Park Systems Introducing NX-HDM

Park Systems Corp.,
in atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the semiconductor and HDD markets
introduces NX-HDM, an automated automatic defect review and sub-angstrom
surface roughness AFM system for device substrates and disk media.

The NX-HDM system sets a standard in automatic defect review AFM technology by increasing
throughput up to 1,000% and an offering of 30% higher success rate than
prior system, analyzing, identifying and scanning media for all wafer
sizes up to 150mm.

"For researchers working with HDD media and other flat substrates,
the process of identifying nanoscale defects is time consuming with
conventional tools, hindering throughput. The Automatic Defect Review
(ADR) speeds up and improves the way it identifies, scans and analyzes
defects in substrates and media," comments Sang-il Park, CEO and chairman. "Beta
test runs with Park NX-HDM demonstrate a 10x increase in throughput for
defect review in an automated process when compared with more
traditional manual methods of defect review. Moreover, we perfected the
remapping and defect identification algorithm, and the success rate of
the new NX-HDM is 30% higher than its previous generation, XE-HDM."

NX-HDM for HDD, LED, solar, and general semiconductor device industries,
speeds up the automatic defect review for media and substrates. The
survey scan, zoom-in scan, and analysis of imaged defect types are
automated with a range of automated optical inspection (AOI) tools. In
addition, True Non-Contact Mode, combined with low noise floor, provides
accurate and reliable measurements for the sub-angstrom surface
roughness of diverse media and substrates.

The Park dual servo system with two symmetric, low-noise position
sensors are incorporated on each axis of the XY scanner to retain a high
scan orthogonality for wide scan ranges and sample sizes. The secondary
sensor corrects and compensates for non-linear and non-planar
positional errors caused by a single sensor.

"There has never been a metrology tool capable of providing accurate
and reliable measurements for the sub-Angstrom roughness of the
substrate surfaces," said Ryan Yoo, VP of global sales and marketing. "By
delivering the industry’s lowest noise floor of less than 0.5Å, Park
NX-HDM can acquire accurate, repeatable, and reproducible sub-angstrom
roughness measurements for the flattest substrates and media."

Suppliers to various industries are developing ultra-flat substrates to
address the ever-increasing need for shrinking device dimensions.
However, there has never been a metrology tool capable of providing
accurate and reliable measurements for the sub-Angstrom roughness of
these substrate surfaces. NX-HDM combines a low noise floor of less than
0.5Å
with Park’s proprietary True Non-Contact technology to create
repeatable and reproducible sub-Angstrom roughness measurements without
tip degradation. Parameters of scan size and scan speed are adjustable
to match user’s needs in throughput and quality control.