Air Liquide
HyALD & ZyALD: ALOHA’s New High Temperature ALD precursor for High-k

The most common Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) precursors for Zr and Hf are tetrakis-dialkylamido compounds, with various substituents to optimize the physical state –liquids being preferred over solids-, and the vapour pressure. These precursors have been found to yield self-limited ALD growth behaviour up to ~ 200-250°C, beyond which point parasitic CVD is obtained. This effect has also been found to be more acute on Zirconium compounds than on their Hafnium counterparts. The Zirconium compounds also tend to have shorter shelf lives at elevated temperature, up to a point where usage in a heated bubbler, along with the general facilitization of the product, is problematic.

It has also been shown that depositing at higher temperature would have multiple benefits, such as yielding as-dep films having higher k-value due to the predominant tetragonal phase of the oxide, and such as faster and more efficient chamber purge-out that avoids material build-up and particle excursions, especially when targeting thick layers.

In order to alleviate the thermal stability issue of these compounds, Air Liquide ALOHA R&D has developed a new family of products for the ALD of Hafnium and Zirconium based high-k films, dubbed HyALD and ZyALD. These molecules have been specially engineered to exhibit the desired thermal stability to improve shelf life and allow a much wider self limited ALD window.

A fundamental benefit of this family of compounds is that the typical growth per cycle is extremely close to that obtained with the usual ethylmethyamino analogs. In addition, ZyALD and HyALD also have similar vapour pressure to these analogs.

Hence, ZyALD and HyALD allow a much higher throughput capabilities than the otherwise proposed chemical alternatives based on metallocene compounds (i.e. in which the metal is sandwiched between two Cp groups). Last but not least, their relatively easy synthesis route and availability of raw material will not impose a significant added cost compared to the existing solutions in high volume. This new development exemplifies ALOHA™ capabilities to design, manufacture and evaluate new CVD and ALD chemistries for a large variety of applications and deposition methods, such as LP-CVD, SA-CVD, ALD, PE-ALD, PE-CVD, etc. With 3 application labs in the US, Japan and Europe, we bring same time-zone support and un-matched precursor screening capabilities to our customers and OEM partners.

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Carl Zeiss SMT - Nano Technology Systems Division
ULTRA 55

Electron microscopes are indispensable tools for todays nano technology development and production. Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) deliver high resolution surface information and are widely used in many applications fields like Materials Analysis, Life Sciences and Semiconductor Technology. The addition of analytical detectors like EDX (Energy dispersive X-Ray), WDX (Wavelength Dispersive x-Ray), EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction) or CL (Cathode Luminescence) the Gemini FE-SEM technology enables full nano structural analysis.

The ULTRA55 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope has a unique high efficiency, high resolution In-column EsB detector which enables ultra high resolution BSE imaging for compositional contrast. The ULTRA FESEM integrates the latest developments in the GEMINI technology utilising a newly developed Energy selective Backscattered detector (EsB). The ULTRA features the GEMINI In-lens SE detector for clear topographic imaging and the EsB detector for compositional contrast imaging enabling simultaneous real time imaging and mixing of both signals. The EsB detector incorporates a filtering grid which enables high resolution BSE imaging revealing previously unseen image details. A pole piece cap mounted AsB (Angular selective Backscatter) detector completes the detection system of the ULTRA55. This detector delivers at ultra short working distance orientation contrast of the sample, generated by low angle backscattered electrons.

The combination of the high efficiency In-lens SE detector for clear high contrast imaging of surface details together with the outstanding EsB detector for compositional contrast, makes the ULTRA one of the most versatile ultra high resolution FESEMs currently available. Applications as diverse as uncoated wafers, semiconductor cross-sections,ceramics, plastics, nano-particles, and immuno-gold labelling all benefit from the combination of the EsB and the In-lens SE detector.

Simultaneous ultra high resolution imaging and video processing of nano-scale surface details are now combined with compositional information which enables imaging of particle distributions, clear boundary imaging and precise feature measurement. The higher energy backscattered electrons which are detected by the EsB detector are less sensitive to charging on nonconducting samples.

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Epichem Group
Novel Hafnium and Zirconium Precursors for Atomic Layer deposition

As the size of memory devices continues to be reduced the conventional materials, used to deposit the new dielectric layers required are becoming unsuitable. Al2O3, grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), is already being used commercially to replace SiO2, but to meet future demands materials with even higher dielectric constant are required.

Hafnium and Zirconium oxide based materials have been investigated for some time and several precursors for ALD are now available to high purity in large volume, however, they possess a number of problems for optimal use in the ever more demanding deposition processes needed to meet industry requirements. Epichem have therefore designed a series of novel hafnium (Fig.1 and Fig. 2) and zirconium (Fig. 3) cyclopentadienyl molecules specifically for high temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) which have deposited uniform conformal layers on deep trench (~60:1) wafers at temperatures up to 450°C with non-detectable carbon and hydrogen.

The significant advantages of the new Hafnium and Zirconium Precursors are:-

• Excellent precursor physical properties
• Both Bis(methylcyclopentadienyl)methoxymethylhafnium and Bis(methylcyclopentadienyl)methoxymethylzirconium sources are liquids at RT.
• Excellent TGA, thermally stable, no decomposition during vaporisation or growth (no particle issues).
• Good vapour pressure.
• Excellent ALD characteristics
• High quality layers.
• True self-limiting growth at ~350°C for Zr and ~450°C for Hf.
• Conformal step coverage on 60:1 DT wafers.
• Successful growth testing on 200 and 300mm ALD systems.

HfO2 and ZrO2 ALD is at the forefront of new memory and logic device manufacture and these hafnium and zirconium cyclopentadienyl molecules exhibit a significant advantage over the hafnium and zirconium amides due to the uniform conformal layers on deep trench (~60:1) wafers at temperatures up to 450°C with non-detectable carbon and hydrogen.

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Greene, Tweed's Chemraz perfluoroelastomer compound helps customers cut downtime and loss of productivity. Chemraz critical seals minimise micro contamination and offer excellent chemical resistance, maximising seal-life expectancy in wet and dry wafer fabrication processes such as etch, CVD and diffusion. A wide variety of unique seal designs and seal components enable customers to increase throughput and eliminate application challenges when compared to previous component solutions.

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Soitec’s strained SOI (sSOI) wafers for sub-65-nm processing—launched in July, 2006 marking the industry’s first commercial line of these future-ready substrates. It promised that combining the high mobility advantages of strained silicon with the proven speed and power dissipation benefits of SOI, Soitec’s new sSOI wafers were designed to bring added performance and power advantages to future-generation chips.

Speaking at the time the president and CEO said “This newest line of SOI substrates targets advanced applications in the network processing, computing, gaming and high-end wireless industries, where speed and ultra-low power are critical issues,” said André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, president and CEO of Soitec. “In addition to enabling chipmakers to further amplify the performance and power advantages of their chips, our new sSOI wafers will serve as an extendible platform for the future.”

According to Suresh Venkatesan, director of Austin Silicon Technology Solutions at Freescale Semiconductor—a leading innovator in sSOI technology—the need to control both active and standby power consumption, while continuing to improve transistor performance, is driving the industry to develop creative, non-traditional scaling techniques. “Strained SOI technology is an excellent example of the types of innovation Freescale is incorporating into their transistor roadmap. While this technology is currently under evaluation for the 45-nm node—initially targeting networking and gaming applications—it could eventually help Freescale’s customers create dramatically smaller and more powerful entertainment electronics and intelligent portable devices,” Venkatesan said.

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Usage of ultra high purity (UHP) liquefied specialty gases has never been so high in the microelectronics industry. This increasing consumption is also largely due to the fast growth of the TFT-LCD and photovoltaic industries, which have become major users of gases such as UHP NH3. Distribution of very large flows of liquefied gases is challenging in that sufficient heat must be provided to the liquid phase of the material to compensate the heat of vaporization, and this in a very quick fashion to accommodate the very large flow variations. Failing to accommodate the instantaneous energy demand yields pressure decay and heavy boiling of the liquid with droplets entrainment (which is detrimental to contamination and corrosion) when the heat flux in insufficient, or to pressure overshoots and instability when the flow goes down.

On cylinders, the usage of very efficient resistive heaters at the bottom of the cylinders, coupled with a pressure-based feedback control loop has now been widely implemented WW in the AVP™ gas cabinets of Air Liquide. However, usual heaters are incapable of accommodating the wide heat flux swings required for bulk delivery systems, mostly because of the poor thermal coupling to the container and the heat diffusion time.

As a result, Air Liquide Electronics System has recently developed and patented a new solution called Bulk-AVP, based on induction heating. Bulk-AVP consists of an induction generator coupled to a flexible inductor that can fit most reservoir geometries from cylinders to ton tanks or ISO containers. Bulk-AVP enables end users to make the most out of their liquefied specialty sources, be they packaged in cylinders, ton tanks or even ISO containers.

Bulk-AVP provides end users with the following distinctive advantages:

• Usable flow rate increased by a factor of up to 5 compared to traditional heating technologies.
• Up to 750 slm of NH3 from a size-440 ton tank.
• Bulk distribution of low-vapour pressure gases becomes possible (WF6, HF, 3MS, …)
• Reduced equipment and installation costs: a system equipped with Bulk-AVP can replace multiple gas cabinets.
• Reduced operating costs thanks to unsurpassed energy efficiency.
• Higher flow rates from existing gas cabinets that can be retrofitted to benefit from Bulk-AVP performances.
• Increased safety thanks to Air Liquide’s patented AVP control technology (pressure-based heating control).

Bulk-AVP has been selected by Semiconductor and PV customers for high-flow dispense of critical liquefied gases.

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DuPont Advanced Packaging Lithography, backed by over 30 years of experience with dry film photoresists, manufactures Microlithographic Polymer Film (MPF), designed for advanced semiconductor packaging applications including flip chip, backside wafer coating and other wafer level packaging and MEMS applications. MPF offers the most advanced negative photoresist formulations for excellent productivity, reduced environmental foot print, simple processing and high yields. MPF allows solvent free, aqueous-based developer and remover processing, without jeopardizing cleanliness and resolution.

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This immersion lithography innovation combines advanced technology and process expertise from both Entegris and the former Mykrolis as a result of their merger in August 2005.

Immersion is the newest lithography technique for printing 45 nanometer (nm) or smaller features on semiconductor wafers, using ultra pure water between the optical lens and the wafer. The UPW lens is utilised to significantly improve image resolution. The water must be extremely pure as the smallest impurity can damage image resolution, react with the photoresist, or contaminate the lens. To achieve this requirement, the LiquidLens system provides the highest water purity level at the temperature and pressure required. Entegris has delivered several LiquidLens systems for evaluation and process development use to several major customers. According to Entegris, these leading companies are turning to the LiquidLens system to ensure that precisely controlled UPW is provided to advanced lithography processes as the companies move to production.

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Honeywell burn-in material is Honeywell’s latest generation of reusable thermal interface material (TIM), providing outstanding, repeatable thermal performance over many thousands of cycles.

Traditionally, greases and phase change thermal interface materials were relied upon by semiconductor manufacturers for thermal module test applications. Although their thermal performance has proved excellent, their use is limited to a single assembly cycle.

As opposed to these traditional, single-use solutions, Honeywell’s innovative new material provides outstanding, repeatable thermal performance over many thousands of temperature cycles.

