Issue

A few of us still believe that the new millennium really began this New Year's Day rather than a year earlier.

A listing of industry events.

Worldwide Highlights; USA; Europe; Japan; Taiwan; Asia-Pacific ...

US Air Force lab develops defect analysis for GaAs wafers; Curious-looking device bends light with little loss ...

With an exhibition space of 160,000 m², 3050 exhibitors, and an additional 580 represented companies, Electronica 2000 broke all records last year.

Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. plan to introduce new scan-coating equipment this year that could significantly reduce the cost of making low-k dielectric films, and, eventually, of applying resists as well.

Several factors shape the lithography equipment sector compared to the total equipment market, including the huge cost of the equipment, the volatility of tool sales, the major players, and the extendability/limits of current optical technology.

Exposure tools and resists for 157nm lithography are still very much in the laboratory; 193nm lithography is making some progress in broad development, perhaps slightly behind its anticipated learning curve, but workhorse 248nm lithography continues to make somewhat remarkable progress.

More applications for ICs have led to the need for more fabs, more equipment, more materials and more people. However, fewer people are available with interest in our industry and the skill sets we need.

Transistor fabrication requirements are emerging as the next critical set of challenges to continue ITRS-driven progress. Doping accuracy for parametric and conductive implant applications is especially important for sub-0.13—m-generation devices.

The creation of ultra-shallow junctions (USJs) has driven significant recent developments in ion implantation, thermal processing, and metrology. Lenny Rubin, principal scientist at Axcelis Technologies, reports that the challenges for the near future are now less scientific and more in the area of equipment engineering ...

Investigation of endpoint detection, using cost of ownership analysis, on a pre-lithography backside film-removal step helped to determine how the capital investment of an endpoint detection system affects the cost/good wafer equivalent.