die or packaged device through to full 300mm wafers. Also, at the end of October, OIPT added to its failure analysis product line with the launch of the entry-level Plasmalab µEtchEL, which has switchable dual-mode PE/RIE (plasma etch/reactive ion etch) capability.

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