Honeywell burn-in material employs a tailored metallic alloy coated on one side with a highly thermally conductive adhesive that allows for both adhesion and reduced contact resistance. The adhesive layer also allows for very easy application and requires no ancillary equipment. The device contact side is bare metal, delivering thermal interface performance while leaving the device residue free.

These new burn-in materials reduce cost of ownership as compared to traditional grease or phase change material. That is because it can be re-used so it eliminates a cleaning step and reduces material usage. Beyond its cost-of-ownership advantages, it also out-performs other commercially available multi use thermal interface materials. This new material is also extremely flexible and can be custom fit to the customer’s application requirements in terms of both size and thickness. Besides these advantages and customization, Honeywell burn-in material meets “ROHS” standards and is recyclable. Although this new material may be used for any TIM application, it is best suited for applications that require a multiple use, residue free TIM and has become the product of choice for many well-known, leading semiconductor manufacturers.

Honeywell burn-in materials are a new family of innovative product offerings providing superior thermal interface performance for applications that require multiple assembly cycles (i.e. burn-in). Honeywell burn-in materials’ unique thermo-mechanical properties can provide over 1000 cycles of consistent thermal performance while leaving the test surface clean and residue free. This new material is now providing key benefits to the industry.

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Linde Electronics
On-site Fluorine Generation Systems

The Semiconductor, Flat Panel Display and Photovoltaic industries have been rapidly increasing their global consumption of PFC (per-fluoro compound) gases as a source of Fluorine radicals for post-deposition cleaning of CVD process chambers over the past 10 years. This has clear environmental implications. One technique, dry cleaning of chambers via thermally activated high pressure compressed gases, also presents inherent safety hazards and high costs for 300mm wafer fabs.

Linde’s solution to environmentally sustainable chamber cleaning, elemental Fluorine (F2 ), has zero global warming potential and is fundamentally lower cost to manufacture than gases derived from Fluorine.

Low-pressure on-site Fluorine generation and gas delivery provide an environmentally responsible and cost-effective alternative for the safe and reliable supply of F2 to both thermally activated and plasma-enhanced CVD process chamber cleaning. Unsurprisingly, this compelling approach has recently gained increasingly wide acceptance across electronics manufacturing.

Linde’s Solution
To meet the exacting needs of electronics manufacturing, Linde Electronics developed the Generation-F range of integrated Fluorine chamber cleaning solutions that incorporate gas generation, storage, delivery, abatement and complementary maintenance and service.

Generation-F systems are built up from core generation modules sized to suit the varying demands of Semiconductor, TFT-LCD and, more recently, the latest generation of thin film Solar fabs.

Use of on-site generated Fluorine gas provides significant benefits to end users in improving safety, reducing direct material costs, reducing material lifecycle energy consumption and eliminating PFCs.

Industry Uptake
The significance of this innovation on the global semiconductor industry is demonstrated by uptake in use for thermal cleaning, which has increased significantly over the last 12-18 months with 4 new Generation-F systems supplied to 300mm fabs in China, Korea, France and Singapore.

The merits of Linde’s elemental Fluorine in PECVD chamber cleaning for TFT-LCD are now well established as leading manufacturers like Toshiba-Matsushita have embraced it for its environmental benefits but discovered that it comes as a package with serious economic benefits too. In the last year, Linde has expanded, commissioned and now operates a complete fab supply scheme of >100 tonnes per year capacity in the LCD industry in Korea.

It has taken 10 years of product development and refinement of Linde’s proprietary Fluorine generator design to create this overnight success. Throughout this history of development and deployment in industries outside of electronics, as well as more recently in semiconductor and TFT-LCD, the Linde system has uniquely proven itself to operate with full reliability and a perfect safety record.

Linde’s High purity Generation-F systems are also alone in being qualified on numerous CVD tool platforms by OEM’s and end users, including AMAT, TEL, HKE, AKT, ULVAC and Jusung. Positive Impact on Fab Productivity In addition to the environmental, cost and safety benefits – it is increasingly clear that process throughput benefits can be obtained by displacing NF3 from high volume requirements on PECVD tools. Large plasma sources consume high power and require very low pressure to maintain a plasma with NF3. Some processes are constrained by cleaning time. The low dissociation energy of Fluorine allows higher gas flow for any given plasma source, which corresponds to a wider process window for cleaning and faster clean times. This benefit will become increasingly more valuable to end users as very large process chambers proliferate in the solar industry, where cleaning gases can be a relatively high proportion of total product cost. Use of Fluorine enables reduced clean times, increased substrate throughput and hence offers meaningful contribution to lowering the production cost of solar cells – all the while seamless driving environmentally sustainable manufacturing that is aligned with the fundamental ethos of the renewable energies industry.

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HÜTTINGER Elektronik GmbH + Co. KG
SCASAR MF generator

The manufacture of state-of-the-art flat panel displays and solar cells requires the deposition of extremely homogeneous and defect-free films. Until now, pulsed DC power supplies were the energy source of choice. With the introduction of our SCASAR, HÜTTINGER establishes a new level of performance. Featuring the industry’s most advanced arc management system, SCASAR meets tomorrow’s requirements today. SCASAR. It’s a modular solution, providing output powers of 25, 50, 75 and 100 kilowatts (kW) at a frequency between 20 and 70 kilohertz (kHz). This wide range means the SCASAR can be used for a great variety of plasma processes, especially those with dual magnetrons. The SCASAR series incorporates HÜTTINGER’s leading arc management solutions ARCtelligent and ARCgenious Arcs are detected and acted upon near-instantaneously. This and a very low stored energy allow to create ultra-thin, homogeneous films. Easy to setup and run, ARCtelligent and ARCgenious assure achieving high yields and high productivity. SCASAR is a complete new approach to achieving better yields in the area of dual magnetron sputtering.

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The Surfscan SP2XP is the unpatterned wafer inspection system best designed for monitoring defectivity on all types of bare wafer substrates, including prime silicon wafers, epitaxial, SOI (silicon-on-insulator) and engineered substrates. The short-wavelength UV technology delivers ultimate sensitivity down to 30nm defect sizes¬ – addressing the critical sensitivity gap in the IC gate module at the 65- and 45-nm nodes. The darkfield inspection system works by rapidly scanning a laser spot in a spiral pattern across the surface of the wafer. Scattered light is collected in large solid-angle collectors, which integrate the signal to detect even small defects. Because the shape, size and material of the defect and the wafer substrate affect the way the defect scatters light, normal and oblique incidence angles, narrow and wide collection channels, and selectable polarizations provide flexibility to capture all defect types.

A brightfield channel is also incorporated to provide the differential interference contrast (DIC) capability, which enables capture of large and flat defect types, and aids in defect separation. The Surfscan SP2XP system can perform oblique-, normal-incidence and DIC inspections in one step. By comparing data from multiple channels, rules-based binning (RBB) algorithms can separate crystalline defects such as faceted pits (air pockets or air bubbles), from reworkable defects such as micro-scratches, chatter marks, and particles. A new high resolution SURFimage (microhaze) reveals shallow haze scratches and emerging defect types, and delivers surface quality data that can correlate to process tool issues. These new, unique capabilities allows wafer manufacturers to reduce scrap, as polishing defects and fall-ons can often be re-worked. The system is delivered with fast throughput edge handling for wafer manufacture need. At the 45nm node, building a high performance device with optimum power consumption requires a substrate with the highest quality surface topography and electronic structure. Defects intrinsic to the substrate crystal, such as faceted pits in prime wafers, voids in SOI wafers, and stacking faults in epi wafers, are particularly damaging to the transistors built on top of them.

Aided with the new technology, UV laser, DIC, multiple-channel RBB, microhaze SURFimage and fast throughput, a new SP2XP unpatterned wafer inspection system has been introduced that has the new ability to distinguish crystallographic defects from relatively benign particles, flakes and other fall-ons. As wafers become more complex, with epitaxial layers and strained layers of various materials, their increased cost makes the identification of intrinsic defects of tremendous economic advantage to both wafer manufacturers and IC makers. Wafer manufacturers benefit from fewer scrapped wafers and improved substrate quality, while device manufacturers are ensured of wafers that support higher performance 45nm devices at higher yields. After product release in February '07, the Surfscan SP2XP system has been quickly recognized by wafer suppliers to adopt into production. Several systems have been installed into production.

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CDC101 - CD Control Tool for Mask and Lithography Applications

Pixer’s CDC101 is the industry's first on-the-fly, integrated solution for high-resolution Critical Dimensions Control (CDC), enabling both Mask Makers and IC Manufacturers to control local CDs (Critical Dimensions), and significantly improve global and local CD Uniformity across masks and wafers during lithographic operations.

Value Proposition

Mask Makers

• Improves yield on high-end masks
• Faster turn-around on high-end masks
• Ability to achieve advanced CD Uniformity & MTT specifications
• Leverages existing installed mask manufacturing equipment
• Eliminates costly purchasing of advanced writing and etching tools

IC Manufacturers

• Increases exposure latitude during lithography processes
• Improves lithography productivity: stepper throughput, extended life of existing installed costly equipment, etc.
• Improves yield on a specific critical mask
• Achieves specific CD width in a critical chip location
• Potentially better chip binning, i.e. higher speed, lower leakage, etc.

How CDC101 Works Shrinking geometries present a continuous challenge for IC Manufacturers seeking pinpoint control of their most Critical Dimensions, and subsequent distribution across the mask and the wafer. CDC101 features a selection of on-the-fly CDC (Critical Dimension Control) solutions geared specifically for mask and lithography applications. Pixer's CDC101 system accurately modifies the mask attenuation, without removing the pellicle, thus allowing for tool installations at either the Mask Manufacturers premises, or at the fab line itself. CDC101's fully automated mask correction processes enable seamless operations via a friendly and easy-to-use GUI. Additionally, a built-in transmission measurement unit allows for pre and post transmission verification, so tool performance is always verified and maintained, avoiding deviations.

Applications
On-the-fly CD Uniformity Improvement:
In this CDC101 application a global improvement of the mask or wafer CD Uniformity takes place. The user loads a list of CD measurements used to characterize the mask or the wafer current CD Uniformity. The system then automatically calculates the density map that defines the attenuation level to be written into the mask glass. The system uses a smart density interpolation algorithm to calculate the pixel density required for the rest of the mask area. The pixels are then written into the glass, and then the selected locations are verified using the built-in transmission measurement unit.

Local CD Control:
In this CDC101 application the user identifies a local area or multiple areas that require a very accurate CD width. Once these areas are identified, multiple CD measurements are taken and the target CD is defined. The target CD can be different per area. The system then operates in a very similar methodology as described above, in the "On-the-fly CD Uniformity Improvement" application.

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Rudolph Technologies, Inc.
E25/B20 Macro Defect Inspection System

The E25/B20 provides fully automated and fast defect inspection of the wafer edge and wafer backside without the need to ‘flip’ the wafer. In addition to inspection, it provides on-the-fly colour image capture of the defects and selected metrology to characterize the wafer. It is designed for inspection of 200mm and 300mm wafers for the immersion and dry litho, CMP, etch, clean, RTP and final QA steps. With its fast throughputs and advanced capabilities, the E25/B20 currently enjoys the largest installation based for automated in-fab inspection of the wafer edge and backside. Traditional laser-based edge inspection technology detects only the defect scattering signal and thus requires further optical review for proper defect identification. The results are unreliable when there are non-uniform films and varying surface profiles. The E25/B20 uses advanced algorithm and optics to inspect the wafer edge with its multiple-curved surfaces, changing bevel profile, and process variation. It uses similar optics and illumination to inspect the wafer backside so an edge defect that appears on the wafer edge will look the same if it reoccurs on the wafer backside. The E25/B20 can perform a full wafer edge inspection at a throughput of more than 80 WPH (300mm)and a full wafer backside inspection at a throughput of up to 75 WPH (300mm).

