Tegal Corporation (Nasdaq:TGAL),
a leading designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems used
in the production of power semiconductor, MEMS, and optoelectronic devices,
announced today that the Company received an order for an Endeavor AT PVD cluster
tool upgrade from a leading global manufacturer of power management components
for the communications, consumer electronics, and industrial markets. The Endeavor
AT PVD system upgrade will ship in the first quarter of CY2009, and will be
used by Tegal's customer to expand the suite of thin silicon wafer backside
metallization applications now running in volume production at the customer's
domestic, ISO-certified wafer fab.
“Our customer's successful production experience with the superior
wafer handling, film adhesion, and film eutectic creation capabilities of the
Endeavor AT PVD system on thin wafer backside metallization applications resulted
in this tool upgrade order, and we are pleased to have earned this repeat business,”
said Paul Werbaneth, Vice President - Marketing, Tegal Corporation. “Once
their Endeavor AT tool was released into volume production, our customer saw
demonstrable commercial advantages resulting from the S-Gun PVD processes running
on the Endeavor AT, and, as a result, have now decided to upgrade their Endeavor
tool in order to expand the process and production capabilities of the system.”
The Tegal Endeavor AT system is a state-of the-art, ultra-high vacuum PVD cluster
tool used in production fabs to deposit consistent, high purity films, with
low to zero stress values, in an extremely clean process environment. Low stress
films are widely utilized in backside metallization for power and discrete devices,
under-bump metallization applications, advanced packaging, high-brightness light
emitting diodes (HB-LEDs), and in creating electro-acoustic devices for BAW,
FBAR, and RF MEMS applications. The Endeavor AT has an easy-to-use GUI, SECS/GEM
communication, reliable low-contact wafer handling, and flexible wafer shape
and size capability, that make the Endeavor tool ideal for ultra-clean production
environments for both front-side and back-side applications. Optional damage-free
soft-etch modules, and a variety of DC, AC, and RF magnetron configurations,
are available to sputter the many different dielectric and conductive films
used in semiconductor, MEMS, and other electronic device production.