Company News
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 5/1/2003
- XTREME technologies GmbH, a joint venture between Lambda Physik AG (Göttingen, Germany) and Jenoptik AG (Jena, Germany), has shipped the first prototype of its EUV lightsource. Microstepper manufacturer Exitech Ltd. (Oxford, England) will use the lightsource in the initial test phase of EUV lithography. When XTREME technologies was formed in 2001, the first sales were not expected until 2006.
- IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) and International SEMATECH (Austin, Texas) have formed a cooperative program to speed the development of 157 nm lithography. Although major hurdles have been overcome with 157 nm lithography, engineering work remains with respect to full-field imaging, uniform reticle and pellicle printability, and resist technology. Several collaboration agreements between IMEC and leading IDMs are also under negotiation.
- ASML (Veldhoven, Netherlands) announced that it would deliver the industry's first full-field 157 nm lithography tool to IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) in April. According to ASML, the Micrascan VII incorporates several solutions that enable it to produce chips at 157 nm, including an increased photoresist process range, flexible imaging, and contamination control and purge.
- Cymer Inc. (San Diego) announced that it is expanding its worldwide service and support capabilities by establishing an office in Shanghai, China. The company held a grand opening ceremony in March, during SEMICON China. In separate news, Cymer opened a state-of-the-art chamber refurbishment facility in South Korea, which will serve as its first international refurbishment hub for DUV lightsources.
- Photronics Inc. (Brookfield, Conn.) announced that it will stop making photomasks at its Phoenix facility, and will reduce its global workforce by 10-12%. In connection with the plans, the company will record an after-tax charge of between $36 million and $40 million, or an estimated $1.12 and $1.25 per diluted share, in the fiscal quarter ending May 4.
- ASML (Veldhoven, Netherlands) said that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Seoul, Korea) signed a licensing agreement for its scattering bar technology to be deployed at Samsung's fabs worldwide.
- Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL, Austin, Texas) and Teseda Corp. (Portland, Ore.) have developed an integrated design-for-testability (DFT) system. Combining the P-8XL prober from TEL and Teseda's Validator 500 allows a test cost per pin of <$200. The system also enables wafer tests on devices equipped with DFT circuits, which results in lower costs as well as reduced test design man-hours.
- Electroglas Inc.'s (Santa Clara, Calif.) automated inspection system, QuickSilver IIe, has been selected by HL Planartechnik GmbH (Dortmund, Germany) for use in the production of microelectromechanical systems. The inspection system was chosen for its flexible material handling capabilities, as well as its backlighting techniques and automatic defect classification (ADC) capabilities.
- Keithley Instruments (Cleveland) and Novellus Systems (San Jose) have formed a partnership to develop parametric tests for copper and low-k integration. The primary goal is to develop electrical process diagnostic tests that will reduce copper process development time and improve yields.
- International SEMATECH (ISMT, Austin, Texas) has installed a Dimension X3D in-line, 3-D atomic force microscope (AFM) metrology tool from Veeco Instruments Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.). ISMT's lithography and metrology divisions plan to use the Dimension X3D to characterize 90 nm and smaller device features in lithography and etch applications, including photomask metrology.
