REHOVOT, Israel, Feb. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nova
(Nasdaq: NVMI) announced today its metrology portfolio for
advanced gate-all-around (GAA). To enhance its market-leading
portfolio, the Company is unveiling multiple advanced solutions
uniquely equipped to address the manufacturing challenges of
next-generation logic devices.
As the semiconductors industry transitions toward advanced
technology nodes, process challenges increase dramatically. Time to
yield becomes a critical parameter, conflicting with an increasing
number of process steps, higher sampling and design rule shrinkage.
This clash is further complicated by the need to measure on-device
and in-die, as the test structures are no longer representative of
the actual process. Moreover, an abundance of new materials
necessitates inline control of parameters, such as thickness,
composition, stress, and local variations within the device. To
address these needs, process control solutions must be more
accurate and applicable for complex 3D structures and new
materials, applied to more layers and utilized to more physical and
chemical inline parameters.
In logic manufacturing, the most significant transition is from
fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) to gate-all-around transistor
(GAA), which complicates the fabrication process. Nanosheet
transistors set new constraints, dictating a complete
characterization of multiple individual nanosheets for dimensional
and material properties. Multiple nanosheet critical steps, such as
inner spacer formation and replacement metal gate formation,
require much tighter process control.
"Nova's rich and differentiated portfolio is built to meet the
challenges of next-generation device fabrication," said Eitan
Oppenhaim, President and CEO. "On top of the challenging design,
materials are becoming an increasingly crucial key to device
evolution, and our elevated investment in this domain provides our
customers with a unique complementary value. This is further
enhanced by the synergy between our market-leading dimensional
metrology, ground-breaking materials metrology portfolio, and the
recent addition of chemical metrology."
Nova's complementary offering allows customers to get a better
insight into the most complicated semiconductor structures through
a wider view on geometrical dimensions, physical materials
properties and chemical analytics. The overall solution has already
been rolled out to the market and is in use by leading customers to
stabilize the GAA process steps and increase yield.
Nova's rich next-generation portfolio includes:
Nova PRISM enables superior metrology performance in
critical applications, enabled by the platform's spectral
interferometry (SI) technology. SI technology was proven to add an
entirely new dimension of spectral information inaccessible to
current traditional optical CD methods by providing absolute phase
information that improves sensitivity to weak target parameters,
specifically required by the complexity introduced in the new GAA
design rules.
Nova i570 is Nova's top performance integrated metrology
platform for high-volume manufacturing, cementing Nova's leadership
in this domain. The platform improves total inline measurement
capabilities in small structures and multiple layers.
Nova METRION® brings SIMS
technology to high-volume manufacturing, enabling depth profiles of
the materials composition, previously limited to a lab environment,
in the critical step of material deposition in nanosheets
manufacturing. Manufacturers must tightly control materials'
concentration and uniform deposition on individual nanosheets.
Nova ELIPSON™ utilizes advanced Raman spectroscopy
technology for optical materials metrology (OMM) to extract
materials properties of in-die structures by fast and
non-destructive means. ELIPSON™ provides multiple solutions for
next-generation production challenges, including strain formation
and defectivity measurements through the process.
Nova VERAFLEX® IV is the
latest industry standard for in-line and in-die X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS) with integrated X-ray fluorescence (XRF).
VERAFLEX® IV delivers direct measurement
control over mono-layer film stacks and dopant concentrations by
generating the industry's highest X-ray flux and proprietary
optical system necessary to address complex structures.
All platforms are unified by Nova's machine learning software
suite, Nova FIT 2.0, the Company's newest machine
learning solution, powered by advanced algorithms and a
state-of-the-art computational layer.
About Nova:
Nova is a leading innovator and key provider of material,
optical and chemical metrology solutions for advanced process
control in semiconductor manufacturing. Nova delivers continuous
innovation by providing state-of-the-art high-performance metrology
solutions for effective process control throughout the
semiconductor fabrication lifecycle. Nova's product portfolio,
which combines high-precision hardware and cutting-edge software,
provides its customers with deep insight into developing and
producing the most advanced semiconductor devices. Nova's unique
capability to deliver innovative solutions enables its
customers to improve performance, enhance product yields and
accelerate time to market. Nova acts as a partner to semiconductor
manufacturers from its offices worldwide. Additional information
may be found at Nova's website link -
https://www.novami.com/.
Nova is traded on Nasdaq & TASE, Nasdaq ticker symbol
NVMI
Forward looking statement:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 relating to future events or our
future performance, such as statements regarding, but not limited
to, anticipated growth opportunities and projections about our
business and its future revenues, expenses and profitability.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially
different from any future results, levels of activity, performance
or achievements expressed or implied in those forward-looking
statements. Factors that may affect our results, performance,
circumstances or achievements include, but are not limited to, the
following: catastrophic events such as the outbreak of COVID-19;
increased information technology security threats and sophisticated
computer crime; foreign political and economic risks; changes in
U.S. trade policies; inability to protect intellectual property;
open source technology exposure; failure to compete effectively or
to respond to the rapid technological changes; consolidation in our
industry; difficulty to predict the length and strength of any
downturn or expansion period of the market we target; factors that
adversely affect the pricing and demand for our product lines;
risks related to introduction of new product lines which may
require us to allocate time and financial resources; dependency on
a small number of large customers; dependency on a single
manufacturing facility per product line; dependency on a limited
number of suppliers; difficulty to integrate current or
future acquisitions; lengthy sales cycle and customer delays in
orders; political, economic, and military instability in
Israel; risks related to our
convertible notes; currency fluctuations; and quarterly
fluctuations in our operating results. We cannot guarantee future
results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The
matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and
uncertainties summarized under the heading "Risk Factors" in Nova's
Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on March 1, 2021.
These factors are updated from time to time through the filing of
reports and registration statements with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Nova Ltd. does not assume any obligation to
update the forward-looking information contained in this press
release
Company Contact:
Dror David, Chief Financial
Officer
Tel: +972-73-229-5760
E-mail: investors@novami.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Miri Segal
MS-IR LLC
Tel: +917-607-8654
E-mail: msegal@ms-ir.com
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SOURCE Nova
