Tegal Acquires Alcatel Micro Machining Systems in DRIE Move Aimed at TSVs
David Lammers, News Editor -- Semiconductor International, 9/3/2008
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With 3-D wafer-level interconnects as a major target, Tegal Corp. (Petaluma, Calif.) said it will acquire the deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) product lines from Alcatel Micro Machining Systems (AMMS) (Annecy, France), a subsidiary of Alcatel Vacuum and part of the Alcatel-Lucent group.
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| Cross-section of a through silicon via (TSV) hole etched with a DRIE process. |
The deal is valued at just $5M in cash and newly issued stock, and comes after several of Tegal’s customers in the MEMS, power ICs, and packaging sectors had requested that Tegal find a way to enter the DRIE sector in order to address the through silicon via (TSV) opportunity. “This acquisition is really the key piece of our product strategy that has been missing for a couple of years,” said Tegal CEO Thomas Mika, adding that Tegal decided to enter the DRIE arena via an acquisition that would provide a license to a fundamental DRIE patent held by Bosch.
The relatively modest selling price reflects Alcatel’s reassessment of which parts of the capital equipment industry it wishes to participate in during the current difficult business environment, he added.
DRIE tools are used to create highly anisotropic, deep, steep-sided holes with aspect ratios which often exceed 20:1. While memory and logic ICs are expected to become large markets at some point, many integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) currently use TSVs to connect to MEMS, power devices, and image sensors. Market research firm Yole Developpement projects that the market for DRIE tools will grow quickly in the 2008-2012 period, from ~$148M in 2008 to an estimated ~$334M in 2012 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31%.
Surface Technology Systems (Newport, Wales), now part of Sumitomo Precision Products (Tokyo), is considered the market leader, but large etch vendors such as Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, Calif.) also are bolstering their DRIE product offerings with an eye to the TSV opportunity.
Mika said Tegal’s highest priority will be to finish development of a 300 mm DRIE process chamber, an effort started by AMMS that will be transferred from France to California after the acquisition closes. “A lot of TSVs are going to be on 300 mm wafers, so that’s our highest priority at this point, to finish that 300 mm DRIE process chamber so we can respond to several inquiries from IDMs and packaging companies for 300 mm process capabilitites for TSVs.”
AMMS will continue to support its installed base, though Tegal may assume some of that legacy support responsibility on a case-by-case basis, particularly in regions where Tegal has support staff working with existing Tegal customers.
Mika said Tegal has spent much of its R&D effort in recent years working on MRAM and FeRAM etch challenges, areas that have yet to blossom into major revenue streams. However, the ability to etch difficult-to-etch materials brought Tegal into a major opportunity at STMicroelectronics, Mika said. “STMicro asked us to do something that their mainstream etch suppliers refused to do, and which they said Tegal couldn’t do either, which is to reliably etch PZT for an STMicro device called the iPad, an integrated active-passive device sold to Nokia. As a result, we have many tools operating in France and Singapore.”
The relationship with STMicroelectronics (Geneva) may help Tegal get established in mainstream silicon DRIE etch opportunities. However, Mika said it will be challenging for a relatively small vendor such as Tegal to crack the market for TSVs in high-volume memories, where companies expect to stack multiple NAND devices connected by TSVs, for example.
Last year, Tegal made a profit for the first time in a decade on revenues of ~$32M, though it slipped back into an operating loss for the most recent quarter. “We have a lot going on here that remains from the early days when Tegal was the No. 1 etch company,” Mika said, noting that ~1500 Tegal etch tools remain in operation worldwide. With ~76 employees, Tegal expects to add 6-10 employees from AMMS.
“With this DRIE capability from AMMS, we are going to do what we do, which is to develop advanced processes, bring on production worthy tools, and sell them to customers which already are asking us to be there for them. If we do that well, in markets that are growing, Tegal will grow significantly,” Mika said.
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