• Lead Story: Size of wafers isn't only thing that will get bigger, TI expert says
• Lefty: Chip shops chop-chop?
• Breakout: 'Simple' fluid-delivery invention prevents loss of precious process time, vendor claims
• World Beat:
  
  Asia: China growth poses problems; TEL, Ebara, Dainippon Screen form E-beam trio; Selete endorses Oasis data stream format

  Europe: Soitec improves SOI capability
• Chip Capacity Outlook: Crystal Ballroom Fabs
• Expansions and Acquisitions: Ionics buys Microbar wastewater business; ATMI, Matheson market three new gases; Edlon purchases Mattson plant; Daifuku North America now SK Daifuku; Millikin to build first-of-a-kind cleanroom supplies facility; Tegal acquires Sputtered Films; Physical Electronics, Evans Analytical complete merger; Cleanpak purhcases Servicor
• 300-mm Imperative: IMEC to set up foundry; Intel touts new fab's environmental friendliness; TI picks Hitachi etch system
• What's Going On: Semicon Korea, Photonics West, and more
• The MEMS Zone: Sarnoff Technology to make Sarcon Microsystems infrared sensor array
• 'Round the Circuit: 157-nm future is now; NIST backs solar wafers; IEEE solicits 2003 IITC papers; Richard Spanier receives SEMI Lifetime Achievement Award; IEST publishes minienvironment recommended practice

TOP 25 PRODUCT ALL-STARS

This year's Product All-Stars have been chosen. The selections, reflecting offerings in the IC and microelectronics manufacturing supply chain, include control valves, dispense units, sensors, wafer handling software, quartz heaters, regulators, steppers, wet cleaning systems, x-ray diffraction units, slurries, and antireflective coatings.

• SOI's sunny future

• Taking Control: Improving equipment productivity through on-product etch-process monitoring
• Facilities Technology: Reducing water consumption in semiconductor fabs
• BEOL Equipment: Using atomic layer deposition to
  prepare future-generation copper diffusion barriers
• Defect/Yield Analysis: Using real-time defect classification to investigate post-CMP cleaning processes

• Lead Story: International Sematech, SUNY-Albany ally with focus on EUV lithography
• Lefty: Nuts about bolts
• Breakout: Despite slump, Intel readies 'most-advanced' 90-nm process
• Breakout: Novellus looks to enter CMP market with purchase of SpeedFam-IPEC
• World Beat:
  
  Asia: Micronas gets UMC microchips; 1st Silicon joins RosettaNet consortium; Nagai becomes president of Inficon Japan

  Europe: EU launches SiGe CVD project; Okmetic cranks up SOI production; Tronic signs MEMS pact with LETI
• Photo Gallery: The big payback
• New Materials Roundup: TEL touts low-k success
• 300-mm Imperative: IBM opens advanced fab; SEZ receives spin-processor order; Selete buys Axcelis tool; TSMC approves Fab 12 funding; New Vision sells APC software
• 'Round the Circuit: Mapper Technology develops NGL system; cleanroom upsurge seen; Corning touts highest-res lens; NIST, Sematech book goes on-line; SEMI elevates Hadfield
• Expansions and Acquisitions: Nikon debuts inspection group; Axcelis to purchase Tritek; Philips to sell Spectris; Veeco, FEI to merge; Verteq creates separate batch, single cleaning units; Rigaku forms IC division; ASM, Accurel open SIMS lab; Johnson Matthey gas-purification group moves
• What's Going On: VMIC, Semicon Southwest, and more

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: 300-mm CMP/plating system, immersion cleaning system, copper annealing systems, chemical analyzer, automated immersion cleaning, defect review system, analysis/imaging workstation, digital mass-flow controller, gas-purification technology, linear slides and stages, overlay measurement system, elemental analyzers, thermometry instrument, filter housings, litho tool characterization, surface-preparation tools, catalytic steam-generation unit, atomic force microscope, film-thickness measurement, phase-shift mask monitoring, bottom antireflective coating
• Product Extra! Vendor offers wafer bow and stress-measurement option for thin-film analysis system; suppliers unit connects wafer ID system to SMIF loader; toolmaker introduces H₂O-vapor-assisted plasma technology; vendor catalog highlights cleanroom aluminum framing

