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Semiconductor specifications highlight

Positioning system specifications for semiconductor applications are dictated primarily by the line width on the wafer. Trends of feature sizes are shown

 in the following Wikipedia list. As the feature width decreases, the required performance of the positioning system increases respectively.

  • 130 nm (.13 Âµm) — 2000
  • 90 nm — 2002
  • 65 nm — 2006
  • 45 nm — 2008
  • 32 nm — 2010
  • 22 nm — 2011
  • 16 nm — approx. 2013
  • 11 nm — approx. 2015
  • The most challenging specifications of positioning systems in semiconductor applications are as follows:

    1. High Precision variables in 6 Degrees of freedom, both deterministic ( accuracy ) and statistic ( repeatability ), including

    • linear motion - axial position, straightness, flatness, pitch, yaw roll
    • rotary motion - angular position, axial run out, radial run out, wobble, flatness

    2. High Dynamic accuracy in 6 degrees of freedom, including:

    • following error
    • constant velocity
    • position holding stability

    3. High throughput, including:

    • High acceleration
    • High velocity
    • Low settling time

    4. Harsh Environment including:

    • clean room
    • vacuum
    • temperature
    • radiation
    • vibrations

    5. High reliability and low maintainability due to high cost of FAB, on the order of $B's, with respective high cost for downtime, including:

    • MTBF
    • MTTR
    • Life