Technology review for silicon imagers-based see-through-silicon inspection and metrology

Semiconductor see-through-silicon metrology and inspection applications use traditionally InGaAs based cameras due to perfect spectral sensitivity. But InGaAs cameras do not carry equivalent advantages as Silicon based imagers such as pixel size, pixel array resolution and through-put etc. This paper first reviews the novel technologies which dramatically enhance silicon imagers' sensitivity for this see-through silicon application. Inspection through-put is analyzed based on multiple system implementation:, start-stop scan mode vs. continuous scan mode, 2D cameras vs. TDI line scan cameras, against to traditional InGaAs camera based continuous scan platform. The simulation data shows that systematic through-put based on 2D silicon cameras can be competitive to today's InGaAs system, while TDI line scan system can be much faster than system based on near future's high resolution and high speed InGaAs cameras.