Lucent, Chartered Cu Alliance

-- Semiconductor International, 5/1/1999

Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, N.J.) and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Singapore) have agreed to jointly develop fabrication processes for copper and aluminum interconnects in 0.18 - 0.15 µm CMOS ICs. Prototyping is expected during 4Q99.

The companies will merge development efforts on Lucent's 0.16 µm and Chartered's 0.18 µm technologies to produce a common manufacturing process platform using low-k dielectric aluminum and copper interconnects. The processes will be developed by a joint engineering team at Lucent's Orlando, Fla. R&D facility, then transferred to Silicon Manufacturing Partners (SMP) - Lucent and Chartered's joint-venture fab in Singapore - for volume manufacturing. The companies will also implement the processes in any of their individually-owned fabs.

The resulting interconnect developments will be combined with transistor technologies from either Chartered or Lucent to satisfy individual customer needs. The resulting processes will be optimized for ICs used in data communications, mobile communications, graphics and consumer electronics.

Last week, Chartered announced the first four participants in a new partnership network of leading electronic design automation and intellectual property companies, which will support implementation of Chartered's 0.18 micron processes for customer requirements.