EuroFocus
04/01/2000
SC300 consortium experiments with single monitor wafer
The shift to 300mm wafers may spell an end to the practice of one wafer in a cassette of 25 being used for testing. The SC300 consortium in Dresden, Germany, is experimenting with using a single monitor wafer instead, carried in an Incam FOUP-for-One carrier, to test a tool before inserting a cassette with 25 production wafers for processing. Sematech is a partner in the Dresden experiments, along with Infineon and Motorola, according to Claude Doche, CEO of Incam, which is based in Grenoble, France. The new approach would boost productivity and speed production, according to Doche.
Seven of the Incam carriers make a stack equivalent to a standard 25-wafer FOUP (front-opening unified pod), so they can be handled both by automated systems and logistics systems. Insertion of the wafer is achieved by attaching a removable single-wafer interface (SWIF) adapter to the loadport of the tool being checked. According to Doche, validation of the approach has been completed by Sematech, and an assessment by SC300 was expected early this year.
Because of the high value of 300mm wafers, Doche believes, the single monitor/test/metrology wafer approach will be adopted as the industry shifts to the larger form factor. All the major players are interested in these experiments, including Intel, Samsung, and TSMC. Companies such as Infineon also see a need to go to shorter runs of mini-lots, perhaps two or three wafers, for system-on-a-chip (SOC) processing, Doche says, with different designs sometimes being processed in the same production system.
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Incam's FOUP-for-One wafer carrier.
LETI, the French electronics research facility based in Grenoble, initially developed sealed single-wafer carriers, which can be filled with nitrogen, to carry experimental wafers between research facilities where different process tools might be located. LETI then spun the technology into Incam, a start-up company. The carriers are made from low-outgassing polycarbonate and can be sealed with a special coating for zero outgassing, although this step would not be needed for the monitor wafer application, Doche explained. The monitor wafer application would call for much larger volumes of carriers than would be needed for R&D use.
By the end of 1999, some 100 of the carriers were manufactured, and facilities at LETI in Grenoble are available to produce about 2000 single-wafer carriers this year. Doche is currently seeking a large partner to license as a second source for manufacturing.
Infineon launches IPO
Nearly a year after being spun out from Siemens AG, Infineon Technologies, Munich, was set to become a public company on March 13, when the estimated US$5.7 billion IPO was to take effect in German and US markets.
Proceeds are expected to total between Euro 480 million and Euro 580 million. Intel Corp. will invest another $250 million in the company, bringing final proceeds to around Euro 800 million (roughly US$767 million). Infineon will use part of the proceeds to build its first production 300mm fab at one of its existing manufacturing sites, said a company spokesperson in Germany. Details about the timing and specific location of the fab were not disclosed. The company is expected to build on expertise garnered through its 300mm partnership with Motorola. The two chipmakers established the industry's first 300mm fab, Semiconductor300, in 1997.
In April 1999, Siemens AG spun off Infineon's operations as part of a larger restructuring of the company. The chip operation, then known as Siemens Semiconductors, had experienced financial difficulties in the year leading up to the spin-off, including the closure of its North Tyneside fab in the UK.
Metron Technology buys Shieldcare
In a move that will help broaden its outsourcing strategy, equipment and materials distributor Metron Technology has acquired UK-based Shieldcare, an eight-year-old supplier of critical parts cleaning services. Ed Segal, president and CEO of Metron (Burlingame, CA), estimates that this business segment will grow to be a $250 million market in the next three to four years. "We want to position ourselves to get a high market share in the parts cleaning business globally," he said. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Shieldcare will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Metron.
Since its inception in 1992, Shieldcare has been expanding its parts cleaning business in the UK and is one of the largest European suppliers of parts recycling for PVD, CVD, reactive ion etch and ion implant systems. "Shieldcare was founded on the basis that there was a need for a high specification parts cleaning company in Europe to assist the wafer fabs," said Shieldcare's founder and GM Gordon Riddell.