At 45 nm and below, testing geometries must confront many problems related to wafer-level measurements. Front-end processes and equipment must be upgraded to handle new process materials, lower operating voltages, and increasingly complex integrated-circuit (IC) designs. A major investment also must be made at the back end in order for more advanced probing stations to handle low-noise environments, small pad probing, wide-range temperature testing, internal node probing, and multi-site testing. In addition, the need to ensure lower operating and bias voltages and the use of new materials have compounded the challenges of making accurate, low-level, on-wafer device measurements. To conquer such issues, the Elite 300 wafer probe station offers next-generation Pure-Line II performance based on a proprietary noise-reduction technology. As a result, the Elite 300 vows to enable up to 10 times lower spectral noise and four times better alternating-current (AC) noise. This probe station vows to reliably and accurately tackle 300-mm wafer probing for devices with process nodes at 45 nm and below. It offers end-to-end productivity improvements through characterization and modeling, wafer-level reliability, IC failure analysis, and design debug.

Cascade Microtech, Inc., 2430 NW 206th Ave., Beaverton, OR 97006; (503) 601-1000, FAX: (503) 601-1002, Internet: www.cascademicrotech.com.

See associated figure