40 Years of Semiconductor Metrology: Connecting the Past to the Future

Abstract

Metrology has been a cornerstone of semiconductor manufacturing for over four decades, evolving from simple, manual measurement tools in the 1980s to today’s complex landscape covering a large variety of sensors and data-driven ecosystems. This presentation reviews key milestones across three eras—early development, transition, and recent advancements—highlighting the drivers and challenges that shaped progress: increasing complexity with new and innovative integration schemes as well as scaling and tighter tolerances under cost and throughput constraints. Looking ahead, emerging technologies such as High-NA EUV and 3D architecture demand a paradigm shift toward hardware extension and data driven metrology. This paper outlines how these shifts will redefine the metrology roadmap and unlock the next generation of semiconductor innovation.