Solid State Technology articles from December 2004

Solid State Technology archives from December 2004

China: 300mm fabs: China's first 300mm fab ramps, more to follow.(Solid State Technology Online)(SMIC's capacity)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... China's entry into volume 300mm-wafer production has industry experts forecasting a quick buildup of 300mm capacity on the mainland, ushered in by SMIC, with other Chinese firms soon to follow. With initial 0.11-0.10[micro]m processes now...

Nanotech conference report: new vertical collaboration, government help called for at Nanotech Conference.(Solid State Technology Online)(Nanotechnology)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... New materials and process complexity that require further research and development need new collaborative models to keep the industry on track with Moore's Law. At the recent Albany Symposium on Global Nanotechnology, Mike Splinter, president...

Value is swimming upstream.(Semiconductor industry's supply chain management)(Editorial)
December 1, 2004... Squeezed margins, rising and shifting R&D costs, supply base consolidation, a slowing of technology innovation, and other signs have some prognosticators saying that the best days of the semiconductor industry are behind us. What is overlooked...

Chip demand slows in 3Q, but overall growth steady.(Business Trends)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... VLSI's latest monthly data shows a mixed bag for chip and equipment demand: several multiyear highs and lows, but in the end, growth that's right where it's supposed to be. September's IC orders (a three-month average) were a year-low...

Fabless heavyweight Xilinx Inc., San Jose, CA, has signed Toshiba as a foundry partner to produce its field-programmable gate array (FPGA) products.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Fabless heavyweight Xilinx Inc., San Jose, CA, has signed Toshiba as a foundry partner to produce its field-programmable gate array (FPGA) products. Volume production utilizing 90nm process technologies will begin in 1Q05 at Toshiba's 300mm...

Toppan Printing Co. Ltd. has agreed to acquire DuPont Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, TX, for approximately $650 million ([yen] 71 billion) in a bid to create the world's largest merchant photomask supplier.(Worldwide Highlights)
December 1, 2004... Toppan Printing Co. Ltd. has agreed to acquire DuPont Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, TX, for approximately $650 million ([yen] 71 billion) in a bid to create the world's largest merchant photomask supplier. DPI will become a wholly owned...

Spansion LC.(USA)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Spansion LC, the flash memory JV of AMD and Fujitsu, said that its Fab 25 flagship plant has moved to fully producing 110nm floating-gate flash memory, only two years after its conversion from a memory shop. Spansion EVP Jim Doran noted the...

KLA-Tencor Corp., San Jose, CA, and IMEC (the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center) have begun a joint development project to accelerate adoption of optical critical-dimension (OCD) metrology technology for sub-65nm semiconductor applications.(USA)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... KLA-Tencor Corp., San Jose, CA, and IMEC (the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center) have begun a joint development project to accelerate adoption of optical critical-dimension (OCD) metrology technology for sub-65nm semiconductor...

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.(China)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) formally opened its $1 billion fab in Beijing on Sept. 25, signaling mainland China's entry into volume production of 300mm wafers. The Fab 4 factory initially will ramp volume runs of...

Infineon Technologies.(China)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Infineon Technologies has officially opened its $1 billion backend operation in Suzhou. Production of memory products is scheduled to begin by the end of this month; maximum capacity of one billion chips/year is planned for early 2005. The...

Cypress Semiconductor Corp.(India)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cypress Semiconductor Corp., San Jose, CA, said it will spend $2 million to expand its design center in Hyderabad. The facility, opened in 2004 to design network search engines, will broaden its focus to include 90nm logic devices and systems...

Cookson Electronics.(India)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cookson Electronics, Providence, RI, has opened an India Research Center (IRC) at the Indian Institute of Science, the first stage of an expansion of its surface-mount technology operations in Bangalore, according to a news report. The $3-$5...

Texas Instruments.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Texas Instruments plans to invest roughly $45 million into its Japan unit from now through the end of 2005 in order to boost production by 15%, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. TI's facility in Miho, Ibari Prefecture, aims to increase...

Hitachi Ltd.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Hitachi Ltd. plans to build another power semiconductor plant in order to boost production by 180%, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The [yen] 2 billion addition to Hitachi's existing site in Ibaraki Prefecture, scheduled to begin...

Hitachi Metals.(Korea)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Hitachi Metals has established operations in South Korea to produce sputtering target materials, according to the Japan Corporate News Network. The facility, run by new company HMF Technology Korea Co., would be in addition to one already...

PowerChip Semiconductor Corp.(Singapore)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Taiwan's PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. reportedly is in talks to buy 90% of a 200mm wafer fab in Singapore owned by Hitachi for about $118 million, in an effort to boost its foundry business to 30% of revenues by next year, according to several...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Austin, TX, have agreed to jointly develop silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for the 65nm advanced CMOS process node.(Taiwan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Austin, TX, have agreed to jointly develop silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for the 65nm advanced CMOS process node. The two are expected to independently...

