Exponent offers a wide variety of semiconductor foundry–related services for independent foundries, traditional IC manufacturing facilities, and fab-less companies. Our consultants have significant experience in volume manufacturing and yield enhancement, microcontamination and cleanroom science, wafer mapping and defect density determination, process development support, design for manufacturing methodologies and implementation, foundry inspection services, and semiconductor tooling.
Our scientists and engineers have expertise in deposition, lithography, metrology, gate oxides, interconnect, cleanroom science, and etching (as examples). We provide audit services and failure analysis in pre-gate oxide deposition cleaning steps, post-gate oxide thickness monitoring, interconnects, thin-film deposition, hi-k dielectrics, photolithography and photostabilization, clean sinks, dry etching, DRIE, and CMP.
Our experienced scientists can solve yield and processing problems, identify root cause, eliminate yield loss, recommend solutions, and help clients implement corrective action. We can identify critical metrics to enable monitoring and ensure yield improvement and stability.
Substrates today are not only silicon. We have experience with various substrate types, SOI, wafer-to-wafer bonding, and patterning on glass. Semiconductor processing no longer means only making semiconductors, because semiconductor processing equipment is used in nanotechnology, MEMS, thin-film deposition, SOI wafer manufacture, and display technology.
We have experience with advanced dimensional metrology—using microscopy; Zygo (white light interferometry); wafer curvature techniques; wafer haze monitoring; measurement of mechanical material properties (devices or films), such as modulus, Poisson ratio, stress, and residual stress; thin-film CDs; cross-sectional analysis; surface profiles; across-wafer variability; nano-film surface area; ellipsometry; surface charge; composition; and size distribution.
Our staff provides patent evaluation services related to prior art, due diligence, and evaluating new technologies. Our materials scientists and chemical engineers have real-world experience to support all the litigation and prior art requirements of our clients.