INDUSTRY NEWS

Africa

Vendor ups etch gas capacity

South African supplier Pelchem has doubled production of octafluorocyclobutane, a high-purity gas used in dry etch processes. The Pretoria-based company has begun continuous production of the gas and plans to double production by this summer to meet growing demand. The gas, known in compound form as c-C^₄F^₈, is made from chloride-free tetrafluoroethylene. The product is better than 99.995% pure, says Pelchem, the chemical division of NECSA. Established in 1999, the company makes a range of fluorochemical products, including tungsten hexafluoride, nitrogen trifluoride, and chlorine trifluoride.

Asia

Applied backs R&D fund

Applied Materials will donate $1 million over a five-year period to help establish an R&D fund in Taiwan. The giant equipment manufacturer signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan's National Science Council in November pledging the contribution to the cooperative endeavor. Cheng-I Weng, chairman of the National Science Council in Taiwan, says Applied's commitment "will help to promote more innovative product development activities and to establish a good model for private enterprises to work together with the Taiwanese government." Taiwan's government wants to make the country into Silicon Island, Weng notes. Applied says it has more than 10 years of partnering experience with the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. The donation will strengthen Taiwan's high-tech industry and the country's infrastructure, asserts Chiam Wu, general manager of Applied Materials Taiwan.

Silterra touts fast ramp-up

Silterra Malaysia boasts it has begun manufacturing functional wafers just three weeks after qualifying the tool set at its new plant in Kulim. The company produced both logic and memory chips using its CMOS25 technology for 0.25-µm processes. The technology includes shallow trench isolation, low-resistance cobalt salicide, and five layers of metal with stacked vias. The successful launch put Silterra on target to begin full production in January. The company boasts that the new processes produced high yields for both of the qualifying devices. Silterra is providing customers with 0.25-, 0.22-, and 0.18-µm CMOS process technologies. Full-capacity production of 30,000 8-in. wafers per month is set to begin by 2002.

$40M set for Indian fab

A manufacturer of discrete microchips will spend $40 million to establish a fab for processing 6-in. wafers in India. Teamasia Semiconductors will build the fab in Hyderabad in southern India. Privately owned Teamasia is relocating a 5-in. fab from San Jose and converting it into the 6-in. facility by the middle of this year. The Indian manufacturer acquired the fab from IMP in San Jose last year when it raised its investment in the American firm to 62% with a $3.9-million stock purchase. At full production, the relocated facility will make both analog and mixed-signal devices on 360,000 wafers annually.

Europe

Ion Systems moves Euro HQ

Ion Systems of Berkeley, CA, has moved its sales and technical service office in The Netherlands to larger quarters in order to meet customer demand for its line of ESD control products and services. The new office is in Culemborg, approximately 30 miles south of Amsterdam. It will serve as a regional repair center for clients in Europe and Israel. Ion Systems will also expand its strategic resources program into Europe. The program provides ESD training, EMI audits, Canary reticle testing, and SEMI-E78 certification. Martin Heerschop, the company's director of European operations, will manage the office.

School receives COO software

Philips Semiconductors and Wright Williams & Kelly (WWK) have donated a license for advanced manufacturing software to the University of Technology in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The program is WWK's Two Cool product for both COO and overall equipment efficiency analysis. The university will use the program for students to conduct research in the Department of Technology Management. Philips is based in Eindhoven. WWK has offices in California, Texas, New Mexico, Japan, and Singapore.

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