STMicroelectronics.(Eurofocus)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... STMicroelectronics, Geneva, Switzerland, plans to reorganize its telecom/consumer, automotive, peripherals, memory products, and microcontrollers/linear/discrete groups, and will create a new unit to centralize frontend manufacturing and R&D...

Wacker Polysilicon.(Eurofocus)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Wacker Polysilicon is spending 75 million [euro] to expand production at its Burghausen, Germany, site over the next two years. The investment, which will add 500 metric tons of polysilicon in 2006 and another 1000 metric tons in 2007 for total...

Selete says batch CVD HfSi[O.sub.x] film best choice for high-k gate dielectric.(Technology News)
December 1, 2004... Work at Selete (Japan's semiconductor technology consortium) finds high-k gate dielectric film made of HfSi[O.sub.x] reduces gate leakage just as well as HfAl[O.sub.x], and it can be made much more efficiently with a batch CVD process instead...

Fewer steps, more flexibility for lead-free wafer bumps.(Technology News)
December 1, 2004... Aiming at the evolving requirements for lead-flee semiconductor packages, IBM Corp. and Suss MicroTec AG are collaborating to commercialize a relatively simple technique for depositing solder balls and metal contacts across large-diameter...

The advanced state of MOCVD for UHB-LEDs.(Compound Semiconductors)(metal organic chemical-vapor deposition, ultrahigh-brightness light-emitting diodes)(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... Fabrication of the multicomponent structure of ultrahigh-brightness light-emitting diodes (UHB-LED) with metal organic chemical-vapor deposition (MOCVD) requires accurate control of layer thickness to better than 1%, 1% composition uniformity...

Next-generation abrasive particles for CMP.(Interconnect)(production processes)
December 1, 2004... As IC device structures become more complex and more CMP steps are added to manufacturing these devices, CMP process yield comes under greater scrutiny. Abrasive particles are critical to achieving controlled material removal without...

A new measure of value for CD metrology tools.(Metrology)(critical dimension )
December 1, 2004... [OVERVIEW] Analyzing the results of critical-dimension uniformity wafers from step-and-scan systems using different metrology tools revealed a random contribution to the overall CD variation that could not be attributed to the exposure tool or...

Mallinckrodt Baker, Inc.(Advertisement)
December 1, 2004... Mallinckrodt Baker, Inc. is a manufacturer of high-purity chemicals and related products and services sold under two well-known and respected brand name--J.T.Baker[R] and Mallinckrodt[R] Laboratory Chemicals. These products are widely used in...

Integrated dielectric trench-depth measurement for dual damascene.(Etch)
December 1, 2004... OVERVIEW Device fabrication at the sub-90nm technology node mandates that integrated metrology equipment measure complex structures and new materials directly on virtually every patterned production wafer, without sacrificing throughput....

Cabot Supermetals.
December 1, 2004... Cabot Supermetals, a business unit of Cabot Corporation, is a leader in the technology and production of tantalum and niobium for the electronics and microelectronics industries. With mining, refining, processing, and target manufacturing...

Blending precision floor vibration control with a commitment to manufacturing.(Corporate Profile)(TMC Industries Ltd.)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2004... Headquartered in Peabody, Massachusetts, TMC designs and manufactures the world's most complete line of active and passive precision vibration isolation systems. Serving research and industry with a broad range of applications including...

Tokyo Electron.(Corporate Profile)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Established in 1963, TEL was the first company to introduce American semiconductor production equipment and integrated circuit (IC) testers to Japan. More than 40 years later, the company has grown to encompass nearly 80 offices in 11 countries...

Advances in magnetic microscopy for stacked-die and package-level fault isolation.(Packaging/Assembly)
December 1, 2004... OVERVIEW Recent advances have enabled magnetic-field imaging to identify high-resistance defects in packaged ICs within a resolution of 20[micro]m on the device. This is done in a noncontact, nondestructive approach for several packaging...

Precision photolithography for mobile FPDs.(flat panel displays, Azores)
December 1, 2004... While much attention is being given to the development of photolithography systems for large flat panel display applications, new challenges and opportunities are emerging in the manufacture of substrates for smaller flat panel displays (FPDs)...

Corporate profile: Greene, Tweed & Co.: Semiconductor Group.
December 1, 2004... Real Solutions--Expect them from Green, Tweed's Collaborative Approach The Semiconductor Group of Greene, Tweed & Co. is a leading global supplier of high-performance seals, plastic components, and engineered products used in chip...