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Brion Technologies, Inc. is a pioneer in Lithography-Driven Design and Manufacturing. Founded in 2002, the privately held company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Brion’s Tachyon platform, is a highly accurate and ultra-fast OPC and OPC verification engine, enables a unique set of capabilities that address the interrelated challenges of design, photomask making and wafer printing in semiconductor lithography.

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Talus DFM is a foundry-qualified manufacturability and yield enhancement solution for designs targeted at the 65-nm process. It provides interfaces for accessing foundry-specific DFM data to provide improved accuracy bringing DFM to the designer’s desktop. With Talus DFM, Magma users can improve manufacturability and yield while concurrently optimizing timing, area, power and noise. The flow addresses both random and systematic yield loss and provides tighter correlation to silicon by managing process variation. Built-in DFM compliance checks correlate to foundry internal tools, simplifying handoff.

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Synopsys’ Odyssey product line consists of multiple components to satisfy the requirements of today’s modern semiconductor fabs. Odyssey Defect is a production-proven defect data management solution that is in use at over thirty manufacturing sites worldwide. With over ten years of developmental history, Odyssey Defect provides real-time lot dispositioning, SPC alarming and a complete set of defect analysis tools to help fab engineers resolve both random and systematic yield issues. A true 24x7 system, Odyssey Defect delivers results efficiently and reliably, leveraging error-correcting processes to assure users of maximum up time. Odyssey Defect has an open and vendor-neutral architecture that supports all inspection, review and classification tools with a full range of interactive charting, wafer mapping and reporting capabilities.

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TREK, INC.'s new Infinitron is an ultra-high impedance voltmeter instrument which enables contacting voltage measurements to be made with virtually no transfer of electric charge to/from the measured object, unlike other products in the market that transfer charge upon contact. The Infinitron (Trek Model 800) meets a market need to effectively measure site-specific voltage on devices sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD), during their handling and processing, in order to identify and rectify problems in the process that could result in potentially devastating ESD events (including immediate or latent device failure).

The Infinitron enables highly relevant (cost-effective) process improvements to be made in pursuit of minimizing device destruction and latent damage, thereby enhancing product integrity and improving production yields.

Some industry experts estimate the cost attributable to ESD damage in the electronics industry exceeds billions of dollars annually. That said, the Infinitron is expected to enhance yield management and deliver significant cost savings in this industry, as well as enable technological advancements in the field.

“The interest in Trek's Infinitron, from experts in the industry, has exceeded our expectations,” said Bruce Williams, chief designer of the Infinitron. “Using the Infinitron, our ability to accurately measure voltage at a surface, by contact, without affecting the charge of the surface, and without causing an ESD event, has generated true excitement in the electrostatic community,” added Williams.

This new electrostatic voltmeter offers a significant advancement in the state-of-the-art for ESD management in semiconductor and other electrostatic-sensitive environments and applications. It is indeed a “breakthrough” technology. Trek’s unique (proprietary) design in the Infinitron allows for true and accurate voltage readings, unlike other contacting voltmeters in the market that not only measure inaccurately but can actually cause ESD events during measurement, due to their charge-transferring measurement technology.

The Infinitron allows a more accurate and site-specific view of ESD issues and their cause/effect to be obtained, resulting in yield management & improvements. The ability to accurately measure a very small area, using the Infinitron, results in very high spatial resolution measurement capability. This is a significant advantage over other measurement instruments that are limited by their inherent technology.

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Vistec Semiconductor Systems GmbH
LWM9000 SEM

Vistec's LWM9000 SEM is a SEM-based CD measurement system for the 65 nm technology node which almost completely avoids the effect of electron charging and substrate contamination. Proprietary charge suppression technology leads to an excellent imaging quality with no charge-induced image drift. Low out gassing chamber and stage materials together with in-situ ozone cleaning are the guarantors for ultra-low substrate contamination. This results in unsurpassed dynamic CD measurement repeatability in the sub-nanometer regime.

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The Celsior is Aviza’s advanced generation single wafer atomic layer deposition (ALD) system specifically designed to meet the stringent manufacturing requirements at 90-nm node, with the flexibility and extendibility to meet the technology challenges of R&D and volume production starting at 65-nm node and beyond. The Celsior is the Process of Record ALD system used in the 90nm trench capacitor DRAM production. The tool’s innovative chamber design was computer modelled to provide the highest degree of process control with increased wafer throughput and minimum defect formation resulting in low CoO and high product yields. The system is capable of integrating up to five process modules around a production proven central hub (same reliable platform as our single-wafer Sigma fxP PVD, Omega fxP etch and Planar 300 CVD systems), which ensures high productivity in a small footprint.

Celsior is designed as 200mm/300mm bridge tool, offering the flexibility to process 200mm and/or 300mm wafers on the same platform. Equipment manufacturers need to meet the productivity requirements set out by chipmakers before ALD can be adopted in cost-effective, high-volume manufacturing. The inherent challenge with ALD is its slow deposition rate, which is ~1A per cycle. To overcome this challenge, Aviza utilized CFD (computational flow dynamic) modelling to optimize the interaction between hardware and gas flow dynamics. The modelling enabled us to gauge system efficiency and determine cycle time reduction, which directly correlates to improved throughput and productivity.

Key features that differentiate Celsior from other systems include:

• A combination of our reactor design and smart valving system enables efficient chemical usage and high productivity
• High conductance chemical vapour delivery module
• Proprietary, state-of-the-art showerhead for uniform distribution of chemistry across the wafer

Celsior offers an innovative chamber design specifically for ALD processing to ensure optimum uniformity and step coverage. The combination of Celsior’s chamber design and showerhead has demonstrated that it can achieve:

• Uniformity requirements across a 200-mm or 300-mm wafer by leveraging a fast chemical delivery system that ensures efficient chemical surface saturation with minimum chemical usage
• Cycle time and throughput advantages as a result of less area in which to purge gases
• Less particle generation resulting in high yields

Cost of Ownership Benefits:

• Low chemical consumption
  • Because of Celsior’s efficient low volume chamber design, less chemicals are needed, which reduces overall process costs
• Throughput advantages
  • Small reactor volume allows for short chemical pulse and fast chemical purge times
• Low cost of consumables
  • Designed for with minimal consumable components
  • Mean Wafer Between Cleans (MWBC) extended to reduce system downtime
  • Minimizes overhead/cost of inventory and spares

In the production environment, Celsior has proven that it can deliver:

• Highly reliable and serviceable platform with uptime and throughput advantages
• Excellent film uniformity wafer to wafer
• A high degree of process repeatability

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Keithley’s latest software and hardware advances for its Model 4200-SCS Semiconductor Characterization System incorporates tightly integrated DC and pulse measurement capabilities with complete application packages for turn-key solutions. An enhanced pulse generator card and scope card offer powerful capabilities to researchers working on cutting-edge semiconductor research and production. Built on Keithley's award-winning Model 4200-PIV package, several new application solutions extend the Model 4200-SCS's versatile DC and pulse hardware and software into new areas such as Flash memory testing, high-power RF device testing, and pulse testing for advanced semiconductor materials.

A patent-pending Segment ARB mode on the Model 4205-PG2 pulse generator card lets users easily generate complex waveforms using simple line segments. The Segment ARB capability allows building of complex waveforms beyond those available through basic pulsing. This capability is essential for testing of Flash memory, which requires complex wave patterns for characterization and lifetime testing of memory cells. The Model 4200-PIV-Q package is designed for performing pulse I-V testing and signal analysis on RF devices and high-power FETs made with technologies such as III-V materials and LDMOS. Easy-to-use and flexible, the Model 4200-PIV-Q features pulse capabilities up to ±38V, 800mA, and 30W, parameters designed for higher-power applications. A key feature of the Model 4200-PIV-Q includes quiescent point, or Q-point, testing (being able to pulse from a non-zero idle state) with pulse widths from 500nsec to DC.

Another new applications solution, the Model 4200-FLASH package, is a powerful out-of-the-box Flash memory testing solution. It performs the three most important types of testing relating to Flash memory: characterization, endurance testing, and disturb testing. The applications package automatically handles switching between DC and pulse testing with no external switch necessary. The built-in high-endurance output relay speeds up lifetime testing by eliminating the need for an external solid-state relay that most other Flash testers require, making it more efficient and easier to use. In addition, specialized code and projects included with the Model 4200-FLASH package simplify setup and start up of Flash memory testing.

Also available is the Model 4200-PIV-A package, a significant enhancement to Keithley's successful, award-winning Model 4200-PIV package, built for leading-edge CMOS device characterization. Enhancements include much better low current resolution of down to 100nA and an easier-to-use interface with combined pulse and DC tests and intuitive graphical interfaces.

Keithley’s Model 4200-SCS system with hardware and software enhancements is helping test engineers solve the testing challenges facing them today. For instance, the patent-pending Segment ARB function lets users generate complex waveforms beyond those possible with ordinary waveform generators using only simple line segments. These complex waveforms are essential for testing Flash memory for both characterization purposes as well as lifetime testing of memory cells.

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Synova SA
Water-jet guided laser

The company founder has invented a new technology for machining wafers. The water jet-guided laser is a revolutionary system combining a laser beam and a water jet. The basic principle of the process implies that a laser beam is focused into a nozzle while passing through a pressurized water chamber. The hair-thin water jet emitted from the nozzle guides the laser beam by means of total internal reflection that takes place at the water-air interface, in a manner similar to conventional glass fibers (see illustration attached). The process does not generate any heat damage, thanks to the water jet cooling the cut edges between the laser pulses. The working distance can be up to several centimeters long, resulting in constant kerf width, and there is no need for focus-distance control. The water jet also expels the molten material; contamination is avoided as a water film is generated on the material surface where the particles, already cooled by the water jet, remain in suspension. Additionally, the force applied by the micro jet is negligible because of its small diameter and medium pressure. The water jet-guided laser technology is currently used for wafer dicing, drilling, slotting and wafer edge grinding, which consist in removing the outer edge of a thin wafer to increase its strength.

It can process a wide range of semiconductor materials, including Si, GaAs, SiC and low-k materials. With this new technology, several problems of conventional dry lasers are solved: heat damages, micro-cracks, low fracture strength, chipping, depth-limitation, power-limitation, non-parallel kerf profile, contamination, and depositions. This new approach enables accuracy, speed, and flexibility improvements in numerous manufacturing processes, and paves the way for a considerable amount of new applications in the domain of sensitive material processing. Synova has been the first company introducing the laser into the wafer dicing process. Since March 1998, various industries in Europe, Far East, and North America have started to use this technology for production. The market potential for the water jet guided laser technology is estimated at more than 2 bn $, according to a global market research company. Synova is currently employing +60 people, mainly engineers. The company has been profitable since 1998 and reinvests all of its profits in the continuous improvement of the technological process and its applications’ development. With the machines and technology having reached maturity, the company is ready for a large-scale commercialization.

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SEZ Group
Da Vinci Series—Single-Wafer Wet Processing Technology

The Da Vinci Series is a revolutionary single-wafer wet processing technology platform designed for high-volume manufacturing applications. Developed to address new cleaning requirements for back-end-of-line (BEOL) polymer cleaning and backside etch and clean, as well as for processing emerging applications such as high-k dielectric and metal gate etch on 200- and 300-mm wafers, Da Vinci tools provide a combination of workable design, high-throughput and accurate wafer cleaning needed to maximize device yields.

