Online information source for semiconductor professionals

Product Briefing Outline: Applied Materials has introduced its new ‘Applied Centura Tetra’ EUV Advanced Reticle Etch system. The new systems is claimed to overcome a major hurdle to the adoption of EUV lithography by solving the critical and unmet challenge of etching EUVL photomasks with nanometer-level accuracy and world-class defect performance to enable the fabrication of multiple new generations of high-performance semiconductor chips at the 16nm node and below. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Brion Technologies, a division of ASML, has launched a new product for its Tachyon computational lithography platform. Tachyon MB-SRAF (Model-Based Sub-Resolution Assist Features) is said to enable the high-speed, full-chip processing of advanced chip designs with larger process windows, greater productivity, and lower development costs than rule-based alternatives. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: EV Group has introduced the semiconductor industry's first bonding system for 450-mm-diameter wafers manufactured from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. The EVG850SOI/450mm was created to support and facilitate the industry transition to 450mm wafers from the current 300mm standard. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: KLA-Tencor has introduced a new generation to the ‘Surfscan’ family of wafer defect and surface quality inspection systems. The Surfscan SP3 is claimed to be the  first unpatterned wafer inspection platform to incorporate deep-ultraviolet (DUV) illumination, enabling a dramatic improvement in sensitivity and throughput over KLA-Tencor’s previous offering, the Surfscan SP2XP. The Surfscan SP3 platform is also designed for extension to 450mm wafers. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Novellus Systems has launched the ‘VECTOR CFD’ family of films for the company’s VECTOR Express, VECTOR Extreme and VECTOR Excel plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) systems.  The Conformal Film Deposition (CFD) suite of dielectric films consists of oxide, doped oxide and nitride films are deposited at temperatures ranging from 50 degrees to 450 degrees Celsius.  These films provide solutions for emerging sub-2X nm logic and memory applications, including front-end-of-line (FEOL) liners and spacers used in tri-gate transistors and FinFETs, bitline spacers, and through silicon via (TSV) dielectric liners, amongst other applications. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: ASML has introduced three new extensions for TWINSCAN NXT platform that improve imaging, overlay and productivity. The extensions enable chipmakers to manufacture smaller, faster chips more cost-effectively. The first NXT:1950i system shipped in 2009 and today more than 80 systems are in use by chipmakers around the world manufacturing current state-of-the-art devices at resolutions of 45- to 32-nm. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Canon has entered the semiconductor back-end manufacturing tool market with the launch of the FPA-5510iV for next-generation semiconductor packaging, which is specially designed for ‘Through Silicon Via’ (TSV) and ‘bump’ processes. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Rudolph Technologies has released ‘Genesis Enterprise’ version 7.0. Genesis is an offline yield analysis and data mining software with parametric yield management tools designed to maximize factory efficiency and identify causes of yield loss. Since Rudolph’s acquisition of the Yield Dynamics software business from MKS Instruments a year ago, Rudolph have made significant performance improvements to the product. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Applied Materials has launched a trio of new systems designed to boost performance in the next generations of DRAM chips. These systems are claimed to overcome key challenges in fabricating the transistor and contact areas of memory chips, include: the ‘Applied Centura DPN HD’ system to improve the gate insulator scaling; the ‘Applied Endura HAR Cobalt PVD’ system for high aspect ratio contact structures; and the ‘Applied Endura Versa XLR W PVD’ system for reduced gate stack resistance. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Applied Materials has introduced the Applied ‘Vantage Vulcan’ rapid thermal processing (RTP) system. The system is claimed to supersede current RTP technology to bring a new level of precision and control to the anneal process, enabling chipmakers to reduce variability and boost production yields of their most highly-valued, highest-performing devices. Read more >>