INDUSTRY NEWS

Expansions and Acquisitions

SCP gives AMAT license

SCP Global Technologies has issued exclusive rights to Applied Materials for integrated applications for its single-wafer vapor drying technology. Seen as a way to extend process capabilities beyond that of conventional spin rinse drying, the companies say that the vapor-drying innovation gets rid of watermark defects and fosters an order-of-magnitude improvement in device reliability in copper/low-k chips at the sub-100-nm nodes. Applied has already begun to install the SCP process into advanced post-CMP cleaning systems found on its Reflexion LK CMP tool.

"By integrating SCP's vapor-drying technology on our system, we've made it possible to polish advanced copper devices using low-k (k of <3.0) films with low defects and high yields," notes Russell Ellwanger, vice president and general manager of Applied's planarization and plating products group. "This collaboration with Applied Materials demonstrates the increased importance of advanced surface preparation and drying technologies to other critical process steps," adds SCP president and CEO Mark Peterson. "Applied's investment in SCP is the first step in what we hope is a long and mutually prosperous relationship."

Brooks, Schneider team up

Brooks Automation and Schneider Electric have formed an alliance to offer advanced process control solutions for semiconductor manufacturing. The two companies will focus on the joint development of new sensor technologies that improve wafer-fabrication process quality. Joint sales and marketing efforts will be a part of the alliance, and Schneider will also become an authorized reseller of certain Brooks products. The companies say that the partnership will bring together the tool-level APC focus of Schneider's in situ monitors and end-point, RF, and plasma detectors with Brooks's suite of APC software, robotics, full-fab systems, and other PC-based automation solutions between the tool and enterprise levels.

"With all the new variables [of 300-mm wafers], fabs have yet to achieve the same level of quality or yield as they did with 200-mm wafers," explains John Scoville, Brooks's director of equipment engineering systems. "That's why the development of new sensor technologies is so important, and why integrating sensor data is critical. We have to make advances at both the tool level and the factory level to achieve the promise of 300 mm."

Oxford, Hi-Tech get a grip

A new coating technology that improves semiconductor wafer handling is the result of joint development work by Oxford Performance Materials and Hi-Tech Mold and Tool. An ultrapure high-performance thermoplastic OXPEKK polymer, injection-molded around the tip of a stainless-steel wafer-edge grip, maintains rigidity with little contamination and wear over hundreds of thousands of gripping cycles. The two companies worked together to develop the overmolding process.

"The OXPEKK wafer-edge grip process has doubled the life span of the wafer grippers," says Lynne Thoma, Oxford's R&D director. "In addition to decreased wear, distortion of the silicon wafer during gripping is noticeably decreased."

Praxair expands target biz

After spending $19 million, Praxair Electronics has finished its 300-mm PVD products expansion program. The company has enhanced and upgraded deposition materials manufacturing facilities in Orangeburg, NY, and Toulouse, France, increasing its sputtering target capacity by 25%. New 300-mm production equipment, state-of-the-art cleaning and packaging operations, and upgraded cleanrooms are among the enhancements completed at the two plants. Both factories have received ISO 14001 certification for complying with environmental standards. The company says it has improved 300-mm capabilities at the Orangeburg applications lab, installing a new PVD development system to test copper and tantalum targets under fablike conditions.

Mykrolis buys Aeronex

In a move to bolster its line of gas-handling components and subsystems, Mykrolis signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Aeronex, a San Diego–based supplier of gas purifiers. Jean-Marc Pandraud, Mykrolis's president and COO, believes that Aeronex's products "will dovetail well with our gas contamination control products.... We can leverage [our] extensive direct sales and support network to grow the Aeronex product lines, particularly in Asia and Japan." Jeff Spiegelman, president of Aeronex, says that "our combined R&D capabilities will allow us to offer complementary technologies to solve a wide range of gas purification problems." Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In another development, Mykrolis has signed an exclusive worldwide distribution agreement with Woodland, CA–based Bentec Scientific. Under the terms of the deal, Mykrolis will market Bentec's PVA polymer brush rollers used in post-CMP cleaning applications.

Fab Solutions scores funds

An NEC spin-off specializing in electron-beam metrology has secured additional venture funding. Fab Solutions, established in February 2002, has received an infusion of 725 million yen (about $6.7 million) from investors led by the Carlyle Group. The Kanagawa, Japan–based company markets an in-line E-beam tool called EB-Scope, which can detect nonvisual, yield-limiting defects. The initial applications for the system have targeted via and contact layers through the detection of changes in the film characteristics in high-aspect ratio structures. Kuniaki Togasaki, Fab Solutions' president and CEO, says the company plans "to use the proceeds of this funding round to continue refining and broadening our technology development programs and to accelerate the trial programs that we are working on with our partners and customers."