Solid State Technology articles from February 2005

Solid State Technology archives from February 2005

Ru-Cu interconnect technology.(ruthenium-copper)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A likely scenario for a step-wise advance of interconnect technology is proposed: first changing from PVD TaN to ALD TaN, and then migrating to a ruthenium (Ru) seed layer. Equipment suppliers are working on some of the unit processes that will...

Environmental integration into wafer fab conversions.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Increasingly, semiconductor manufacturing hurdles are being addressed with new materials and wafer processing techniques that present ever-changing environmental challenges. However, process changes and the introduction of larger 300mm wafers...

A new event for a 'new' industry.(The ConFab)(Editorial)
February 1, 2005... There's lots of discussion these days about how technological complexity and global market forces have combined to apply continuous and heavy pressure on the profit margins of semiconductor manufacturers. Many of the "old" ways of developing...

Business trends.(World News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Surplus chip inventories in the electronics supply chain soared to $1.6 billion in 3Q04, more than double the $800 million built up in the previous quarter, according to iSuppli Corp., El Segundo, CA. That's significantly higher than...

Infineon Technologies AG.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, plans to spend approximately $1 billion to build a frontend production plant in Malaysia's Kulim High-Tech Park, to build power and logic chips used in automotive and industrial power applications....

Hynix Semiconductor, Ichon, South Korea, and STMicroelectronics, Geneva, Switzerland, have announced details of their jointly owned frontend manufacturing facility to be built in Wuxi City, China, to produce DRAM and NAND flash memory technology.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Hynix Semiconductor, Ichon, South Korea, and STMicroelectronics, Geneva, Switzerland, have announced details of their jointly owned frontend manufacturing facility to be built in Wuxi City, China, to produce DRAM and NAND flash memory...

Semiconductor Industry Association.(USA)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has announced a research program to ensure US leadership in information technology well into the future. The Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) aims to link up related research from academia,...

Advanced Micro Devices.(China)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Santa Clara, CA-based chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has begun trial operations at its chip assembly plant in Suzhou, according to local news reports. Full production of 250,000 chips/week is expected to be achieved by year's end. The...

Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies.(Japan)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Japanese development consortium Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies (Selete) plans to spend about [yen] 3 billion (US$29.2 million) on development of 45nm chips by March 2006. Funds will come from four of the 11 member organizations:...

LG Philips.(South Korea)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... LG Philips, a 50-50 JV between LG Electronics and Philips Electronics, plans to spend $5.06 billion to build a seventh-generation production line for thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFTLCD), according to several media reports....

BOC Edwards.(Taiwan)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... BOC Edwards, West Sussex, UK, plans to invest in seven gas plant facilities in Taiwan to shore up bulk gas supply to nine new semiconductor and flat- panel display manufacturing labs under construction. The investments, part of a $75 million...

The Soitec Group, Paris, France, and Netherlands-based ASM International NV have produced samples of 300mm strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) wafers following customer evaluations of 200mm sSOI wafers a year ago.(Eurofocus)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The Soitec Group, Paris, France, and Netherlands-based ASM International NV have produced samples of 300mm strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) wafers, following customer evaluations of 200mm sSOI wafers a year ago. Initial wafers are thin-film...

Asian technologists' 45nm outlook: Toshiba looks to cooling technology to reduce power usage.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Toshiba plans to start volume production of high performance 65nm devices his month or next, followed by the low-power version next year. We'll then start 45nm (hp65) production in early 2007. We expect to use ArF immersion for 45nm. We may...

TSMC remains conservative on introducing new materials.(Technology News)(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... TSMC isn't making any big changes in materials at 65nm, though we will change the silicide from CoSi to NiSi, introduce locally strained silicon, and start testing ArF immersion lithography. At 45nm, we are hooking at changing to high-k and...

Fujitsu focuses on metal gates, NEC to start with polysilicon.(Technology News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Fujitsu plans to introduce low-power devices with both high-k and metal gates in 2006, about a year ahead of the roadmap. "Polysilicon can be used with high-k dielectrics only for a generation or two, so it's not worth investing development...

