Tech Briefs

08/01/1999

A spokesperson for Dresden's Semiconductor300 pilot line said its best wafers have shown test yields of greater than 60%, representing about 145% of the total possible die from a comparable 200mm wafer. Semiconductor300, a joint venture between Motorola and Infineon Technologies (formerly Siemens Semiconductors), is producing 64Mb DRAMs on a 0.25µ process; it has a goal of cutting manufacturing costs 30-40% per chip compared to 200mm wafers.

DaiNippon Screen (DNS), Kyoto, has started marketing a new coater/developer whose footprint is two-thirds of existing models and whose photoresist consumption is one-third to one-sixth of current systems. Named SK-2000, it employs vertical wafer transfer rather than conventional horizontal transfer and uses a surface treatment before resist coating. Price in Japan is ¥150 million to ¥350 million depending on wafer processing volume.