Auros develops 8-inch wafer overlay measurement equipment

Auros Technology has developed an 8-inch wafer overlay measurement equipment, a first for a South Korean company.

The company has supplied the equipment, called Overlay System OL-100n, to Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center (KANC) back in June, people familiar with the matter said.

It will be used in KANC’s nano and material development project.

OL-100n was designed based on its previous 12-inch overlay equipment. The new equipment can measure be used for both 6-inch and 8-inch.

Auros developed the 8-inch equipment from rising demand for automotive chips and other products that are made using 8-inch wafers.

Overlay equipment are used to check whether the circuit patterns on the top layers and the bottom layers of wafers are correctly aligned.

Wafers have around 70 layers built atop them from exposure, etching and deposition processes.

Only KLA, ASML and Auros offer overlay equipment has they require margin of error under 0.5-nanometer.

Auros’ OL-100n are being used by customers in Taiwan as well, the company said.