Originally developed to address 90-nm technology nodes, the high-volume production Da Vinci is scalable to 45 nm and smaller. As the viability of wet-bench tools continues to diminish due to their inability to clean delicate submicron devices without causing damage, the Da Vinci sets the precedence for single-wafer wet processing technology that’s now paving the way for the entire cleaning market.

The Da Vinci tools address emerging cleaning challenges posed by both shrinking geometries and new materials, leveraging SEZ’s proven spin processor technology in multiple chambers to deliver improvements in flexibility, productivity and cost of ownership (CoO) compared to prior-generation single-wafer tools. By combining high throughput and a smaller system footprint to reduce tool CoO, the Da Vinci family offers a cost-effective alternative to wet-bench tools. Constantly evolving to address customers’ needs, the Da Vinci now offers double-sided processing—simultaneous removal of wafer front-side polymers and backside defects.

Additional benefits include:

• Helps manufacturers cope with the requirements of high-volume manufacturing, especially addressing new cleaning requirements forBEOL polymer cleaning
• Gives manufacturers better control of the wafer surface, while minimizing media consumption and defect density
• Supports the efficiency of different cleans, enabling effective cleaning for tiny geometries—critical for processing high-aspect-ratio wafers at the sub-90-nm technology node
• Speeds wafer handling and transport to cut wafer-processing cycle time and boost throughput
• Compared to former SEZ systems, Da Vinci increases throughput by 100-120%

SEZ’s Da Vinci system has also helped its users to provide a safer workplace and to become more environmentally responsible. It allows chemicals to be recycled—significantly reducing media consumption and overall waste due to the patented wafer chuck and improved chamber design (based on a chemical flow analysis).

It also saves valuable fab floor space, while still maintaining the level of access needed without jeopardizing serviceability further contributing to the tool’s low CoO. Historically, SEZ helped pioneer the single-wafer wet clean market, introducing its first single-wafer tool in 1990 and its first 300-mm single-wafer wet clean system in 1997. The company has more than 1,200 systems installed worldwide, resulting in approximately 60% market share in single-wafer wet processing - in the leading-edge segment (90-nm node and below for 300-mm processes). Propelled by the current industry trends toward increased cost reduction, better yields and higher productivity, market adoption of the Da Vinci platform has grown sharply since its launch in June 2003. SEZ already has more than 170 Da Vinci tools installed worldwide.

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The TWINSCAN XT:1700Fi Step-and-Scan system is a high-productivity, dual-stage immersion lithography tool designed for volume 300-mm wafer production at 50-nm resolution and below. One of the main features is a 1.2-NA in-line catadioptric lens. This compact mechanically stable lens design has the same image orientation as refractive designs, allowing for full reticle compatibility between current refractive designs and the XT:1700Fi. The illuminator features polarization at maximum throughput, and extremely homogeneous pupil fill, perfectly adapted to ultra low-k1 pupil shapes. Standard as well as customized illumination modes can be enhanced by optimizing the polarisation mode, to maximise the contrast and reducing the mask error factor per application. Overlay and focus requirements are in line with the resolution node.

A next step in stage technology features faster acceleration and minimization of immersion related overhead, leading to a throughput of 122 wph. Adding to the benefit of polarisation, the XT:1700Fi comes equipped with an extended ultra-k1 package, consisting of QUASAR XL, LithoGuide, ILIAS, DoseMapper, Reticle Shape Correction, CDFEC and Focus Spot Monitor.

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Traditionally cost-sensitive, power device manufacturers need to improve margin through product differentiation, driving down key parametrics such as RDSon. As a consequence, the industry is seeing new technology requirements in terms of thick metal interconnect schemes into finer structures over barrier layers.

Aviza's high throughput thick aluminium process delivers deposition rates greater than 1.8 µm/min. This performance, combined with a six hour chamber PM turnaround time using automated service routines means unrivalled productivity - a key benefit for the cost sensitive manufacturers.

The main benefit of Aviza’s Sigma fxP Power Thick Metal process however, is the film quality. Users that employ toolsets originally designed to deposit thinner films in mainstream silicon applications often suffer from extrusions in thick metal films. Extrusions lead to passivation break-through on the finished device and ultimately yield loss. Aviza’s chamber design and process conditions ensure that thick aluminium films are extrusion-free. This ensures that the Sigma fxP delivers not only the highest productivity, but also the highest yielding devices.

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Magic Denuded Zone(MDZ) is a patented, rapid method of achieving reproducible and reliable internal gettering in silicon wafers. It is a Rapid Thermal Process (RTP) based technique in which the oxygen precipitation behaviour is controlled by the manipulation of vacancy rather than oxygen concentration profiles. MEMC has engineered the RTP process to create a vacancy concentration depth profile that effectively preprograms the precipitate-free zone depth and precipitate density of the wafer to ideal targets. MDZ produces a silicon wafer with ideal oxygen precipitation behaviour, and reproducible and reliable IG which is nearly independent of the initial oxygen concentration, the thermal history effects from crystal growth, and the IC fab process application.

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The NSR-S609B is a lithography system with a hyper-NA lens. With a 1.07 projection lens numerical aperture, this ArF immersion scanner was designed for mass production of 55 nm and development of 45 nm devices. The S609B began shipping early in 2006.

Superior imaging
The S609B uses all-refractive projection optics enabling Nikon to take advantage of a long history of refractive optics expertise. The S609B lens design delivers imaging below 55 nm with a dramatically expanded depth of focus, and POLANO polarization control enables 50 nm half-pitch capabilities without any loss of illumination power or throughput.

No immersion-specific defects
Innovative Nikon Local Fill Technology combines proprietary nozzle design, high water flow rate, and surface tension for water containment, enabling performance free of tool-induced immersion-specific defects. Nikon Local Fill Technology is compatible with a wide variety of ArF resists and topcoats, enabling defect levels on par with today’s most advanced dry ArF systems at the maximum throughput.

Designed for high volume manufacturing
The S609B Tandem Stage was designed for high volume manufacturing, providing optimized performance and efficiency for immersion lithography. The exposure stage processes wafers at very high rates, while the calibration stage is used for calibrations during wafer exchange. The Tandem Stage enables throughput = 130 wafers per hour, and delivers wet-dry overlay matching equivalent to dry system performance.

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The GAMMA Express, is a photoresist dry strip systems for 300 mm wafer processing. This is a single product platform for both front-end-of-line (FEOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL) applications.

New materials and processes required for advanced node IC devices put increasing pressure on dry strip technology to offer no-plasma induced damage. Importantly, post-strip residue needs to be minimal to prevent the use of complex wet clean steps. With HDIS it is important to limit resist flaking or have implant or sputtered oxide residue. Temperature control is also crucial to prevent resist popping at elevated temperatures.

The system includes low silicon loss implant strip and non-oxidizing strip chemistries for compatibility with advanced Silicide and ultra low-k films, in addition to support for conventional bulk strip, HDIS, and C4 packaging applications. This application diversity is enabled by five active RF stations and a tailored Universal Gas Distribution system. Single digit particle performance with all minimum contact area (MCA) components, including load locks with MCA cassette, ceramic MCA blades, spindle with MCA fingers, and process, over-ash and preheat pedestals, help customers repeatedly achieve lower defectivity, according to the company.

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Agilent Technologies
B1500A

The Agilent B1500A supports both IV and CV measurements. Its familiar, MS Windows user interface supports Agilent's new EasyEXPERT software, which provides a new, more intuitive task-oriented approach to device characterization. Because of its extremely low-current, low-voltage, and integrated capacitance measurement capabilities, the Agilent B1500A can be used for a wide range of semiconductor device characterization needs. Agilent also introduced the new capabilities on B1500A, Qusi-Static CV, Timing On-the-fly NBTI that is one of the hottest reliability application, and Pulse Generator module for the latest semiconductor memory testing. The Agilent B1500A is well recognized by many customers as the real industrial standard for the semiconductor characterization. It resolves customer's many concerns on the wafer characterization. In addition, B1500A is being developed continuously to meet customer's future challenges.

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In July, 2006, ESI introduced the Model 9850 dual-beam infrared (IR) laser link-processing system for DRAM and NAND Flash memory applications. The 9850 features an innovative IR architecture that utilizes two beams from a single laser to deliver the industry’s first parallel processing capability.

Using proprietary technology, the IR laser emissions from a single source are split into two beams. The laser pulses are delivered to the memory-fuse links through a common objective lens. Each laser pulse vaporizes one link. The links can be arranged in many different configurations on a semiconductor wafer, from simple linear "banks" of links to parallel and staggered fuse bank configurations. The 9850 delivers two beams that enable simultaneous processing of two parallel or staggered fuse banks, which results in a significant improvement in throughput. The system software automatically optimizes link processing for maximum throughput on any configuration of links.

This new processing approach enables potential throughput improvements of up to 90 percent when compared to conventional laser repair systems, and improves cost of ownership by further optimizing productivity.

ESI’s Model 9850 leverages the company’s state-of-the-art IR laser technology to deliver the industry’s first parallel processing capability in the world’s first multiple-beam delivery laser repair system. The system’s innovative architecture processes tight-pitch metal fuses on the latest generation of DRAM and NAND Flash devices. Capable of whole-wafer processing with half the number of link runs, the 9850 is designed for high-throughput, automated 300mm production environments. While enabling potential throughput improvements of up to 90 percent, the software automatically optimizes dual-beam processing for maximum throughput and cost-of-ownership advantages for high-volume manufacturing of leading-edge memory devices. As a result, memory device manufacturers can produce more products faster at a lower cost, all of which speeds their time to market.

The 9850, the world’s first multiple-beam delivery laser repair system, provides simultaneous dual-beam processing of two fuse banks for leading-edge memory device manufacturing. It enables whole-wafer processing with half the number of link runs, and has a linear configuration that provides two times the normal velocity for automated 300mm production environments. This new processing approach enables potential throughput improvements of up to 90 percent when compared to conventional laser repair systems, and improves cost of ownership by further optimizing productivity.

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Sophisticated performance in Ultra-High-Resolution and Analysis

The SU-70 - Features

• Schottky Field Emission Source
• UHR Ultra-High-Resolution 1.0 nm / 15 kV (1.6 nm / 1 kV)
• Super EXB Filter - Sophisticated SE/BSE-signal-detection
• FieldFreeMode (FF mode) - observing magnetic samples and distortion-free EBSD-analysis
• Probe Current far beyond 100 nA
• Versatile analytic-chamber for multiple, simultaneous analysis
• High Beam Stability

Four years after the successful introducing of the Hitachi´s S-4800 CFE (ColdFieldEmission) and the analytical S-4300 SE (SchottkyEmission) into the market, we are proud to present our NEW versatile solution for analytical purposes in combination with High-resolution-capabilities.

The new SU-70 delivers breath-taking probe currents up to 100nA and an impressing Low kV-resolution for upcoming conceptual formulations.

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Microcontrol Electronic srl
Leonardo 200/photopolymer film laminator

Leonardo 200 series, used to laminate photopolymer film in bumping and wafer level packaging processes. Used in MEMS application to create multilevel structures on silicon or any other substrates including glass and containing heavy topography or pre-etched features Semi-automatic version is also available, Lamination process fully and automatically controlled. Best cost of ownership.

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Wentworth manufactures and sells leading edge probe cards for the testing of advanced semiconductors. Their Accumax probe cards incorporate new Saber probes which are manufactured using a proprietary and patented new technology to achieve superior operating performance in production environments.