• Scandals and single-wafer cleans
  

• Taking Control: Devising an APC strategy for metal sputtering using residual gas analyzers
• Critical Materials—Wafers: Monitoring epitaxial resistivity profiles without wafer damage
• FEOL Equipment: Minimizing pattern effects resulting from rapid thermal processing
• MEMS Lithography: Comparing wafer and yield performance of 1x steppers and scanners
• Green and Clean: Performing mean residence time analysis of CMP processes

  
  

• Lead Story: ALD technology is in the process of taking off ASAP
• Lefty: Live at Newport
• Breakout: Sematech steps up postoptical litho research with pending installation of extreme-UV tool
• World Beat:
  
  Europe: Intel greenlights Irish fab; Germany to fund Jenoptik, Lambda Physik EUV project; University of Manchester buys maskless tool; German wet bench firm launched; Entegris, Philips sign supply contract; Air Products opens Dutch center
  Asia: SMIC buys Electroglas probers; South Korean chipmaker orders SpeedFam tool
• Photo Gallery: Crystal clearer
• 300-mm Imperative: Infineon, Nanya sign memory pact; SEZ opens U.S. lab; Axcelis sells fusion tools; UMCi installs fab roof
• Expansions and Acquisitions: Novellus opens copper campus; Rudolph launches metrology business; Encompass buys TTI Silicon; Catalyst expands; PPT Vision, Electroglas form pact; BOC Edwards buys Semco; Brooks Automation, SAS ally; Schott purchases DuPont photoblank unit
• 'Round the Circuit: Met-Tech pushes gallium arsenide wafer recycling; Information Network sees gains in GaAs market; ASMC seeks 2003 technical papers
• What's Going On: AEC/APC, Semicon Taiwan, and more

• 'Copy exactly pervades everything we do:' An interview with Bruce Sohn, Intel's Fab 11X factory manager

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: Nanotechnology stepper, bung plug, metrology system, 300-mm single-wafer handling, low-k CVD units, on-site gas sources, wafer transfer system, liquid-level switches, digital control monitor, motion and machine controller, moisture standards, x-ray diffraction tools, liquid-flow sensors, pneumatic diaphragm pump, substrate-bonding machine, wafer-handling software
• Product Extra! Vendor offers fluorine generator qualification system; supplier publishes polyimide, thermoplastics catalog; vendor opens Web site on copper electrodeposition and chemical monitoring; company provides magnetron sputtering CD-ROM; manufacturer offers switches and sensors catalog

PRODUCTS IN ACTION

• Products in Action: New coupling design helps eliminate spillage, contamination in UHP chemical lines

SEMICON WEST 2002

• Exhibitors List: The show section features a list of San Francisco exhibitors and conference programs

• Lead Story: Researchers straining to develop silicon alternative to shrinks
• Lefty: I see
• Breakout: EUV lithography moves from lab to fab as Intel orders first beta tool from ASML
• Photo Gallery: Applied get modular
• 300-mm Imperative: Motorola, STMicro, Philips form CMOS alliance; Sematech pushes certification standards
• World Beat:
  

  Asia: Axcelis partners with Fudan University; SMIC picks Ion Systems ESD control gear; Boxer Cross extends relationship with Hermes-Epitek; Ashland streamlines Asian operations; Verteq sells copper cleaner to Asian R&D facility

