Company News
-- Semiconductor International, 10/1/2000
Electro Scientific Industries (Portland, Ore.) received orders for multiple units of the company's memory yield improvement systems including Model 9350s and Model 9800 laser systems by the KYEC (King Yuan Electronics Company) in Hsinchu, Taiwan, a provider of subcontracting services including wafer sort, test and burn-in.KLA-Tencor introduced the TeraStar reticle inspection tool, capable of detecting defects as small as 100 nm and offering 3x the throughput of previous inspection platforms. At maximum sensitivity, the tool can inspect a 6-in. reticle in an hour.
International SEMATECH (Austin, Texas) launched a Metrology/Yield Management Tool Initiative with leading tool suppliers designed to improve measurement methods for critical dimension, CMP polish control, defect detection, shallow junction depth and uniformity, gate dielectric and low-k film thickness, and pattern overlay. Participating companies include Hitachi (Carrollton, Texas), KLA-Tencor (San Jose, Calif.), Philips Analytical (Almelo, Netherlands), Thermal-Wave (Fremont, Calif) and Veeco (Tucson, Ariz.), among others.
Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Tokyo) purchased an equity position in Yield Dynamics (Santa Clara, Calif). The companies formed a partnership to extend Yield Dynamics' advanced process control software, currently focused on lithography process control, to other areas of processing based on TEL's process knowledge and customer base.
