Applied Materials, Inc. today released its Applied
Tetra™ Reticle Clean, the industry’s only wet clean
system that delivers damage-free, >99% particle removal
efficiency for 32nm-and-beyond photomasks. Enabling customers to exceed
32nm specifications for critical mask cleaning applications, the
compact Tetra Reticle Clean system also sets a new standard for
productivity, offering up to four times the throughput of any competing
system.
“Conventional photomask cleaning systems have not
been able to meet the challenge of cleaning leading-edge masks
effectively without damaging them,” said Ajay Kumar, general
manager of Applied Materials’ Mask Etch and Cleans product
division. “We’ve overcome this technology barrier
with the Tetra Reticle Clean system, enabling mask makers to achieve
the rapid cleaning performance they need while maintaining the mask
feature integrity and phase control that their customers
demand.”
The Tetra Reticle Clean system’s remarkable
performance, which has already been validated in a 45nm production
environment, is the result of several innovations in cleaning
technology. The system features a unique, flexible design and
sulfur-free, advanced ammonia-based cleaning agents that combine to
maximize photoresist and particle removal without damaging the mask.
Proprietary Uniform Cavitation Megasonics™ (UCM) technology
distributes energy evenly over the entire mask surface, avoiding the
damage-causing spikes generated by traditional point-source
megasonic[1] cleans. The Tetra Reticle Clean system also introduces
NanoDroplet™ technology which utilizes a unique nozzle design
to create small, uniform, high-momentum droplets that evenly distribute
energy and help deliver 32nm-and-beyond cleaning performance.
The benchmark high throughput of the Tetra Reticle Clean
system is enabled by its ability to treat both sides of the mask
simultaneously, cutting process time in half compared to other cleaning
systems. This feature enables extendibility to future mask generations
by allowing different chemistries to be used on each side without
mixing. The system can be configured with multiple processing modules,
offering mask makers the capacity to eliminate processing bottlenecks
and reduce cycle times. For more information on the Applied Tetra
Reticle Clean, visit www.appliedmaterials.com/products/reticle_clean_4.html.
The Tetra Reticle Clean system is part of Applied’s
expanding portfolio of photomask manufacturing and inspection
solutions. The Applied Tetra Reticle Etch system is used by virtually
every advanced mask shop in the world for 45nm photomask development
and production. The Applied Aera2™ Mask Inspection system,
just announced today, enables customers to immediately see what pattern
will be printed on the wafer. These solutons will be showcased at the
Applied Materials Technical Forum in Yokohama, Japan, on April 15
during SPIE Photomask Japan 2008. Visit www.appliedmaterials.com/2008_PMJ.