Mini-batch ALD system targets advanced films.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The Verano 5000 is a 300mm, mini-batch atomic-layer deposition (ALD) system for depositing high-k capacitor dielectric films such as [Al.sub.2], Hf[O.sub.2], and HfSi[O.sub.X] for high-volume applications with quick turnaround time. The system...

Optical CD metrology tool provides inline transistor control.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The SpectraCD 100 uses broadband spectroscopic ellipsometry with reflective optics across a continuous wavelength spectrum from 190-800nm to detect process issues that require extreme sensitivity, such as resist footers in gate structures. The...

Combo system based on ACT line.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The Clean Track ACT M photomask resist coater/ developer is targeted for 6025 substrate processing at the 90-65nm nodes. Three modules are incorporated into one system: a photomask developer, a photomask resist coater, and a photomask (PEB)...

Scanning microscope designed for submicron imaging.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The LEXT confocal laser scanning microscope has 0.12pm resolution, 3D measurement capability, and magnification power from 120-14,400x to meet requirements for submicron imaging. A 408nm laser is combined with optics to optimize image quality...

Ellipsometer provides high-throughput measurements.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The ultra-II transparent thin-film metrology system provides measurements for process control at the 90nm technology node and below, as well as for 193nm lithography processes. The MAControl option helps to eliminate effects of molecular...

Processing platform for advanced deposition.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The Endura2 is a 300mm platform for advanced PVD, CVD, and ALD processes, featuring a modular architecture for easy access and serviceability, 20% fewer parts, and process transparency for minimum requalification. This architecture reportedly...

Step-and-repeat system has lens NA = 0.92.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The NSR-S308F step-and-repeat system is a lens-based scanning ArF excimer laser stepper for mass production of devices at 65nm and below. The system is reportedly equipped with the highest NA projection lens (NA = 0.92) supporting an ArF...

E-beam scope system detects nonvisual defects.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The FS3000 EB-Scope system is an electron-beam (e-beam) inspection and metrology system that combines irradiation techniques with a mechanism for measuring pico-level substrate current flows to make nonvisual defects visible by measuring...

Scanner images down to 65nm on 200 and 300mm wafers.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The Twinscan XT:1250 is a 0.85NA, 193nm, volume-production lithography scanner that extends imaging to the 65nm node on both 200mm and 300mm wafers. The scanner features Ultra-k1 hardware and software that enables chipmakers to shrink circuit...

Inspection system finds defects as small as 30nm.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The Surfscan SP2 wafer-surface inspection system provides a low cost-of-ownership wafer-substrate and process-tool qualification solution for the 65/45nm nodes, with extendibility to 32nm. Incorporating UV laser technology, darkfield optics,...

System integrates SEM with automated FIB capability.(Top Products of 2004)
December 1, 2004... The SEMVision G2 FIB defect- analysis system integrates SEM capability with automated focused ion-beam (FIB) cross-sectioning and energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis technology for high-speed, high-resolution defect review and analysis in...

Leak detector.(Product News)
December 1, 2004... The Adixen ASM 182 TD+ dry-leak detector features a dual-filament analyzer cell that measures sensitivity of 5x[10.sup.-12]mbar l/ sec, and high helium-pumping speed (4.4 l/sec) for fast response time in spraying mode. All safety controls are...

RF power/matching system.(Product News)
December 1, 2004... The RF Duo includes a nominally 3kW radio-frequency (RF) power source capable of 5kW peak output and an automatic impedance matching (AIM) system customized to the generator and the individual OEM process requirements. The system, with a...

Triangular seal.(Product News)
December 1, 2004... The TS Seal is designed to reduce the downtime of wafer dry-process systems by reducing twisting and migrating of the seal ring out of its sealing groove. The seal is triangular with a "key-in" groove that grips onto the outer circumference of...

AFM system add-on.(Product News)
December 1, 2004... Orca is a module for performing conductive atomic-force microscope (AFM) measurements using the MFP-3D AFM system. The module measures current in the range of hundreds of femtoamps to nearly a microamp for characterizing materials such as...

BOC Edwards.
December 1, 2004... BOC Edwards provides integrated gas, chemical, vacuum and exhaust management solutions for the silicon semiconductor, compound semiconductor and flat panel display industries. Partnering with fabs, foundries and process tool manufacturers, we...

What's next for nanotech? Solid State Technology asked nanotechnology experts to put forth their vision of the challenges ahead.(Perspectives)
December 1, 2004... Thermal management: A hot topic at the nanoscale level Theodorian Borca-Tasciuc, Rensselaer Polytechntc Institute, Troy, New York Thermal management is an increasingly serious problem that could hinder the successful development and...