AMD, Infineon Technologies, and UMC will work together to develop manufacturing platforms for logic devices on 300-mm wafers, the companies have announced. The trio of chipmakers will focus on 65- and 45-nm processes. The manufacturers will adapt the platforms for their individual production requirements.

The companies will initiate their collaboration at one of UMC's fabs in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The program expands on an existing agreement between Infineon and UMC to develop 180- and 130-nm process technology. Robert Tsao, UMC's chairman, claims the process development program will enable the chipmakers to be the first to offer advanced nanometer technologies on 300-mm wafers.

Sematech unveils guidelines

International Sematech has released draft guidelines to aid third parties in assessing conformance to 300-mm standards. The guidelines feature test processes written to help accreditation organizations certify whether process equipment conforms to the standards. The goal is to save the industry from redundant testing, says Scott Kramer, Sematech's director of manufacturing methods and productivity. "We can save our member companies the time and expense of testing the same tools that their neighbor down the street just tested."

The guidelines will be complete by the end of 2002, Sematech says. The consortium plans to work with outside entities to find the organization that will administer the certification process. Information: www.sematech.org/public/resources/stds/certification.htm.

Foundry finds supply partner

A Japanese foundry owned by Hitachi has teamed with a specialist in supply chain logistics to expand the reach of the foundry's single-wafer 300-mm technology. California-based Supply Logic will act as the exclusive business development agent for Trecenti Technologies of Hitachinaka, Japan, outside Asia under the terms of the new partnership agreement. Trecenti began processing 300-mm wafers in March 2001 and gradually proved its ability to reduce silicon delivery time from three months to 30 days—or to as short as six days for expedited orders, notes Dean Strausl, Supply Logic's president.

Strausl founded the Semiconductor Supply Chain Association, recently renamed the Electronics Supply Chain Association. He says association members confronting continually shorter windows for product introductions struggle with the problem of foundry turnaround times. Trecenti has offered a solution, Strausl claims. "I had to prove it to myself. Trecenti broke with tradition in a big way and has built an entirely new environment for wafer fabrication from the ground up."

TEL debuts plasma tool

TEL has released a version of its plasma nitridation system for 300-mm wafers. The new Trias SPA produces high-density plasmas at low electron temperatures, the equipment manufacturer says. These attributes ensure damage-free processes at 400°C or lower. The system uses slot plane antenna (SPA) plasma, a technology based on radial line slot antenna microwave plasma developed by Tadahiro Ohmi of Tohoku University in Japan. The system also works with oxidation processes.

TEL claims the system solves the problem created when thinner and thinner films cause leakage currents to rise in processes at the 100-nm node and below. The new tool combines proprietary Telformula for oxide formation with SPA nitridation to create a nitrided gate oxide with an electrically equivalent oxide thickness of 1.1 nm or lower. The system lowers leakage currents by one order of magnitude over conventional oxide films, TEL says, and typical thickness nonuniformity is 0.7 to 1% for 0.8- to 1.5-nm ultrathin oxide.