INDUSTRY NEWS

'ROUND THE CIRCUIT

Students show their mettle

Student-faculty teams from 34 U.S. universities have submitted proposals for a novel contest established to accelerate the adoption of copper interconnect technology. Forty-four teams from universities boasting strong engineering colleges have entered the contest, called the SRC Copper IC Design Challenge. The high-tech tilt offers more than $150,000 in cash prizes and $850,000 worth of technical services and support for making the winning designs. The winners will be announced next July at Semicon West 2000 in San Francisco.

Entrants are required to focus on five areas: interconnect architecture, digital implementation, mixed-signal implementation, technology/components, and wireless/radio frequency. The cosponsors of the contest are Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), Novellus Systems, the UMC Group, and SpeedFam/IPEC. The sponsors hope to goose the introduction of copper in IC design at the 0.18-µm technology node.

The contest has two phases. Beginning in the fall 1999 semester, each team will submit paper designs for evaluation by the judges from the contest cosponsors. Up to five designs will be chosen for awards, and each winning university will receive $20,000 for IC design education. During phase two in the spring 2000 semester, the previous phase's winners will enter their layouts for fabrication by the UMC Group. The manufactured ICs will be returned to the contestants, who will then test and evaluate the devices before submitting performance data and discussing the data with the judges. Winners of both phases will present their designs in Phoenix at Techcon 2000 in September 2000. A first-place award of $30,000 will be made to the winning team's university. An award of $20,000 for second place will also be presented.

Judges will choose the winners based on a range of criteria that include design creativity, impact on future applications, and design efficiency. The interconnect architecture category has the most entrants, attracting teams from universities such as Carnegie-Mellon, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Oregon State, UC San Diego, and Yale. Information: http://www.src.org.

Pact pushes low-k advances

AlliedSignal Electronic Materials and Tokyo Electron (TEL) have agreed to collaborate on the development of processes and tools tailored for advanced low-k materials. The partnership taps TEL's expertise in manufacturing furnaces, dielectric etch, and spin-on equipment and AlliedSignal's acumen in low-k materials. Both companies note that the alliance will help them better serve their large global bases of advanced semiconductor manufacturers. AlliedSignal purchased TEL's low-k tool set and had installed the tools by early July in its low-k integration facility, which is located in Sunnyvale, CA. The purchase includes TEL's ACT 8 SOD coater, an Alpha-8SE low-k annealing system, and a Unity II etcher.

The plant, which opened on July 8, has begun processing wafers.

The two firms will focus on developing AlliedSignal's Nanoglas, Flare, and HOSP products using TEL's tools. The goal is to streamline customers' development cycles by providing complete integration data for the materials. The films are used as an insulating layer between metal lines in semiconductors, allowing chipmakers to make faster and smaller ICs by preventing electrical charges from crossing the lines. Spin-on deposition tools such as those made by TEL are widely used to apply low-k materials. Information: http://www.alliedsignal.com.

NIST nixes gas guesswork?

Scientists at NIST hope to take the guesswork out of calibrating the mass-flow controllers used in wafer processing. The institute's chemical science and technology laboratory is developing a technique that eliminates the need to approximate the properties of the more than 50 process gases used by chipmakers. NIST says the standard industry practice is to use nitrogen and other benign gases to calibrate the MFCs before fine-tuning the calibrations with models based on guesses of the properties of the individual process gases. NIST researchers are compiling an accurate database for process gases by measuring the speed of sound as it travels through the gases. The method provides accurate information about the heat capacity and the equation of state for each gas. The researchers then use these data to determine the density of a gas by measuring its temperature and pressure. Specialized acoustic measurements also reveal the gases' thermal conductivity, viscosity, and diffusion constants. Information: John Hurly, 301/975-2476.

China publishes source books

A new English-language directory lists approximately 5000 electronics manufacturers, importers, and exporters in China. The directory includes company names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, capitalization, annual revenues, and product lines. The 814-page book costs $195. Another directory published in 1998 lists more than 4000 computer companies and institutes in China. The book also contains companies and representatives' offices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries. The 923-page publication costs $199. Information is available from Hans Consultants; fax, +1530 5797132; http://China-ebusiness.webjump.com.

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