A n eight-page brochure from Durex Industries features the supplier's family of electric heaters and temperature sensors for semiconductor manufacturing. Featured products include bake platens for 200- and 300-mm wafers, bake/chill platens, hot chucks, and high-temperature platens. The products can be used in CVD, lithography, stripping, PVD, etching, wafer probing, and other processes. They're available for use by both OEMs and end-users. Prototyping, in-house foundry casting, and machining are among the services highlighted in the publication. Information: www.durexindustries.com. (Semicon West, S.F., South Hall, Booth 105)

Responding to 300-mm processing requirements, the EGsoft Division of Electroglas has upgraded its YieldManager software. Version 4.0 has a new user interface, new navigation functions, and expanded yield analysis capabilities. The upgraded program monitors an extended range of parameters and generates more data than the previous version. Further additional features include a graphical analysis flow tool, streamlined GUI, and Web-based query capabilities for SPC data acquisition. SPC monitoring rules can also be customized. Information: info@electroglas.com. (Semicon West, S.F., North Hall, Booth 5554; S.J., McEnery, Booth 10722)

The Plus Portal front-end tool from Asyst Technologies has been certified by Ion Systems as compliant with the SEMI E78-0998 ESD standard. The system enables integration of OEM tools in advanced fab automation systems. The tool can combine loadports, automated ID technology, software, environmental control, and wafer handlers. Information: www.asyst.com. (Semicon West, S.F., South Hall, Booth 1338)

Veeco Metrology has added ultraflat profiling to its automated atomic-force profilers for CMP processing at the 90-nm node and below. The enhancement combines high-resolution atomic-force profiling, an ultraflat vacuum wafer chuck, and particle-reduction hardware. These capabilities help eliminate nonplanarity caused by wafer warping, stress, and backside contamination. Information: www.veeco.com. (Semicon West, S.F., South Hall, Booth 702)

General Chemical's Electronic Chemicals Group is phasing out products containing perfluoroalkyl sulfonate (PFAS) by the end of 2002 and replacing them with PFAS-free process chemicals. The vendor is offering the PFAS-free products for sample qualifications. The decision to reformulate its line of chemicals to eliminate PFAS comes in response to an EPA announcement requiring manufacturers and importers to report such substances to the U.S. agency. The new formulations include a variety of specialty etchants for processing ICs with geometries below 0.35 µm. Information: electronics@genchemcorp.com. (Semicon West, S.F., North Hall, Booth 6068)

Thermo Nicolet has integrated 300-mm connectivity software from Cimetrix in its advanced metrology products. Cimetrix's CIMConnect and CIM300 are now available in Thermo Nicolet's ECO 3000 Fourier transform IR testing tool for 300-mm wafers. The CIM300 software communicates yield-related data for management and analysis. It supports SEMI standards E39, E40, E87, E90, and E94, and is compatible with GEM interfaces. The ECO 3000 FT-IR tool performs a wide range of advanced measurements. These include measuring dopant concentration levels in traditional dielectric films and in low-k dielectric films, as well as measuring hydrogen levels in silicon nitride films. Information: www.thermo.com/thermonicolet; www.cimetrix.com. (Thermo Nicolet, Semicon West, S.F., South Hall, Booth 2402; Cimetrix, S.F., South Hall, Booth 2963)

Entegris has introduced a new door for its 300-mm front-opening unified pod (FOUP). The F300 AutoPod door can accommodate variations in FOUPs and loadports at 300-mm fabs. The door's open-cover design facilitates cleaning and drying. To improve reliability, the new latch has fewer moving parts than the previous door latch. Information: www.entrigis.com. (Semicon West, S.F., North Hall, Booth 5944; S.J., McEnery Hall, Booth 10428)

Spectra-Physics has improved the beam-pointing stability of its Millennia-series lasers by more than a factor of two, to better than 2 microradians/°C. The Millennia 532-nm lasers come in output ranges of 2W to 10W. A new 10-W Millennia X model incorporates the manufacturer's ProLite-series diodes. The diodes last more than 10,000 hours at their rated power, and all Millennia lasers use a solid-state power supply with thermoelectric cooling. The power supply can be rack mounted. Information: www.spectra-physics.com. (Semicon West, S.F., South Hall, Booth 2402)

Manufactured for preparing calibration wafers and providing size references for patterned wafers, SURF-CAL standards from Duke Scientific are now available in 65- and 100-nm sizes. The NIST-traceable particle size standards feature two concentrations of submicron sizes for different deposition methods. A new label offers additional information such as peak diameter and other size information, in conformance with industry standards. A clean suspension eases aerosol deposition for lower background and baselines. Information: www.dukescientific.com.