news review Veeco IBD system slashes defects
SEMATECH, a global semiconductor consortium that conducts research and development to advance chip manufacturing, has recently achieved a major breakthrough using Veeco’s NEXUS Low Defect Density Ion Beam Deposition (LDD IBD) System to significantly reduce defects from multi-layer deposition of mask blanks used for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL).
Frank Goodwin, Manager of SEMATECH’s Mask Blank Defect Reduction program, stated, “EUVL requires a low defect density reflective mask blank, which is considered to be one of the top two critical technology gaps for commercialisation of the technology. Veeco’s world-class IBD technology was a major catalyst in helping us to demonstrate low defect levels for the deposition of critical films, and meet the 22 nm defect requirements for EUV mask blanks.”
Vivek Vohra, Veeco’s Vice President and General Manager, Veeco Ion Beam Equipment, added, “Veeco’s NEXUS LDD IBD System has continuously demonstrated the ability to provide low defect density deposition and precise control, which are required to accelerate the development of mask blanks used for extreme ultraviolet EUV, bringing that technology a step closer to high-volume manufacturing. We congratulate the research team at SEMATECH for reaching this milestone and for achieving it on our production-proven system.”
Ion beam deposition tools are used in the fabrication of EUV masks. The nanometre- scale patterns on masks are projected onto a semiconductor wafer to define a chip. A single mask may be used to print over 6 million chips during its life, requiring strict mask defect control.
Advanced-technology EUV masks are
Samsung invest in Voltaix to advance semiconductor technology
VOLTAIX, a provider of materials that enhance the performance of
semiconductor chips and other electronic devices has secured growth financing from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (SVIC), the global investment arm of Samsung.
Both companies have remained tight- lipped about the amount invested. Voltaix manufactures electronic chemicals and gases used in semiconductor manufacturing processes at major integrated circuit fabs worldwide.
“The financing from SVIC will enable us to continue building our worldwide infrastructure and will further accelerate our new product pipeline development activities,” says Peter Smith, CEO of Voltaix.
“We believe our materials innovations will help drive new device architectures and manufacturing technologies to high volume manufacturing,” Smith adds.
Dong-Su Kim, SVIC Senior Investment Director notes, “The increasing demand for novel gases and materials in electronics fabrication has attracted our
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www.siliconsemiconductor.net Issue IV 2012
used to define chips with smaller geometries, which results in improved power and performance as required for an increasing number of mobile devices. Veeco says its IBD products enable high film quality, featuring extremely low particulate deposition and precise control of optical properties for single or multi-layer processes, two critical factors for producing advanced EUV photomasks.
Foundry selects Adept robots
ADEPT TECHNOLOGY, INC. has deployed an initial batch of mobile robots to a major semiconductor manufacturer for the automated transport of semiconductor pods.
attention. Based on our analysis of the future demand and the players in the space, we found Voltaix to be the leader and are quite excited about our equity investment.”
The firm manufactures specialty materials that enhance the performance and manufacturability of semiconductors. Voltaix produces specialty materials that enhance the performance and manufacturability of semiconductors.
The firm specialises in a number of areas. These include enhancing advanced DRAM computer memory, strained silicon for high speed logic computer chips (CPUs) and copper-enabling low-K dielectrics for logic and memory chips.
“Adept is very pleased to have begun introducing mobile technology to the semiconductor and cleantech space through this initial production deployment with such a large and respected client,” said Rush LaSelle, vp and general manager of mobile robots. The use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) has been explored by semiconductor fabs for decades, but such robots have so far not been utilised very much. This is mainly down to the inherent nature of traditional AGVs which have lacked navigational flexibility and ease of installation. Adept’s indoor navigation technology and small platforms function well within crowded environments and allow for non-disruptive installation in sensitive facilities. Adept’s newly released SPC-4200 and SPH-2200 transporters are used to carry pods from one machine tool to another (intra-bay loading) and between various process areas within the fab (inter-bay transfer). The pods are enclosed in plastic boxes that encase a set of semiconductor wafers
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