The company has innovated significantly in the manufacturing process of the buckling beam style of Saber probes to get substantially higher current handling, much more pin density and finer planarization of the probe tips. They have also innovated a new housing assembly that enables real practical field reparability. The combination is a product that meets the ITRS roadmap for bumped logic probe through at least 2011 and is shipping now with pin counts already over 10,000 and at pitches of down to 140micron pitch. Field measured performance has documented Accumax probe cards lasting up to 2 million touchdowns in production. These metrics represent a clear factor of 2x or 3x performance improvement in all dimensions over the competition, enabling a significant cost of test advantage for customers.

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phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services GmbH
microme|x – Versatile and Flexible High-Resolution 2D and 3D X-ray System

The new microme|x is a high-resolution semiautomatic X-ray inspection system that is most suitable for failure analysis in the semiconductor and electronics industry. This new system comes standard with an ultra high-performance 180 kV X-ray tube for sub-micron feature recognition <1µ and a high-resolution 2Mpixel digital image chain with 16-Bit image processing and high-contrast 24” flat display. The microme|x is particularly suited for the inspection of high-contrast features and, due to its unique 180 kV X-ray tube, high-absorbing objects.

It provides a total magnification of up to 23320x and oblique angle views of up to 70 degrees at any position and 360-degrees rotation around any point of the entire inspection area covering 460 mm x 360 mm or 610 mm x 560 mm (without rotation table) for samples up to 680 mm x 635 mm weighing up to 10 kg.

Delivering more tools than comparably priced systems, the microme|x comes standard with phoenix|x-ray’s versatile inspection software, quality|assurance. This powerful software tool automates the inspection of the PCB assemblies, making pass/fail decisions for BGA, CSP, MLF and QFP without operator interpretations, reducing the numbers of false identifications while speeding throughput and improving production efficiency. In addition, an exceptionally powerful algorithm toolbox Xe² (X-ray image Evaluation Environment) offers the user even more solutions for application testing. Xe² is a graphical development software for various measurement scenarios in a 2D X-ray image and is modular integrated in quality|assurance. In the Xe² development the user can define new measurement tasks (e.g. determination of the mean grey scale), new statistical tasks (e.g. determination of the mean value of measurement results) and/or he can define visualisations of the measurement results (e.g. diagram). This special software is only available at phoenix|x-ray and there is no comparable software in the market.

In response to the growing demand for affordable high-end X-ray computed tomography (CT) in the semiconductor and electronics industries, phoenix|x-ray has introduced its new microme|x with CT-option. The high-resolution X-ray system combines proven high-resolution 2D X-ray inspection and 3D computed tomography technology in one system.

Outstanding image quality and great versatility make the microme|x the new inspection solution of choice for the manual and automated X-ray inspection (AXI) of a wide range of components in the semiconductor and electronics industries.

Unlike traditional tubes of 160 kV or less of other common inspection systems, the development of the 180 kV high-power tube with its new ultra high-performance generator technology of phoenix|x-ray makes inspecting highly radiation-absorbent samples such as electronic assemblies, with or without heat sinks, easy as never before.

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The Value of C-SAM Acoustic Micro Imaging (AMI)

Accurate and Non-destructive
Through the use of ultra-high frequency ultrasound, AMI non-destructively finds and characterizes physical defects—such as cracks, voids, delaminations and porosity— that occur during manufacturing, environmental testing or even under normal component operation. Because of the unique aspects of the technology, AMI can locate these defects better than any other inspection method.

Sonoscan first pioneered the use of AMI for non-destructive testing and analysis, and continues to lead the industry today. The C-SAM class of acoustic microscopes, under continuous improvement since 1984, embodies Sonoscan’s advanced expertise and proprietary technology.

AMI and X-ray are complementary techniques that are frequently found in the same laboratories, but they reveal different features. Where X-ray relies on differential attenuation of the X-ray energy, AMI relies on material change. The practical result is that AMI is orders of magnitude more sensitive for detecting air space type defects such as voids, delaminations and cracks.

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High Speed Probe Mark Inspection
TELPADS-O is a unique high speed probe mark inspection engine developed by TEL to provide flexible and configurable offline PMI functionality. Integrated with TEL's P-12XLm fully automatic wafer prober, TELPADS-O creates an automated PMI solution that allows customers to maximize test cell uptime.

TELPADS-O provides throughput improvements of 50-100x compared to current probe mark inspection (PMI) capabilities and eliminates the need for manual inspection with a microscope, thereby reducing the need for operator interaction.

Applications

• Known Good Die (KGD) and Known Good Wafer (KGW) inspection
• Outgoing probe mark QA
• Maintaining bond pad keep out area
• Customer return defect analysis

Features

• Real time recognition with new high speed PMI engine
• Easy to use GUI based interface
• No pad to pad training required
• Quantitative graphical and text based data gathering
• Flexible data capture, logging and analysis capability
• Up to 99% recognition ratio

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Xsil International
X300D+

As semiconductor production is continuing its transition from 200 mm to 300 mm, and as wafers are getting thinner and more expensive, yield is more important than never before. For the packaging process, DAF is a necessary addition to substrates for thin die integrity, while die fracture strength is seen as a critical component of product yield. In response to these semiconductor trends and to meet the demanding requirements of thin wafer dicing, Xsil has developed the X300D+, which is a laser dicer solely dedicated to thin wafer dicing (≤ 100 um). The field-proven UV laser ensures chipping-free dies and high machining speed (up to 140 mms for 75um silicon wafers). In addition to its laser capabilities, the system integrates coating and washing stations to guarantee clean wafers, as well as an etching process (MaxFlex) for increasing die strength after dicing. MaxFlex increases die strength from about 200 MPa for standard laser-only dicers to more than 1 100 MPa, whereas DBG reaches about 650 MPa (mean values). The system is compatible with DAF. The X300D+ is the first laser dicing system improved for thin silicon wafer dicing. With the unique MaxFlex process, very high die strengths can be reached with a single machine. With its integrated coating, washing and etching stations, the X300D+ offers a complete solution for fast, high-quality, damage-free dicing.

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Carl Zeiss SMT - Nano Technology Systems Division
NVision 40

The NVision 40 CrossBeam workstation units the imaging and analytical capabilities of the high resolution field emission GEMINI SEM with the high performance SIINT zeta FIB column. Together with the new SIINT GIS supporting liquid, solid state and gaseous precursors as well as gas mixing technology and carbon free SiO2 deposition the NVision 40 represents a powerful tool for 3D nanoscale high resolution imaging, structuring and analytics.

The NVision 40 features a dome type chamber design and a pendulumn vibration insulation system for enhanced stability. Numerous access ports for various detectors (EDS, EBSD, STEM, 4QBSO) as well as sample manipulation and probing systems ensure full support for all your analytical and micromanipulation needs. These versatile features and flexible upgrade possibilities make the NVision 40 a highly valuable platform for your today's and future nanotechnology needs. The NVision 40 CrossBeam workstation combines the highest resolution Ion column with the highest performance SEM currently available in the market. This combination results in the CrossBeam system with the highest performance in the global market.

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Optical sub system consisting of a 532nm high power multi-mode solid state laser and a novel optical beam transformation system consisting off several microlens wafers that generate a line beam shape with single-mode beam quality in x-direction and a ultra homogeneous flat top profile in y-direction. This line shape can be used for scanning thermal processing and crystallization of Silicon thin films or semiconductor wafers and can be installed in production systems for thin film solar cells, semiconductor devices and all types of active matrix displays.

The beam transformation technology from LIMO makes it possible to use low cost high power laser sources with low beam quality in high performance scanning annealing systems. The LIMO technology improves the beam quality of the laser for more reliable processing results, larger position tolerances of the processing target, maintenance free beam delivery and long term beam shape stability. In comparison to the older excimer laser based technologies the solid state laser based sub system from LIMO combines better processing results based on a larger absorption depth at 532nm and a significant reduction in cost of owner ship and cost of operation based on a DPSS laser and a maintenance free optical beam transformation system.

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Oxford Instruments
FlexAL Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Tool

Within the current trends of downscaling in the semiconductor industry and the boost in nanoscience and nanotechnology, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is the method of choice for depositing high quality films with ultimate growth control and with excellent step coverage on very demanding high-aspect ratio features.

The Oxford Instruments’ FlexAL is an ALD system aimed at the R&D and small scale production markets and combines thermal and plasma activated ALD techniques within one tool giving maximum process flexibility.

This combination of plasma and thermal ALD enables researchers to explore the widest possible range of materials. The use of plasma allows for processing at lower temperatures with better quality of films and gives users the opportunity to apply ALD to ever more devices. The FlexAL tool is ideally suited to both researchers and corporate R&D by its versatile capabilities, such as multiple precursors, and the ability to handle wafer pieces up to full 200mm wafers through a load lock, whilst the reliability and configurability of the tool bridges the gap from research to production with options such as cassette to cassette for small scale and pilot production. FlexAL is innovative, being the first commercially available remote plasma reactor, and with the additional benefit of thermal ALD in the same system. FlexAL is also one of the first ALD tools that bridges the wide gap from research and development to production. As ALD continues to be applied to many more industries than just mainstream silicon ICs, the flexible nature of the tool lowers the barrier of applying ALD technology for many companies by giving them the means to explore multiple ALD material systems with commercially viable throughput. Institutes and universities, with their continuingly increasing collaboration with industry, can be sure their research is applicable to the commercial world, with the ability to deposit on larger wafer sizes and industry can be sure of process scalability.

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phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services GmbH
Compact 3D Computed Tomography System with Submicrometer Resolution

The nanotom is the first 180 kV nanoCT system worldwide which is tailored completely to highest-resolution applications in the electronics, micromechanics and many other industries.

This very compact system allows to analyze samples of diameters up to 120 mm (4.7 inches) and weight up to 1 kg (2.2 pounds) with the exceptional voxel-resolution of <500 nm (0,5 microns). The CT system consists of a granite based CT-construction and a special digital detector with 5 Megapixel.

Therefore, it is particularly suitable for nanoCT-examination of sensors, complex mechatronic samples, microelectronic components as well as for material samples of every type.

The nanotom is a 3D X-ray computed tomography system which is mainly used for non-destructive testing, failure analysis and production control. The complete construction of manipulation, detector and X-ray tube was created for the special needs of the high-resolution computed tomography and makes a simple and precise positioning of the samples possible. For image acquisition and reconstruction, the new CT-software datos|x of phoenix|x-ray offers an easy operation and requires only minimal training. First CT results demonstrate the possibility to analyse the 3D microstructure of electronic samples with minimal sample preparation and submicrometer resolution: Any internal detail showing a contrast in material, density or porosity can be visualised and distances can be measured. Highly accurate three-dimensional measurements facilitate reverse engineering processes. It is also possible to image different material phases in solder joints or to analyse voids in single BGA-balls with highest resolutions.

Components of a sample may be visualised individually by suppressing the contrast of all but the material of interest. These results demonstrate that this technique widely expands the spectrum of detectable microstructures in the process and quality control in the electronics industry. NanoCT is ideal for compact but complex electronic devices with concealing parts such as capacitors, stacked dies and micromechanic parts. Hence, the nanotom opens a new dimension of 3D-microanalysis and will partially substitute destructive methods like traditional slicing – saving costs and time per sample inspected.

