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World Beat

Asia

New foundry taps Mattson

The "newest entrant into the Chinese foundry market" has purchased several rapid thermal process (RTP) tools and strippers from Mattson Technology, an executive of the company says. The Fremont, CA–based supplier has received orders for RTP and Aspen strip systems from the foundry. The factory will use the tools for submicron chip manufacturing processes such as bulk strip, postimplant strip, and annealing.

"The successful start-up of a new foundry requires rapid installation of tools and consistent logistics support," says Bruno Dotsch, senior director of Asian operations for Mattson. The supplier has begun shipping the systems. The large sale marks the start of a long-term business relationship, according to Mattson. The vendor has installed its front-end tools in "every major foundry in China," Dotsch adds.

Air Products begins installation

Air Products of Lehigh, PA, has begun installing gas supply equipment at Samsung's Line 12 fab in Hwasung, South Korea. The supplier's Asian subsidiary, Han Yang Technology (HYT), made the $6 million equipment sale in December 2002. The 300-mm fab is being fitted with bulk specialty gas systems for nitrogen trifluoride, ammonia, and other gases. Valve manifold boxes and piping from the specialty gas systems are also being installed. HYT will oversee on-site operation.

Air Products bought a majority stake in HYT in 1999. The supplier, South Korea's leading manufacturer of specialty gas equipment, became part of Air Products' electronics equipment solutions division. The acquisition has helped the business unit to win 50% of its contract bids in 2002, Air Products says.

ASML sells to ASMC

ASML has received an order from Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (ASMC) in Shanghai for three lithographic tools. ASMC will use the two PAS 5500/250 systems and one PAS 5500/300 system for volume production of devices with 250-nm features, according to the Dutch supplier. The installation is part of an expansion plan at the 200-mm wafer foundry. ASML did not disclose the total value of the order.

Partners focus on inspection

Feinfocus has teamed with a leading Malaysian R&D institution, installing one of the vendor's x-ray inspection tools in the institution's failure analysis lab. MySem will use the .20 x-ray inspection system to analyze interconnect materials, construction, and defects in microelectronics applications. MySem was established in 1999 at Kuala Lumpur's Technology Park Malaysia to foster local technological growth. Feinfocus is headquartered in Stamford, CT.

Asia/Europe

DHL to handle FSI goods

DHL Express will deliver spare parts for FSI International in Europe and Asia under the terms of an agreement between the two firms. Based in Plantation, FL, DHL will serve as logistics provider for the spare-parts operations of FSI, which specializes in surface conditioning equipment for microelectronics manufacturing. Its products include immersion, spray, and vapor tools for wafer cleaning. The company assumed direct control of sales through logistics support in March 2003 for its products in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim.

Touting its U.S. operations, DHL says it has the capability to deliver spare parts to almost every major fab in the United States within two to four hours. DHL operates a 24-hour network of 300 spare-parts centers around the world.

Middle East

Tower taps KLA-T tools

The recent installation of KLA-Tencor yield-analysis software at its fab in Israel will help the foundry to better meet customer time-to-market windows, Tower Semiconductor says. The foundry's Fab 2 in Migdal Haemek plans to ramp up production of its 130-nm copper CMOS process and 180-nm aluminum CMOS process. KLA says the Klarity ACE software program will also help improve forecasts of yields on future wafer runs. The program collects and sends data from sources such as process equipment, defect detection systems, and parametric control systems to a centralized database. Engineers can then mine the data for root-cause analysis of yield problems, KLA-T says.