Applied Materials has declared the extension of its Applied Reflexion CMP system to incorporate the planarization of tungsten films. This CMP system is involved in fabricating transistor contacts and vias in advanced NAND, DRAM, and logic devices.
Applied Materials is the only manufacturer of tungsten CMP system to offer closed-loop film uniformity and thickness control that is required to accomplish high production of advanced transistor designs.
Lakshmanan Karuppiah, Applied CMP, general manager, stated that fabrication of advanced chips has become a difficult task and involves added tungsten CMP stages and advanced process control. But the advanced on-wafer performance at an affordable cost of the Reflexion GT system helps chipmakers to overcome these problems. The use of Reflexion GT system for copper applications has indicated the significance of dual-wafer concept resulting in considerable market share gains in the chipmaking process, he added.
The unique dual-mode architecture of this system allows to process two wafers simultaneously on each polishing pad to improve volumes, thereby reducing consumable costs.
The system's advanced, real-time usage and end-point control capabilities offer outstanding profile repeatability and control.
Source: http://www.appliedmaterials.com/