  Europe: French university gets Tegal etch tool
• What's Going On: Semiconductor 2002, Semicon West, and more
• Expansions and Acquisitions: Brooks opens SoCal plant; Ion Systems buys Cornerstone; Hodess finishes expansion of Fairchild plant; Advanced Energy acquires Dressler HF Technik; Air Products/Kinetics Group team to install chemical developer at ASML lab; DPI buys BindKey Technologies; HPL purchases Defect and Yield Management; Shipley developing photoresist center
• New Materials Roundup: DA NanoMaterials introduces slurry with low metals, sodium levels; Tegal touts advance in GaAs backside via etch
• 'Round the Circuit: Ashland raises chemical prices; downturn scrambles rankings; TEX lassoes TEL R&D job; report sees little market growth for thin-film deposition gear; Intel builds smallest SRAM

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: MEMS stepper; CD-SEM calibration standard; ion implanters; filter housings; lithography optics materials; lithography APC package; point-of-use emissions system; controlled-resistivity ceramics; gas saver; mag-drive pumps; fluorine chemical sensor; vessels, linings, coatings; in-line digital display; low-pressure monitor; sticky mat
• Product Extra! Metrology toolmaker introduces ultraflat profiling technology for atomic force profilers; supplier provides electrical connector for sensor series; manufacturer offers O-ring catalog; vendor publishes resource guide on vibration isolation system; instrument maker upgrades on-line store to allow real-time order tracking

• Lead Story: Green center aims to help chipmakers clean up their act
• Lefty: The sands of time
• Breakout: Study results prompt SIA to examine whether fab chemicals imperil workers' health
• Photo Gallery: Small harvest, big future
• 300-mm Imperative: Trikon sells tool to Taiwanese foundry; Japanese consortium orders SFam-IPEC polisher
• World Beat:
  

  Europe: ON Semiconductor to build Slovakian fab
  Middle East: Tower produces 0.18-µm chips
  Asia: SAES opens Shanghai plant; DuPont Photomasks to install production line in China; Rhetech appoints Seki Technotron as China sales rep; Philips opens new plants in Shanghai
• What's Going On: Semicon Singapore, Intl. Interconnect Technology Conference, and more
• Expansions and Acquisitions: HPL Technologies to acquire TestChip Technologies; MKS purchases Emerson's ENI division; BOC Edwards to buy Hydromatix, form liquid abatement business; Advanced Energy acquires Aera; Rockwood buys American Silicon Products
• 'Round the Circuit: Philips, STMicro, TSMC form 90-nm team; Information Network sees '02 tool growth; SMIC produces wafers with 180-nm chips; drought imperils Taiwan fabs
• New Materials Roundup: Motorola transfers 0.35-µm process to Atmel; Dow Corning debuts thin-film program; SiLKnet Alliance to test SEZ tools

TECHNICAL VIEWPOINT

• Technical Viewpoint: Improving cost of ownership and performance of CMP process and consumables

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

• Brave New Materials: Experimenting with new cleaning technologies for use in semiconductor manufacturing
• Tool/Fab Automation: Investigating FOUPs as a source of ESD-induced electromagnetic interference
  

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: Spin coater, 316L components, conveyor system, industrial lasers, solenoid valve, PTFE tubing, OEM breadboards, sensor bus controller, modular cleanrooms, polyimide dispense unit, connectivity systems
• Product Extra! Vendor releases upgraded version of yield-enhancement software; supplier offers technical note on sensor integration, analysis system; partners offer on-line ESH training; manufacturer provides info on fluid-dispensing systems in several languages; components maker publishes vacuum catalog

• Lead Story: Service plans promise big cost savings for strapped chipmakers
• Lefty: An explosive discovery
• Breakout: Let's do the numbers
• Obituary: Walter H. Mathews
• Breakout: ASMC 2002: Bottom-line concerns are reflected in technical conference submissions
• Breakout: Following intensive R&D effort, MEMC begins mass production of first 'defect-free' wafer
• World Beat:
  

  Europe: IMEC extends litho program; ASML assures supply of 193-nm imaging systems
  Asia: Electroglas plans move to Singapore; Sumitomo Metal Industries, Mitsubishi Materials merge silicon wafer operations; Samsung readies SOC ICs; Dongbu Electronics to qualify 130-nm CMOS process
  
