IBM Advance Spurs "System-on-a-Chip"
Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief -- Semiconductor International, 4/1/1999
Applied Materials, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.)
disclosed that LETI (Laboratoire de Technologies et d'Instrumentation),
the French advanced microelectronics research center based in Grenoble,
purchased an Epi Centura system to develop silicon germanium (SiGe) and
silicon germanium carbon (SiGeC) process technologies. In connection with
this purchase, Applied Materials will collaborate with LETI to develop and
optimize the new SiGe and SiGeC process technologies for future
high-performance devices.
In a cooperative effort with development partners,
Siemens AG of Munich, Germany and IMEC of Leuven, Belgium,
ASM America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASM International
N.V., recently demonstrated a cluster tool integrated CMOS gate stack
process that addresses the needs down to 100 nm design rules and 'probably
beyond,' according to the company.
Eaton Semiconductor Equipment Operations (Beverly,
Mass.) announced a joint development project with Avant! Corp. Joint
activities will focus on advancing the predictive capabilities of
semiconductor process simulation software to help chipmakers optimize very
deep submicron (VDSM) integrated circuit (IC) fabrication
processes.
Johnson Matthey Electronics (JME) (Spokane, Wash.)
signed a strategic license agreement with Applied Materials, Inc.
that allows JME to sell high-purity consumable parts directly to users
of Applied Materials' Vectra and Electra ionized metal plasma (IMP)
chambers.
Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, Calif.) announced
multi-system orders for its high-throughput TCP 9600PTX high-density metal
etch system. Orders are from several major global companies including
Taiwan and Singapore foundries, Korean and Japanese DRAM manufacturers,
and European and U.S. logic manufacturers.
Mattson Technology (Fremont, Calif.) received an
order for multiple Aspen CVD systems from Samsung Electronics,
headquartered in Korea. All systems will be installed in Samsung's DRAM
production facilities in Kihung, Korea.
IBM (East
Fishkill, N.Y.) announced that through the use of copper technology, it has
found a way to efficiently place logic and memory circuits on a single piece of
silicon. With IBM's technology, 24 million gates - equal to as much as eight
times the processing and two to four times the memory found on today's typical
PC - can be packed on a single chip.
Company News
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| IBM said its combination of copper and deep trench memory process technology could speed the implementation of 'system-on-a-chip.' |
IBM's thinner copper wiring is used in combination with circuitry as small as
0.15 µm, placing those circuits closer together and squeezing in more logic. IBM
will first make this new embedded memory available in a custom chip template
dubbed SA-27E.
Panel Focuses on Copper Transition
According to a panel of industry experts assembled by Cabot Corp. (Aurora, Ill.) at the recent CMP-MIC Conference in Santa Clara, as copper technology becomes increasingly critical for advanced manufacturing, issues such as cost of ownership, contamination, performance, reliability, yield, defectivity and deposition are effectively addressed by the key players from the manufacturing and supplier sides of the industry. Panelists also concluded that the greatest initial benefit of the adoption of copper damascene processes is lower total cost of ownership. For some applications, however, a 10% improvement in circuit performance has been realized. It is the transition to both low-k dielectrics and copper that will yield much improved circuit performance. From a CMP perspective, one panelist currently implementing copper into production said copper CMP challenges will be similar to those faced with tungsten.
According to VLSI Research president G. Dan Hutcheson, who attended the panel
session, 'Chipmakers realize the critical role copper technology will play in
the success of their fabs. They understand the process challenges of integrating
this technology and are focused on resolving these issues. Supplier industry
collaborations will aid in the rapid resolution of copper process integration
challenges.''