RTP beyond the 45nm node: thermal budget reduction drives.(Front End Of Line)(Rapid thermal processing )
February 1, 2005... Limits on thermal exposure are being driven by advanced node requirements and depend on the device's physical state at any given point, as well as the kinetics of the undesired phenomena that may arise from heat treatment (e.g., atomic...

III-nitride epitaxial growth with real-time access to wafer temp, ternary composition.(Compound Semiconductor)
February 1, 2005... In all epitaxial growth processes of III-Vs and related materials (MOCVD, MBE, CVD), an accurate control of the true wafer temperature is essential, primarily because the composition of key materials (e.g., InGaN, AlGaN, InGaAsP) depends on it...

Ask the expert.
February 1, 2005... Q My LPCVD silicon nitride process has hit its limit at 680[degrees]C. Haw can I reduce my thermal budget without sacrificing film quality? A Maintaining film performance and quality while managing a thermal budget is a challenge faced by...

Lithography series, Part 1: low-[k.sub.1] imaging for contacts and lines using immersion ArF.(Photolithography)(Cover Story)
February 1, 2005... OVERVIEW Immersion lithography has the potential to extend current 193nm argon-fluoride technology to the 45nm process node by effectively reducing the wavelength of exposure light for improved depth-of-focus and enabling lens designs with...

Crucial applications addressed via fundamental ALD advances.(Deposition)(Atomic layer deposition)
February 1, 2005... OVERVIEW The need for ultrathin high-k dielectric DRAM capacitors used in memory applications below 100nm, and for ultrathin high-k gate-dielectric materials in transistors at the 65nm node and below, presents challenges for improving ALD...

Avoiding fire and explosion risks with proper [H.sub.2] exhaust management.(gas handling)
February 1, 2005... OVERVIEW Hydrogen is used extensively in wafer fabrication processes for epitaxial deposition in silicon and compound semiconductors. The flammability of [H.sub.2] is a primary safety issue in piping and exhaust gas management of...

Selectivity/etch rate trade-offs in deep and high A/R oxide etching.(MEMS)
February 1, 2005... OVERVIEW Selective etching of silicon oxides relative to silicon or photoresist is achieved when the concentrations of C[F.sup.+] and C[F.sub.2.sup.+] ions in the plasma are optimized relative to C[F.sub.3.sup.+]. Under these conditions,...

China launches 300mm manufacturing.(China)(Industry Overview)
February 1, 2005... It was not long ago that China's leading-edge integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing capability lagged behind the rest of the world by two or more generations. However, due in part to new wafer fab investments and the Chinese government's...

The launch of Korea's 'new': $1 billion chip company.(MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd.)
February 1, 2005... October marked the official launch of MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd., South Korea's $1 billion semiconductor spinoff company and a milestone for the Korean chip industry. MagnaChip is the first major Korean integrated device manufacturer (IDM) to...

System provides CD/film analysis for masks, reticles.(Product News)
February 1, 2005... The Atlas-M metrology system features multiple technologies to provide full characterization of masks and reticles for linewidth, etch depth, overhang, height, and profile measurements in one tool. The Class-1 mini-environment allows...

Vacuum-coating system covers many process options.(Product News)
February 1, 2005... The TF600 combines a 600mm-wide coating chamber with a high-throughput vacuum pumping system for research, development, and production of substrates. Pumping system options include diffusion, turbomolecular, and cryogenic high-vacuum pumps, and...

Wireless sensor enables close CD control for mask sets.(Product News)
February 1, 2005... The MaskTemp SensorPlate employs unintrusive techniques to monitor critical process zones for photomask makers. The processing/collection module, sensors, and power plant are integrated into a standard 6x6 mask blank. Sixty-four sensors measure...

Microprobe has 10x spatial resolution of x-ray systems.(Product News)
February 1, 2005... The JAMP-9500F field-emission scanning Auger microprobe achieves a minimum probe diameter of 3nm for SEI and 8nm for Auger imaging. Its analytical resolution is reportedly 10x the spatial resolution of highly sensitive x-ray systems, making it...

'Design for manufacturing' spreads.(perspectives)
February 1, 2005... 'Yield-aware' designs target production issues Mark Miller, VP, marketing and business development for DFM, Cadence Design Systems Inc., San Jose, CA As designs transition to smaller processes, manufacturing effects must be considered...