Issue

With their fabs running fully loaded in recent months, rival Taiwan foundries United Microelectronics Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have moved to secure additional capacity, with UMC seeking efficiencies in a merging of its joint ventures and TSMC picking up a majority stake in neighbor Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc. (ASMI).

Despite an expected uptick in sales during the current FY99 (which began April 1), Japan's top 11 semiconductor makers are planning yet another reduction in capital investment - their third consecutive annual spending decline.

During the Industry Strategy Symposium early this year, a number of investment gurus referred to the semiconductor business as a "mature industry." When we think of a mature industry, we think of commodities like steel, paper, and even automobiles.

Sematech evolves. The convergence of Sematech and its International Sematech affiliate has taken another step forward, with International members Hyundai, Infineon Technologies, Philips, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. taking part in programs that were previously open only to US members.

A fog of confusion - caused by too many options - continues to enshroud the future of on-chip interconnects, as attendees learned at the second annual International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC), held in late May outside San Francisco. Low-risk evolutionary paths are desired, as fabs look to move beyond Al(Cu)/W/SiO₂ structures. As a rule, almost all fabs will change only one major component (for example, the metal or the insulator) at a time.

A group of Bell Labs engineers at Lucent Technologies has data to show severe, random variation of oxide thickness (t_ox) within individual devices with sub-3nm gate oxide. They have determined this is due to different surface orientations and stress conditions as well as polysilicon intrusion from gate electrodes.

Don't look for a change in the standard lithographic reduction ratio or reticle size - not yet, at least. A recent international meeting of lithography experts in Chicago discussed the question prior to its review of next-generation lithography progress, with most attendees coming down in favor of no change from today's 4x reduction factor on 6-in. reticles.

Consider the possibility of categorizing consumables into different grades, thereby transforming things like gloves and wipers from seemingly magical high tech products to easily understood and specified commodities.

Poul Jessen envisions that super-cooled neutral atoms in a "quantum mechanical computer" will be used when transistor-based binary-computing hits its limit. Jessen, assistant professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, says, "In fifty years, quantum information may be the new paradigm for information processing. There are no fundamental laws that says this cannot be done."

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.

The Silicon Valley success story has been emulated all over the world, starting in the US with places like Silicon Desert in New Mexico, Silicon Forest in Oregon, and then appearing overseas, with Silicon Glen in Scotland, Silicon Island in Taiwan, and so on.

In an agreement that represents a victory of customer relations over traditional rivalries, back-end equipment supplier Kulicke & Soffa will integrate its model 8020 ball bonder into the Autoline factory integration environment developed by Swiss competitor ESEC.

Silicon wafer reclaimers provide a bridge that will support the semiconductor industry during 300mm development and prepare device manufacturers for the use of prime wafers. Since equipment manufacturers are not the major users of prime wafers, reclaimers are currently helping them demonstrate and improve the reliability of their tools.

Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, has appointed Jon Tompkins to its board of directors. Tompkins is a member

Evergreen Model 203 solvent processor has applications in metal lift-off, flux removal, resist strip, polymer removal, solvent cleaning, and other solvent processes. Incorporating advanced spin tool wet processing system technology, the 203 combines single-wafer processing with batch immersion solvent processing. Immersion processing - with agitation, heating, chemical recirculation, and multiple chemistry capability - provides for rapid batch processing. Single-wafer spindle processing includes

As-electroplated copper undergoes a gradual recrystallization at room temperature related to the plating chemistry. The influence of damascene topography on the recrystallization as well as on the texture of Cu must be understood to optimize properties for superior interconnect performance. A low-temperature anneal before CMP stabilizes the Cu microstructure and eliminates the (111) sidewall growth component that is observed if the overlying Cu is removed before recrystallization.

Part 1 (Solid State Technology, June 1999) discussed evolutionary advances of Ti salicide processing, and the current best-practices for Co salicide formation.

A variety of technologies now exist to measure particle levels reliably in gas distribution systems with different optimal technologies for each combination of inert/reactive gas and bulk/cylinder distribution system. The proper selection of measurement hardware and sampling procedures allows for detection of particles as small as 0.003µm.

Various silicon wafer-bonding methods are crucially important to the success of MEMS manufacturing. Bond-specific equipment has evolved along with these methods.

Currently, the processing industry can at best achieve about 65 percent overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The financial reality is that this is not good enough. Figures for equipment availability, performance efficiency, and rate of quality, which make up the OEE calculation, must all be raised.