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Software-Based 32-Axis Motion, Vision, PLC, Robotics, and I/O Platform

• Complete motion capabilities include: point-to-point; linear, circular, helical, and spherical interpolation; velocity profiling; electronic gearing; on-the-fly trajectory modification; high speed I/O; camming
• 1 to 32 axes of scalable, synchronized motion
• Utilizes the power of the PC to eliminate the motion control card
• Uses commercially available IEEE-1394’s (FireWireTM) determinism for communications between drives and controller
• Programmable in native RS-274 G-code, AeroBASICTM command set, C, C++, .NET, VisualBASIC, or LabVIEW for flexibility
• 20 kHz servo update rate for 1 to 32 axes provides consistent performance regardless of axis count
• Digital current loops for improved control and stability
• Integrated high-speed Position Synchronized Output (PSO) for laser firing or position latching
• Optional PLC with industry standard IEC-61131 programming interface
• Integrated I/O
• Optional vision analysis tool provides a single programming environment for motion, vision, and I/O
• Kinematics task for robot control
• Fiberoptic interface expandable up to 1000 meters

High Performance, 32-Axis Motion, Vision, PLC, Robotics, and I/O Platform
Aerotech’s , motion, vision, PLC, robotics, and I/O platform, the Automation 3200, is used in many applications in semiconductor, data storage, medical laser processing, automotive, and machine tool industries. The system features a high-performance, software-only controller (Nmotion® SMC) that offers 32 axes of synchronized motion control. It is the successor to Aerotech’s widely utilised UNIDEX 500 and 600 PC-based motion controllers. The Nmotion SMC retains the best features of these previous controllers and combines them with an advanced, high-performance distributed control architecture to produce a truly state-of-the-art motion, vision, PLC, robotics, and I/O platform.

The Digital Automation Platform: Automation 3200
The Automation 3200 digital automation platform represents a revolutionary advancement over traditional PC-bus-based motion controllers. The A3200 is software-based (no PC slots required) and marries a robust, high performance motion engine with vision, PLC, robotics, and I/O in one unified programming environment. The A3200 utilizes the industry standard super high performance FireWire (IEEE-1394) network to provide from 1 to 32 axes of synchronized control with no degradation in performance as the axis count increases.

The integration of multiple common automation tools into a single platform provides users with the ability to integrate, develop, and maintain the system faster, with lower cost than ever before. For instance, coupling the vision module with the motion system that coordinates a cutting process (laser, drill, mill, etc.) provides the ability to identify the workpiece and its position, and to adjust the position and signal to the cutter all within one system. This integration dramatically reduces wiring and the necessary components, which not only lowers integration and setup cost but also increases reliability.

Industry-Leading 32 Axes of Synchronized Control
The Automation 3200 is capable of 32 axes of synchronized motion through one interface. Aerotech has designed the current platform to be expandable to 62 axes of synchronized control. Applications developed on the Automation 3200 platform will be portable to future releases so users can look forward to future advancements without having to worry about abandoning legacy programs.

No Degradation of Performance as Axis Count Increases
The Automation 3200 addresses a major shortcoming of today’s multi-axis controllers: as axes are added, performance markedly degrades as either the servo update time or program execution time increases. The Automation 3200 utilizes a distributed control architecture that enables it to maintain performance independent of the number of axes being controlled. It accomplishes this by avoiding the processing bottleneck caused by today’s common single processor control architecture. Position, velocity, and current loop closure are handled by Aerotech’s Intelligent Network Drive (Ndrive). Trajectory generation is done on the PC using a real-time operating system that runs with higher priority than Windows The PC executes programs and sends the position commands to the Ndrive via the IEEE-1394 (FireWire) high-speed serial bus.

Greatly Simplified System Wiring
All of the external signals including encoder and I/O are fed directly into the drive, allowing one cable to be used between the PC and the drive. Drives are networked together with a single cable.

The Advantages of FireWireTM (IEEE-1394)
In designing the Automation 3200, Aerotech decided that its next generation controller had to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional ±10 V network interface. While still viable for many applications, ±10 V has shortcomings, particularly when complex motion control is involved such as is common in many Aerotech applications. For example, noise coupling onto the analog signals can cause instability in the servo loop that prevents high system bandwidth. Also, with the ±10 V command, the controller doesn't have knowledge of how well the current loops are tracking. With these and other shortcomings, it was decided that the next generation controller had to utilize a high-speed serial interface.

Digital networks, such as Ethernet and RS-232, are widely used in many different industries. Other newer networks such as FireWire (IEEE-1394) and USB are becoming increasingly popular. For example, nearly all new computers now have these interfaces as standard. With a variety of digital networks available, Aerotech developed a list of criteria that the Automation 3200 network interface had to possess.

The following list details the key criteria we used to ultimately select FireWire (IEEE-1394), and why those criteria were considered important.

• Deterministic
  Complex motion such as contouring requires that all axes receive their data at exactly the same interval of time each time.
• Capable of greater than 100 Mbps
  A faster network reduces the latency between transmitting and receiving data. Also, this allows the user to view real-time data on the PC.
• Standard on PCs
  As the Automation 3200 does not require a motion card, having the network standard on PCs eliminates the cost of additional hardware.
• Supported by Windows operating systems
  Windows support ensures that the software will work on the PC with the network.
• Have continued R&D effort by the chip manufacturers
  A strong R&D effort by manufacturers allows the performance to increase and cost of the chips to decrease.
• Tree topology
  Unlike a ring topology, a tree topology does not require a link back to the originating PC, which reduces the cabling effort.
• Peer-to-peer transmissions
  Peer-to-peer transmissions allow the transfer of data between two drives without going through the root node. This allows quick transmission of encoder or I/O or any other type of information between drives.

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Applied NeXus is a fab-level platform which links hardware, process and service data from many different processing systems in an entire fab. It can correlate data across time, across systems and across fabrication facilities, enabling customers to quickly find and correct process or hardware excursions. Applied NeXus works with Applied Materials and non-Applied Materials semiconductor equipment.

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Edwards
Zenith Integrated Vacuum and Exhaust Management Solutions

The Zenith range of integrated vacuum and exhaust management solutions offer an advanced portfolio of systems providing fully-integrated vacuum and exhaust management solutions for all semiconductor process applications. Zenith systems are customized for the customer's specific application requirements. An exhausted cabinet protects against process gas leaks and reduced overall footprint, whilst common facilities hook-up points reduces the cost and time for equipment install. The Zenith system includes an innovative control interface that offers utilities savings by tailoring functionality to the needs of the process. Zenith may include dual abatement systems to facilitate virtually 100 percent uptime. The Zenith range of integrated vacuum and exhaust management solutions is truly an example of customer-driven product development. Zenith offers enhanced safety and reduced operating cost in a compact package. And it has been a great success -- over 300 systems have been sold, mainly for 300mm processes.

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Controlled Semiconductor, Inc.
Laser-based Failure Analysis System

Controlled Semiconductor, Inc. patented and introduced the idea of laser based failure analysis tools about 5 years ago, but with the re-introduction of the FATcat the tool has become a requirement in failure analysis labs. This requirement is due to stacked dies, copper wires and other new device features that make traditional chemical processes obsolete. The FATcat tool also combines 3 processes in one tool, decapsulation, cross-sectioning and material characterization while utilizing SAM / X-RAY data for navigation directly to a defect.

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Applied Micro engineering Ltd. (AML)
'RAD' in-chamber Direct Wafer Bonding Activation System

AML has integrated a low temperature activation process (RAD) into its bond chambers which makes use of radicals rather than a plasma to activate the bond surfaces. The use of Radicals, to activate a surface to enable low temperature bonding, offers many advantages over the use of plasmas. E.g. plasma roughens the surface and can actually making bonding more difficult, and because of this the plasma process has a very small process window. Radicals are less damaging to any existing structures that may be present on the wafers, and also offer a more stable, reliable, better bond and bond strength than plasma activation. Because the process is carried out in one chamber, it also offers advantages in terms of yield, system footprint and cost. The company says that for the first time on any wafer bonder system, it is now possible to not only align and bond but also surface activate (all in the same wafer bonding chamber) to enable low temperature direct bonding. Only one system is now required for all these process steps. The integration of the activation process into the bond chamber makes it possible at last to define a repeatable process as part of a complete process recipe carried out under known and controlled conditions.

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The increasing demands of Information Technology continue to drive advances for materials with higher and higher dielectric constants. The biggest roadblock for the characterisation of ‘pyrophoric’ or ‘air sensitive’ precursors and new materials is access to high integrity analytical equipment. Epichem Limited has therefore continued to fund research and development within University Institutions to further such R&D and analysis. Epichem is currently providing financial support to University of Liverpool, University of Bath and University College London for the employment of both postgraduate and post-doctoral researchers. Throughout the course of such R&D projects, secondments of staff and students between Epichem and the Institutions have been made to meet project demands.

• University of Liverpool: the academic team of the University of Liverpool is composed of Professor Tony Jones and Dr Helen Aspinall from the Department of Chemistry for synthesis, purification and analysis expertise. MOCVD and ALD deposition processes are led by Professor Paul Chalker of the Department of Materials, where growth, assessment and characterisation of dielectric thin films is carried out. Such collaboration has provided access to a range of expertise and state-of-the-art process facilities within the University such as clean rooms and MOCVD reactors.
• University of Bath: the research funded by Epichem at Bath is directed to the synthesis of ternary metal nitride precursors under the supervision of Professor Kieran Molloy and Dr Andrew Johnson. This collaboration allows access to new inorganic synthesis methods and MOCVD processes.
• University College London: Further research is funded at UCL under the supervision of Dr Claire Carmalt (Reader in Chemistry) working on transition metal nitride precursors for CVD and ALD. The group at UCL has access to all major analytical techniques including SEM/EDAX, XPS, TGA, powder XRD, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy.

Other collaborations that do not involve the direct funding of staff or students include:

• Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) and University of Helsinki (Finland). Under the direction of Professors Niinisto (HUT) and Rittala (UH) access to ALD and MOCVD systems for the growth of dielectric layers is achieved.
• University of Southampton (Dr Andrew Hector) for anaerobic TGA and DSC measurements.

Collaboration with Universities has been a major success for Epichem with state-of-the-art results being disseminated at conferences, published in the literature and made available to potential customers.

Epichem Limited continues to work collaboratively with a number of universities on the development of process technologies for the advancing state of Information Technology. To meet the demands of the manufacturers, the understanding and qualification of precursors and materials is central to gaining their acceptance and integration into fabrication processes. Without such collaborations scientific progression would grind to a halt.

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IMEC
Neuroelectronics convergence lab

IMEC has set up a Neuro-Electronics Convergence laboratory, which is unique in Europe. The neuro-electronics convergence lab provides facilities for semiconductor processing, nanotechnologies, biosensor fabrication, cell culture, molecular biology and electro-physiology.

Research in the convergence lab covers two main topics:

• Neurons-on-chip for in-vitro applications: hybrid systems comprising patterned neuronal networks on top of a chip surface. Highly sensitive and efficient transducers are designed to pick up and/or trigger both electrical and chemical neuronal signals. The main goal of this research area is to develop tools that enable to study the neuronal communication, and thus give insight in brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
• Neuroprobes for in-vivo applications: microfabricated arrays of sensors and actuators to be implanted in the brain for deep-brain stimulation and in-situ monitoring of the neuronal activity.

An example of a recent development in this lab is micronails for neuronal interfaces using a CMOS-compatible fabrication technology. The convergence of conventional semiconductor technologies with biomedical technologies opens up lots of applications to improve healthcare and quality of life. It's however extremely difficult to bring these different worlds together. Scientists from the different research domains have to learn to understand eachother and to collaborate. This laboratory is unique in Europe and enhances the inventions in this domain.

