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Applied enters yet another market segment with introduction of Swift implantation tool

Looking to conquer even more of the process tool market, equipment giant Applied Materials introduced a new ion implantation tool in November. Applied says the Swift system is the first in the industry with the doping accuracy and range for every medium-current and high-energy process. The angle-of-incidence accuracy for the tool is <±0.5° and energy accuracy is <1% with no contamination, the company claims.

The parametric-implantation Swift system is designed to complement the company's Quantum tool, a low-energy and high-current system for conductive implantation, as part of Applied's Total Solutions strategy for the ion implantation market. Applied believes the combined approach will allow chipmakers working in the sub-0.18-µm regime to lower the number of implantation systems in the fab from eight to six and thereby save substantially on tool costs.

The Swift system can help improve yields and save fabs up to 45% in overall capital and operating costs, according to Applied. The tool's throughput is 200­250 wafers per hour, and its WhisperScan isocentric linear wafer scanner with a 30°-tilted platen ensures that all points on the wafer are implanted under the same conditions for accurate doping on the entire substrate. The scanner is based on an air-bearing mechanism that permits noncontact operation.

Fabs spend 40% of front-end process time waiting for an implanter at stations dedicated to four recipes and 5000 wafer starts per week, Applied maintains. The Swift system gives chipmakers the opportunity to minimize that waiting period and thus reduce wafer cycle time, the company asserts, adding that a large-angle collimator eliminates the chances of charge contamination. In addition, the doping accuracy ensures high device yield, Applied says.

Despite the company's claims and its number-one status, Applied faces stiff competition in this market segment from suppliers such as Axcelis Technologies and Varian. Axcelis, for instance, says it has approximately 1440 high-current, medium-current, or high-energy implanters installed globally. Citing figures that put the ion implantation market in the $1.5 billion range in 2000, Applied claims to have grown 300% in the implanter market, which has doubled in the last two years.

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