Applied Materials,
Inc., the global leader in Nanomanufacturing Technology™ solutions
with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products
for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic
cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass, today announced its
new Applied Vantage® Astra™ millisecond anneal system, an important
breakthrough in transistor fabrication that enables faster, lower power consumption
devices. Targeted for creating the sensitive nickel silicide (NiSi) transistor
contact layers in 45nm and beyond logic chips, this state-of-the-art laser-based
system can enhance drive current and reduce gate leakage by an order of magnitude,
helping customers to significantly increase device performance and yield. The
Vantage Astra's compact design delivers more than twice the wafer output
of competing systems and the lowest available cost of ownership (CoO).
The new Applied Vantage Astra millisecond anneal system is an important breakthrough in transistor fabrication that enables faster, lower power consumption devices. (Photo: Business Wire)
“Applied's millisecond anneal technology will enable us to successfully
fabricate our customers' most advanced device designs,” said Dr.
Shang-Yi Chiang, senior vice president, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Limited (TSMC). “The Vantage Astra system is now TSMC's tool of
record for NiSi annealing in our 28nm logic processes.”
“We're building on Applied's decade of leadership in single-wafer
thermal processing to help our customers address critical transistor scaling
challenges,” said Steve Ghanayem, corporate vice president and general
manager of Applied's Front End Products business unit. “The Vantage
Astra system's novel, laser-based architecture sets new standards for
production-worthiness and provides a compelling value proposition for advanced
anneal applications.”
Key to the Vantage Astra system's groundbreaking performance is its novel
dynamic surface annealing (DSA) technology, an innovative thermal processing
method that abruptly raises the surface temperature of the wafer locally to
modify material properties at the atomic level. In less than a millisecond,
the Astra system can heat the wafer to over 1,000°C from a low, sub-200°C
starting point. This unique capability is essential for customers to create
optimum-quality NiSi films without any detrimental effect on the wafer.
The Vantage platform can be configured with two Astra millisecond anneal chambers
or one Astra chamber combined with a conventional RTP* RadiancePlus™ or
RadOx™ chamber. This unique flexibility allows customers to perform all
thermal processing steps – millisecond, spike and soak anneals, plus multiple
nitridation and oxidation applications – on the same production-proven
Vantage platform. For more information, visit http://www.appliedmaterials.com/products/fep_vantage_astra_dsa_4.html.