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SEZ Group
Sonoluminescence Imaging

SEZ changed the wet-cleans landscape when it introduced its single-wafer spin processing in 2003, and spearheaded the ongoing industry conversion from batch/wet bench to single wafer. Yet innovative efforts haven’t stopped here. Since unveiling the single-wafer approach to the market, SEZ has continued aggressive R&D efforts lending to a rich R&D history. The company’s efforts with megasonics is a prime example.

While proven to be one of the more highly effective particle removal methods, the technology’s main disadvantage—damage induction to fragile IC structures caused by aggressive bubbling—has hindered its adoption. The damages introduced left the viability of megasonics for advanced process nodes in debate. However, SEZ’s R&D team changed the playing field in 2004, catalyzing an industry-wide re-examination of the technology.

Leveraging the multi-bubble sonoluminescence megasonics generates, SEZ revealed a technique, known as sonoluminescence imaging, which uses an optical probe to monitor and map the location of collapsing bubbles. What’s more, the procedure holds the potential to reduce megasonics side effects, igniting new promise for the viability of this technology for integration into future clean processing techniques.

According to the American Institute of Physics newsletter, in November 2004, “[SEZ’s] optical probe is possibly the first practical application of sonoluminescence, which up to now has resided primarily in the realm of basic science.” To date, SEZ’s preliminary demonstrations prove to be far advanced over other entrants tapping into the technology. Although the viability of this technology remains in debate, SEZ’s important advancement in megasonics research afforded by the introduction of sonoluminescence imaging has enabled the company to leapfrog the other cleans players, as industry-wide R&D efforts continue to integrate this method into their own megasonics evaluations. All in all, whether the R&D results have entered the mainstream manufacturing market, these innovative, industry-changing efforts were realized by the combination of R&D, technology vision and engineering mindshare. In carrying that tradition forward, SEZ continues to innovate for the future, committing the time, effort and dollars—leading the cleaning sector in R&D investment—to introduce solutions enabling continued IC advances.

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Digitron Engineering Services GmbH
Maintenance Outsourcing of on-site Engineers

Digitron services the semiconductor & photovoltaic Industry. They are a qualified outsourcing partner for service & support of microelectronic processing, handling, manufacturing, inspection & test equipment. They offer innovative and unique cost reducing services to semiconductor equipment companies, worldwide. Digitron has secured partnerships with major Blue Chip Equipment Manufacturing Companies. They help to reduce costs that allow Equipment Manufacturing Companies to compete in a cost conscious global economy.

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STATS ChipPac delivers across customers' supply chain by enabling efficient information exchange, inventory visibility and transactions through our e-business solutions. This allows customers to make better decisions faster, increase productivity and reduce wasted resources that impact their bottom line. STATSChipPAC USP is that it is capable of managing all areas of the product-manufacturing node to deliver a product to the system manufacturer.

• Design/Partitioning: system architecture
• Product Design: test development, package selection
• Si Development: tape out, first silicon, debug, re-spins
• Product Development: characterization, packaging and test, debug, sampling
• Material Supplier Management: material selection and procurement, inventory management
• Product Manufacturing: materials/WIP management, assembly, test
• Product Distribution/Drop Shipping: logistics management
• Customer Relationship Management

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Outsourcing test is a viable and growing business model. Foundries, subcontractors, and test development centres deliver testing services to integrated device manufacturers and fabless semiconductor companies, and the advantages are clear - from better capacity and asset management to higher testing efficiency and reduced cost.

When it comes to outsource test, Teradyne boast large resources. The company says their installed base of semiconductor testers is the largest in the industry, not only at the top semiconductor manufacturers, but also at the leading subcontractors, making it easier to find the capacity you need to test devices. Teradyne also offer financing options ensure that subcontractors can readily add to their installed base to meet growing demand.

Teradyne say they have a worldwide support team to make it easier to move test programs from development into full-scale manufacturing. A key feature is the ability to dependably move devices into production test, helping you generate revenue faster while providing a solid support foundation. Teradyne test systems are considered for their productivity, efficiency, accuracy, multi-site production testing that allows for quick ramp to volume production.

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GLOBALstockroom evolved by solving real business situations and applying internet technology to benefit both the customer and supplier. Experience has shown that getting capital approved to implement such a project like the GLOBALstockroom can often lead to complications or cross department budget issues.

As a Manufacturer, OEM Vendor or Supplier, spare parts availability is paramount in a global world to gain and retain business.

As a manufacturer you need access to information from your suppliers 24 hours per day, even when the local office is closed.

Finding the right part anytime of the day from any stockroom in the world that can be shipped immediately improves efficiency for both the stock holder and the customer.

The major reasons for its development is: Downtime Reduction: To locate parts in other fabs in machine down situations. Essential when vendors have long lead times, or parts are obsolete....Inventory reduction and rationalization: Longer term plans to reduce inventories of commonly held parts in multiple locations either across organizations or within an organization.......On-line marketplace for slow moving and obsolete spares – direct fab-to-fab open policy with confidential relationships.

All data is held in confidence and only at point of quotation request and only to senior purchasing level users does the location become known.

There is no obligation to sell the part to anyone. You may decide the requestor is a competitor or you have plans for that part in the foreseeable future.

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A wafer has a different mass fingerprint after every process step, which is determined by whether mass has been added or subtracted during the process. Metryx offers unique nanotechnology mass measurement techniques that provide atomic layer accuracy for characterization of individual materials and processes, or process control of the manufacturing sequence. Metryx' technology enables any process change within microelectronic device manufacturing to be determined with unprecedented accuracy based on the mass change of the production process. In simple terms, by measuring the change of in the wafer mass variations can be detected on-product-wafer and problems in the process can be identified very early on - saving valuable time, money and wafers. The technology is extremely reliable and cost effective, improving yield and reducing scrap with a low cost of ownership. Offering throughput in excess of 60 wafers per hour, the measurement technique is effective for all substrates, wafer sizes, wafer types and materials. It is non-destructive and compatible with product, test and blanket wafers

Metryx presents a strong case for startup of the year within the semiconductor industry with its portfolio of innovative metrology tools that offer atomic level measurement for SPC and APC. The company sells tools into 300mm volume production facilities as well as leading edge Fabs running advanced processes. Its recent receipt of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and Memorandum of Understanding agreement with Canon for distribution in Japan further highlights the company's success as a startup. The company has adopted a business model under which it outsources all non-core-competence activities such as manufacturing, HR, IT etc in order to focus on R&D, applications and quality. This has allowed the company to avoid most of the costs associated semiconductor cycles and keep its overhead to a minimum. This strategy has allowed Metryx to grow 1000% in 3 years, doubling revenue every year. Metryx is profitable, cash positive and growing. It is privately owned and financed with no venture capital investment.

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Point.35 microstructures Ltd.

Incorporated in 2003 Point 35 has developed into Europe’s premier supplier of refurbished equipment for the semiconductor and MEMS industry. With almost 100 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, the management team has demonstrated an attitude to quality and reliability that has up until now been rare in the refurbished equipment market. This has lead to rapid growth in a market requiring cost effective equipment and process solutions.

Knowledge of the MEMS industry convinced Point 35 to develop a range of products specifically tailored to the rapidly growing, and increasingly more sophisticated, MEMS manufacturing market. Launched in 2005, memsstar® products provide the only Etch and Deposition systems that enable the high levels of control, repeatability and yield seen in the semiconductor industry to be achieved in MEMS manufacturing. Using its proprietary vapour flow control technology, memsstar® provides a major enhancement over current vapour and wet etching technologies by bringing semiconductor style manufacturing technology to the MEMS industry. This significantly increases the throughput and yield over current approaches and enables cost effective volume production.

Synergies between Point 35 and memsstar® activities are strong and built upon a core technology of etch and deposition, matching the highest levels of customer service with innovative technology to the developing needs of the MEMS industry and to position both parts of the company well to serve worldwide customers in this exciting market.

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Polymer Vision is a young business, spun out from Philips Electronics in 2006, it claims more expertise in polymer electronics than any other player in this field. With access to Philips’ expertise, the company can draw on over 20 years’ experience in polymer electronics and a wealth of patented IP (Intellectual Property) developed by Philips’ world-renowned research organization.

Within one year of launch in January 2003, it had already demonstrated the world’s thinnest, highest resolution, largest diagonal rollable display. In September 2004, it started a pilot production line with sufficient capacity to demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology.

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T5 Process Solutions Limited

T5’s technology platform designation is Remote Integrated Management System (RIMS) and is firstly being developed to manage Thermal ancillary services provided by TCU’s / Chillers. Thus the first product variant will be TRIMS (Thermo RIMS) which will provide remote management and remote diagnostic evaluation of TCUs. TRIMS will be deployed using its own network – offering intelligent communications capabilities which will permit the online management and control of Chillers. In contrast with existing fault detection systems, T5’s technology identifies fault patterns before the actual fault occurs. Thus, T5’s technology provides for predictive maintenance of Chillers and eliminates the need for unscheduled downtime associated with the occurrence of a fault. The predictive maintenance associated with T5’s solution will significantly reduce the service and support costs - while the elimination of unplanned downtime could save an average-sized wafer fabrication factory between €2 million and €5 million a year.

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The Omega DSi system is available on two platforms. The Omega fxP DSi is a cluster tool designed for high volume production that offers up to four DSi process modules, combined with wafer alignment and two vacuum cassettes. The Omega i2L DSi is an in-line system supporting up to two DSi process modules, wafer alignment and a single vacuum cassette. The Omega fxP provides the highest throughput for high volume manufacturing. The Omega i2L is designed for space-limited fabs or lower volume production needs. The DSi process modules (in keeping with other available process modules such as ICP, PERIE, Isopod & M0RI) are based upon a standard design that allows migration between the platforms as capacity demand increases. The Omega DSi is used for deep silicon etching, based on the Bosch process, for MEMS, power semiconductor & Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) end markets.

First introduced as a prototype in 2005 the DSi module has received continuous enhancements to ensure the right balance between process performance, system price and expected CoO. The DSi process module is based on the Aviza patented M0RI plasma source. Robert Bosch, the originators of the gas switched deep silicon etch process, were consulted widely during the development of the DSi hardware and assisted in bench-marking the DSi’s process capabilities.

The Omega DSi system is a response to the fast growing and converging end markets for deep silicon etching. This technology was originally conceived and is still being used for MEMS device fabrication. In fact MEMS is now rapidly emerging from the lab to high volume production. It is also an enabling technology for new ranges of power devices (deeper trenches for higher voltage & current handling) and for etching through silicon vias in 3D packaging.

Equipment vendors have been offering deep silicon etchers, mainly to Universities and R&D fabs, for many years. Aviza has spotted a ‘gap’ in the market connected to the production uptake of the technology. The Omega DSi is positioned to address those production fabs requiring the highest levels of productivity including the highest uptime, highest MWBC, shortest MTTC and optimum process reproducibility.

Safe, fast and reliable wafer handling is at the foundation of any production tool. Aviza’s production wafer handlers include the i2L (based on the 200 Series of Aviza robot with >270 installs) and the fxP cluster tool employing a Brooks Automation dual pan maglev transfer robot. Production sites report uptimes >90% and MTBFs >250 hours for tools based on these wafer handlers.