• 300-mm Imperative: AMD, UMC to build fab in Singapore
• What's Going On: AEC/APC conference, IEEE/SEMI ASMC conference, and more
• 'Round the Circuit: Top toolmakers' revenues tumble; ASTM changes name; Novellus reorganizes executive staff; litho book published

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

• Taking Control: Achieving process understanding and real-time fault detection on a PVD tool
• Defect/Yield Metrology: Characterizing and monitoring copper CMP using nondestructive optoacoustic metrology
• Critical Materials—Wafers: Using optical technology to detect subsurface wafer damage and its effect on epitaxial layers
• Green and Clean: Investigating an integrated approach to etch emissions management
  

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: Plasma etch tool, wafer backside inspection, DUV CaF₂ lenses, gas regulator, deep-UV laser source, temperature measurement, vacuum inlet/exhaust trap, surface-inspection camera, GaAs wafer reclaim, reliability software, vibration-isolation platform, vortex flowmeters, process management software, boron analyzer
• Product Extra! Manufacturer improves OEM interface capability of FOSB; supplier publishes brochures on gas-flow control products; companies establish product demo lab for turbomolecular pumps; vendor publishes brochure on high-purity fluid-containment products

SEMICON EUROPA 2002

• Lead Story: SPIE Microlithography: Contamination, metrology, 157-nm topics share focus at yearly meeting
• Lefty: Sub mission
• Breakout: Analysts foresee rough times ahead for chip equipment, materials suppliers
• World Beat:
  

  Asia: Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Oki Electric, Matsushita to form company to produce next-generation chips; SMIC buys Applied ion implant system; Luxtron opens service center in Japan

  Europe: SensArray hires Veonis Technologies to sell tools in Europe

  Israel: Avant! and Tower to develop library products for 180-nm process
  
• What's Going On: SPWCC, Semicon China, and more
• 300-mm Imperative: MEMC readies production; Sematech to use Applied CMP tool; IC manufacturer to incorporate Mykrolis MFC in 300-mm tool set; SEZ bags Taiwanese customer
• Photo Gallery: School's open
• 'Round the Circuit: Johns Hopkins researchers create fast IC that uses light beams; McIlvaine foresees stingy cleanroom market; IEST revises cleanliness RPs
• Expansions and Acquisitions: Gems grabs Setra Systems; Ashland unit buys SEZ, Hitachi tools; Process Tech acquires Lufran; Alpine Research Optics to build new campus; IMT enlarges fab; Philips opens metrology site
• New Materials Roundup: Dow Chemical hosts low-k summit; Exsil reclaims GaAs wafers
• SPIE Microlithography 2002: Exhibitor list
• On Display: FSI gets USDC cleaning system contract
  

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

• Brave New Materials: Using a cryogenic aerosol process to clean copper, low-k materials without damage
• Behind the Mask: Implementing simulation-based mask-qualification technology
• ITRS Update: Examining upcoming yield enhancement challenges in the 2001 roadmap
  

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

• Products: Mask pattern generation tool, optical displacement sensor, mass-flow gas meters, sample preparation system, fan/filter unit, metrology tool, ArF excimer laser, ultrasonic level sensors, electrostatic voltmeter, piezoelectric motors, cleanroom gowning racks, air showers and tunnels, fluid-handling components, O-ring-less seal adapter, etch residue remover, pattern generation tool, wafer transfer/loadlock system, tool-conditioning oven, TEM sample preparation system, 300-mm transport system, wall-mount gas purifiers, ionized PVD retrofit kit
• Product Extra! Vendors offer hardware and software tool for capturing and archiving process data; companies add e-diagnostics capability to data analysis software; components maker opens Web site on PVA brush rollers; supplier publishes handbook on sealing materials; vendor offers CD-ROM on pressure, temperature instruments; manufacturer of fluid-dispensing tools institutes e-mail shipment notification system; supplier provides brochure on electric heaters, temperature sensors; vendor offers flowmeter Web site; supplier launches Web site in Japanese

• Building blocks