INDUSTRY NEWS

'ROUND THE CIRCUIT

ESH award offered anew

Three semiconductor industry organizations are offering a $5000 award again this year to encourage environmentally conscious research. The Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), Semiconductor Safety Association (SSA), and International Sematech are offering the award for the most promising chipmaking research that integrates environmental, safety, and health concerns. Entries will also be judged on productivity, cost, and throughput issues. The entry deadline is January 31, 2000. The 1997 winners were Farhang Shadman and Gary Chen of the University of Arizona, who researched a novel photocatalytic method for purifying and recycling ultrapure water. John Bevan and Chris Hartz of Texas A&M's chemistry department won in 1998 for developing a new method to destroy and remove PFC emissions from all semiconductor etch processes. The technology is set for commercial introduction. The 1999 award will be presented in April 2000 at SSA's annual conference in Arlington, VA. Applications and information on the SRC/SSA/Sematech ESH Excellence award are available at http://www.sematech.org/public/news/eshaward/eshaward.htm.

Fabless group picks advisers

Executives from Chartered Semiconductor, TSMC, and Applied Materials are among those named to the new board of advisors of the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA). The board was formed to help plot the association's future direction. The advisers will report directly to FSA's board of directors and staff. Advisory group members include Mike Rekuc, North American president of Chartered Semiconductor; Ronald Norris Sr., TSMC's vice president of worldwide marketing and sales; Jim Kupec, president of United Microelectronics; Franz Janker, group vice president of corporate marketing for Applied Materials; and Dan DelRosario, vice president of sales and marketing for Photronics. FSA was established in 1994 and has more than 240 corporate members. Its mission is to support fabless manufacturing through several methods, among them encouraging the relationships between chipmakers and suppliers, and fostering the development of standards. Information: http://www.fsa.org.

New cleanroom book published

An examination of international standards, a discussion of energy-saving concepts, and guidance on the use of high-purity gases are among the issues covered in the latest edition of a cleanroom design book published by the U.K. branch of Wiley. The 13 chapters of Cleanroom Design, Second Edition address a range of topics. These include the design of clean and containment areas, microelectronics cleanrooms, high-efficiency air filtration, water purification techniques, and pipe-work materials. Figures and tables are interspersed throughout the 305-page book, which was edited by W. Whyte of the University of Glasgow and written by contributors from Europe and the United States. The volume also has chapters on cleanroom design for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Information: e-mail, cs-books@ wiley.co.uk.

Moto claims mask advance

Motorola claims it has developed large-area photomask technologies that will enable chip manufacturing below 0.1-µm geometries. The technologies work for both electron projection and extreme UV lithography. They require new materials and processes, Motorola says. For electron projection, the mask comprises a membrane approximately 1000 Å thick and an overlying patterned surface material. The surface material scatters electrons to create an image of the pattern on the wafer. For EUV masks, the method requires a reflective multilayer mask blank. A very thin absorbing material pattern is created on the blank to project the image. Motorola developed the technologies with Intel and AMD, its partners in the EUV LLC consortium. The consortium collaborated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories to develop the technology for the multilayer EUV mask blanks. The chipmaker demonstrated both the EUV mask and electron projection methods in June. It plans to eventually transfer the processes to mask suppliers. Information: http://www.motorola.com.

CAD software yields results

Texas Instruments says that a CAD program developed by PDF Solutions has led to better yields and has shortened the time needed to integrate new IC designs into the manufacturing process. Called Circuit Surfer, the software is the first commercial statistical design program to contain detailed knowledge of the fabrication process, according to the San Jose­based software provider. The program gives designers of both analog and mixed-signal circuits "insights into how manufacturing variations affect the electrical behavior of the IC," notes Carlo Guardiani, director of statistical design practice at PDF. The vendor and TI have been working together to develop the software. Laura Herriott, project leader of statistical design for mixed-signal products at TI, says Circuit Surfer and the chipmaker's statistical models enable the company's designers to "minimize the effects of process variation while meeting die-size goals." Information: http://www.pdf.com.

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