For relatively ‘dirty’ processes like deep Si etching the chamber cleanliness is an important parameter to control because it is the principal cause of process drift. Aviza’s ESC uniquely uses a thick ceramic surface that can be exposed to plasma even when no wafer is present. Unlike other designs of ESC (based on thin anodised oxide layers or polymers) this facilitates plasma cleaning of the process chamber after every wafer.

Thanks to this benefit, the user gets exceptional levels of process reproducibility and control as shown in the following graph. In this application, we are etching cylinders to be later turned into high precision discrete capacitors. Surface area of the interior of the cylinder is the critical parameter. The graph shows tight stability over some 6 months of production. The Omega Systems use the same software interface run on all Aviza single wafer processing tools; including the Celsior ALD system running 45 nm node DRAM production on 300 mm wafers. The software is designed to run without error under the most demanding conditions; DRAM production lines require maximum uptime. Aviza now has DSi systems installed at many of the leading MEMS, power and WLP companies in Europe, and is aggressively expanding its reach to Asia.

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The Helios NanoLab features ultra-high resolution field emission SEM column combined with FEI's widely acclaimed Sidewinder FIB column and gas chemistries to provide new levels of imaging resolution and contrast in a DualBeam system. It also delivers enhanced stability and optimised operation within a wide range of parameters. The small DualBeam platform enables industry-leading 3D characterization, analysis and image reconstruction applications, nano-prototyping (fabrication and testing) capabilities, and high-quality sample prep abilities for researchers and developers needing to reach deep into the nanoscale.

"The Helios NanoLab was designed to address the demanding requirements of our growing base of DualBeam users in both research and product development environments," said Rob Fastenau, senior vice president of FEI's Nano Research and Industry market division. "FEI continues to lead innovation in combined FIB/SEM solutions. We believe that users of this all-new DualBeam platform will be able to achieve ground-breaking results in multiple applications with accuracy and repeatability."

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Microfluidics is a type of MEMS device that requires the study of interactions between flowing fluids and microscale structures (examples: lab-on-a-chip, biochips, fuel cells, ink jet printer devices). The ability to further R&D of microfluidic devices requires instrumentation capable of accurately measuring both the structures and the flows. The 3D MAP from Hyphenated Systems is an Advanced Confocal Microscope designed specifically for this application. For structural metrology, Advanced Confocal Microscopy permits fast, accurate three dimensional modeling of top surface and subsurface features in operating devices. 3D MAP is built to accommodate flow measurement using particle image velocimetry, which resolves data in depth as well as laterally. Physical characterization of a microfluidic structure is only useful to the extent that we can determine its effects on the fluid flowing around it. The 3D MAP’s combination of Advanced Confocal Microscopy for structural measurement and micro-PIV for fluid flow measurement is an enabling technology that will help to further the research of microfluidic devices.

Microfluidics is still in the very early stages of its development, but its potential value in a wide range of applications is already apparent. As with many new fields of development, scientists are still working on understanding the fundamental principles that govern system behavior, while at the same time, engineers are hard at work producing useful functional devices notwithstanding a lack of fundamental knowledge of exactly how or why they work. Microfluidics has often been compared to microelectronics in its potential to influence the way we live our lives. If this proves to be true, then we are witnessing the birth of an industry. Hyphenated Systems has put a critical tool into the hands of the researchers that are working to further the research and development of this new, important technology.

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Introduction
Micralyne develops and manufactures MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems)-based products for leading instrumentation companies worldwide. More specifically, Micralyne’s micron-scale solutions (i.e. 1000 microns = 1 millimetre) are the foundation of micro-nano systems and are today used for OEM customers in automotive sensors for control systems, optical switching technology in telecommunication networks, lab-on-a-chip devices for drug discovery, implantable drug delivery systems, and precise measurement devices for oil and gas exploration.

Customers are using micro-nano systems to develop products that have the potential to revolutionize our lives. This impact, however, is not possible if micro-nano systems cannot be manufactured in a cost effective manner and in volume. This is where Micralyne comes into play. Because of Micralyne’s manufacturing expertise and technical know-how, customers are able to bring their products to market, whether it’s in the communications, transportation, energy or life sciences industry.

Micralyne is a profitable and growing company headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Customers include JDS-Uniphase, MicroCHIPS Inc., Kodak, Polychromix, and other market leaders. Registered as an ISO 9001:2000 company, Micralyne operates from a 50,000 square-ft facility in the Edmonton Research Park and currently employs over 170 people.

Market results
Micralyne has become one of the leading independent companies in the world focused on OEM MNS/MEMS manufacturing. Through the company’s transition from a university-owned not-for-profit to a privately held corporation, Micralyne has generated over 19% annual growth in revenue from $1.7 million in 1994 to $17.5 million this last fiscal year (ending March 31, 2007). On average, Micralyne currently produces over $5 million in revenue per quarter and between fiscal year 04/05 and 06/07, Micralyne increased revenues over 50%. With this record revenue growth, Micralyne doubled its staff count from 82 to 175 staff in the past two years. This growth has made a significant impact on micro/nano development and manufacturing in Canada.

Throughout the 2006/2007 fiscal year, Micralyne won a variety of awards including the 2007 Alberta Venture Fast 50 list, landing in the #1 position for revenues under $20M, and Alberta’s Top 25 Employers for 2007. Micralyne was also a runner up for the Best of Small Tech awards by Small Times, the Innovation & Leadership awards by CATA Alliance, and Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies. http://www.micralyne.com/news/awards.html

Micralyne has experienced growing global success over the last year. Expanding its customer base further into the United States, Europe and Asia, Micralyne has cemented customer relationships with key companies in each of these markets. As an example, business in Japan has grown to 10% of overall revenues and Micralyne is now a supplier of micro-nano systems to 7 major companies in Japan, China and Thailand.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
Technological innovation and know-how are at the foundation of Micralyne’s differential advantage. With an environment where innovation is encouraged, Micralyne has been able to create world-leading core competencies in several specialized fields including micromachining, thin film technologies, microfluidics, and MEMS assembly & test.

As an example of success, Micralyne was recognized for its innovative strengths in 2005 winning the Canadian Innovation Award for New Technology from the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters association, based on its groundbreaking Gold-Tin Solder electroplating technology. This new technology has significant potential in the microelectronics and micro-nano systems field due to a variety of recent trends, such as the worldwide movement to remove lead from all solder in consumer microelectronic products. The opportunity for this innovative technology is significant as the electronic packaging industry is a $100 billion international market forecast to double in ten years. The need for a bonding technology, like Micralyne’s gold-tin solder alloy plating, has the potential to impact several industries such as telecommunications, defense, consumer electronics, and life sciences (i.e. bio-friendly hermetic seals). http://www.micralyne.com/capabilities/products/ausn.htm

Another example of Micralyne’s innovative strength is its collaboration with Polychromix (http://www.polychromix.com), a leading developer of innovative spectroscopy solutions. Micralyne and Polychromix are working together to develop MEMS NIR (near-infrared) devices, a core component in the Polychromix Phazir product line. The Polychromix Phazir combines Digital Transform Spectroscopy (DTS) with MEMS technology to reduce large, stationary analytical laboratory instruments into one handheld NIR analyzer that can identify materials directly at their source - the first of its kind in the industry. The MEMS devices, manufactured at Micralyne, can be mass-produced, resulting in low-cost reproducible products. In addition, the MEMS engine minimizes power usage and maximizes battery life.

The Phazir can be used for a variety of applications, including:

• Forensics - analyze and identify crime scene evidence or narcotic white powder substances on-the-spot
• Inspection of incoming raw materials - test the quality or identity of incoming materials in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and chemical / petrochemical industries
• Recycling - sort petrochemical products, such as plastics and carpet, before reprocessing
• Agriculture - analyze the properties of crops, fruits, vegetables, and spices in the field to maximize quality and value
• Fraud identification - perform field inspections to determine original formulations from counterfeits, analyze and identify counterfeit drugs and fabrics

With this innovative MEMS technology manufactured by Micralyne, the Polychromix Phazir is a cost-effective analytical tool for a variety of industries. The Phazir, as the first handheld NIR analyzer, introduces new value and cost savings to applications previously considered technically impossible.

Influencing the small tech industry
As an independent MEMS foundry, Micralyne has proven it has created a successful business model. Micralyne has worked with over 300 OEM manufacturing customers, including start-ups, research institutions and large multi-national corporations, since 1982. These customers look to Micralyne for advice in transferring their microsystem products to manufacturing and for continuous process improvements. Customers trust Micralyne’s established business model and in return, Micralyne delivers.

Since privatization in 1998, Micralyne has been profitable for 9 years. No other independent MEMS foundry has achieved this level of success. With revenues increasing 50% and staff levels doubling, Micralyne has proven the independent foundry business model can be successful with strong business practices and the right people.

As an established player in the micro-nano systems industry, Micralyne is undertaking a variety of initiatives that help support and grow the small tech industry. For example, Micralyne sponsors research at the University of Alberta and University of Calgary (over $400,000 annually) and sponsors the Canadian CMC Microsystems Design Award. This award seeks creativity in MEMS and micro-nano systems research and is open to university graduate students and faculty across the nation.

Micralyne also believes in giving back to the micro/nano community. Chris Lumb (President & CEO) currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, is Co-Chair of NanoMEMS Edmonton, and is Chairman of the Board of CMC Microsystems. Micralyne employees are also providing leadership through active involvement within the international MEMS industry. For example, Bruce Alton (Vice President, Marketing & Business Development) is a member of the governing council of MIG (MEMS Industry Group). Other staff members play a key role in industry events through keynote addresses and sitting on various expert panels. This participation is an ongoing focus for Micralyne with future speaking engagements at Micromachine Summit 2007, the MEMS Industry Group METRIC 2007 Conference and 2007 MEMS Executive Congress.

Impact on Society
Applications of micro/nano products manufactured at Micralyne that are driving significant innovations in all parts of society include:

• Optical switch components installed into telecommunication networks to facilitate the increase in Internet bandwidth to homes and businesses.
• Bioanalysis instruments using microfluidic devices that detect the presence of diseases or analyze DNA from a blood sample. These miniature devices reduce the time to find a result from days down to minutes.
• A component within the pre-press equipment that prints most of the widely read, high gloss magazines in the world today.
• Control systems for automotive transmission and A/C systems
• Implantable drug delivery devices developed in collaboration with MicroCHIPS Inc. (http://www.mchips.com/). Micralyne and MicroCHIPS is developing a device that can be implanted into a human body and used to deliver particular drugs when activated by an outside source, like a remote control. This new technology is an important step for the effective implementation of therapeutic regimens. It also highlights the huge potential of using MEMS devices in the life sciences industry.

Conclusion
Micralyne has come a long way from its foundation as a university-owned not-for-profit group to a thriving profitable and globally competitive corporation. Micralyne has had a longstanding vision to become the world’s leading independent microsystems manufacturer and is achieving this goal.

With a successful business model, Micralyne has consistently generated strong financial results in an industry known for high profile failures. WTC (Wicht Technologie Consulting) recently released a market report on the “Top 10 MEMS Foundries” in the world. Based on contract manufacturing revenues for 2006, Micralyne ranked 4th, a clear indication that Micralyne is making an impact within the MEMS industry (http://www.wtc-consult.de/english/pr102.html). Without foundries like Micralyne, companies developing innovative micro-nano systems will not be able to translate their revolutionary ideas into reality.

With ongoing financial stability, Micralyne will continue to help its customers translate their MEMS concepts and designs into successful products that have the potential to benefit all parts of society around the world.

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