Tegal
Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of plasma
etch and deposition systems used in the production of integrated
circuits, MEMS, and nanotechnology devices, today announced that it has
received an order for a Tegal 6540 plasma etch tool from the
Pennsylvania State University. The Tegal 6540 system will be installed
in the Penn State Nanofabrication Laboratory, a National Science
Foundation National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network site, where
the plasma etch tool will be used to perform research on complex oxide
materials. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT), which is one of several
complex oxide materials being studied at Penn State, is a piezoelectric
material useful for fabricating MEMS devices such as wireless
communication switches in next-generation cell phone handsets, and
medical ultrasound transducers for diagnostic imaging.
According to Professor Theresa Mayer, Associate Director,
Materials Research Institute, and Professor of Electrical Engineering,
“Penn State University has extensive experience in the
deposition, etching, characterization, and integration of complex oxide
thin films for piezoelectric, pyroelectric, tunable dielectric, and
electro-optic device applications. The Nanofabrication Laboratory at
Penn State offers our academic and industrial users unique access to
these advanced processing capabilities. The Tegal 6540 plasma etching
system that we purchased will add significant new strengths, for
example the etching of thick PZT, to our growing suite of complex oxide
device fabrication systems.”
“Tegal is honored to have received an order from,
and to be associated with, the world-class Materials Research Institute
program on complex oxides at Penn State,” said Thomas Mika,
President & CEO of Tegal Corporation. “Our Tegal 6540
plasma etching system is being used world-wide for volume commercial
production, and also for research activities, for PZT-based devices.
PZT is being increasingly deployed in MEMS and other microelectronic
products for important new commercial applications, particularly in the
cellular handset market. We are pleased to be recognized by the
Materials Research Institute as a supplier of advanced plasma etching
technology that meets Penn State’s leading-edge research
needs, and we are also pleased we are known as a vendor capable of
supporting the expectations of Penn State’s industrial
partners for reliable processes and processing tools.”
The Tegal 6540 is a high-density plasma etch tool featuring
the unique HRe-™ reactor, and Tegal’s patented
dual-frequency RF power technology and magnetic plasma confinement. The
system is a critical enabler for etching noble metal electrode and
capacitor materials, including PZT, as well as other ferroelectric,
magnetic, high-K dielectric, compound semiconductor, and interconnect
materials.