The rapid technological development in semiconductor industry exceeds any imagination in the past half century. As Moore’s law indicated the exponential pace of microprocessor development, the same can be observed both in complexity and manufacturing challenges. In the course of the miniaturization of the devices, planar technologies were replaced by one-, two- and even three-dimensionally structured complex devices (see FinFETs, 3D NANDs, etc.).
As the dimension and complexity of such devices became extreme, keeping the accuracy of manufacturing is even more challenging. Tight control of such geometry and material properties is crucial therefore the role of metrology systems is extremely important nowadays. Optical Critical Dimension (OCD) metrology is one of the most powerful ways to control production. It combines the latest optical simulation techniques with highly accurate reflectometry and scatterometry. Many simulated results are stored in huge databases (Big Data), while the current critical dimensions of a real structure (slant and height of holes, trapezoid form of bricks, etc.) have to be determined from the measurement of the spectra or even more complex quantities (like Mueller matrix elements). The process of finding the best matching parameters for the measured data, should be the most efficient and fastest in semiconductor production, which implies the usage of the latest innovations such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). While classical semiconductor fields such as memory, logic, microprocessors strongly rely on this technique, it also has a crucial role in development of novel devices such as AR and VR glasses, silicon photonics and the latest generation cameras.
The candidate will explore recent OCD metrology techniques available at Semilab and in the literature, acquire deep knowledge of ellipsometry and light-matter interaction in nanostructures. He/she will examine new OCD methods by computer modelling and experimental techniques, and develop related industrial solutions at Semilab.
The PhD work will be carried out in cooperation with Semilab Zrt, with an industrial consulent:
Tamás Szarvas
+36205128990
Motivation for applied research, innovative spirit, basic knowledge of optics and computer modeling, interest in cutting edge technologies, basic scientific English.