INDUSTRY NEWS

Selete installs implanter

Selete, the Japanese 300-mm consortium, is evaluating a high-current ion implanter from Varian Associates. The SHC-80 implanter has been installed at Selete's facility in Kanagawa. According to Varian, the system is the only high-current implanter to process wafers serially. Unlike batch processing, serial implantation reduces the risk of damaging an entire batch of wafers, the vendor points out. It also eliminates the use of dummy wafers required by batch implanters. In addition, wafers placed in the tool can be implanted at angles from —60° to 60°, giving the system flexibility. The implanter's broad ribbon beam and lower beam current density can minimize particle generation, according to Varian. Gressi-CNET's fab in Grenoble, France, was the first to install the SHC-80. The implanter has also been in use at the European 300-mm project, SEA-300. Austin, TX—based I300I, the Sematech-related consortium, has implanted wafers with the system installed at CNET.

Fabs qualify RTP tool

Two 300-mm fabs, one in Japan and one in Europe, have qualified the AST 3000 RTP system from Steag AST Elektronik for production. Both systems are running pilot production thermal donor annihilation processes on 300-mm wafers, Steag says. The tools passed critical acceptance tests by processing 300-mm wafers at 1200°C for 2 minutes "without incurring any slip dislocations on the wafer," notes Peter Muenzinger, the vendor's marketing manager. The tool uses dual-side heating and advanced temperature control that prevents the large substrates from slipping. Throughput is more than 75 wafers per hour, according to Steag.

Equipe tool gets Leica nod

Leica has agreed to integrate an Equipe wafer-handling system in its new 300-mm wafer review and inspection station. Leica has installed a prototype of the review and inspection system at the I300I tool demonstration facility in Austin, TX. Equipe's AFE series of 300-mm front-end wafer-handling systems offer Class 1 or better levels of cleanliness, according to the vendor. The systems combine SEI 15.1 load ports and Equipe's ABM400 triple-axis transfer robot, TRA series single-axis linear track, PRE300 series prealigner, and a controller. Equipe was bought by PRI Automation of Billerica, MA, in February 1998.

GaSonics opens lab

GaSonics has opened an applications laboratory for the vendor's line of etch and deposition equipment. The company has installed its Millennia 300-mm photoresist removal tool and a Rudolph thickness measurement system in the facility. The lab, which is located at the company's headquarters in San Jose, contains 1500 sq ft of Class 10 cleanroom space. GaSonics will use the facility to refine Millennia's process capabilities and characterize the tool's 3-kW downstream microwave source, which can be extended for use on 0.13-µm processes. In addition to photoresist removal, the system can be used for residue removal and isotropic etch applications. GaSonics says I300I recently demonstrated 0.25-µm processes with the tool. The four-module system accommodates both 13- and 25-wafer front-opening pods.

Veeco, KLA tools go to Dresden

The Siemens-Motorola joint venture for 300-mm development has placed an order for several metrology systems from Veeco Process Metrology. The order from Semiconductor 300 includes the automated Dektak SXM-320 critical-dimension AFM and Dektak Series V stylus profiler tools. The systems will be installed at the chipmakers' 300-mm fab in Dresden, Germany. Delivery was scheduled for the first half of this year.

Semiconductor 300 also is testing the recently introduced OmniMap RS-100 from KLA-Tencor. The vendor says the tool is the industry's first production-ready resistivity measurement system for 300-mm wafers. The system is designed for wafer characterization and production monitoring in processes such as metallization, epitaxy, and diffusion. The tool is capable of characterizing film to within 1 mm of the film edge, according to KLA-Tencor.

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