July 18, 2007 – Novellus Systems Inc. has launched the VECTOR Extreme plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system and the INOVA NExT with HCM IONX ionized physical vapor deposition (PVD) source at SEMICON West.

The Vector Extreme has a throughput of up to 250 wafers/hour and is said to help chipmakers reduce average process cycle times by more than 40% as compared to other systems available in the market. Wafer inventory in the fab is also substantially reduced, giving users the flexibility to respond to ongoing changes in semiconductor market demand. Novellus’ VECTOR Extreme platform integrates up to three multistation sequential process modules with as many as 12 deposition stations onto a central wafer-handling chamber. Shipments of VECTOR Extreme for volume production are expected to start in the 2H07.

The other new product, the HCM (hollow cathode magnetron) IONX source, enables thin film barrier and copper seed deposition scalability for the 32nm node. The system is capable of copper seed re-sputter and provides improved metallic film overhang, step coverage and film quality for tantalum barrier and copper seed processes. This differentiated source technology can be applied to other thin film metal applications, including titanium and aluminum. INOVA NExT with HCM IONX is currently being qualified by multiple memory and logic manufacturers, while other customers have already adopted it as their tool of record.