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SEZ Ships First Da Vinci? Single-Wafer Cleaning Tool to Major Taiwanese Semiconductor Foundry
Foundry leader to deploy SEZ's new DV-38F product for BEOL polymer clean of 300-mm wafers used in producing advanced ICs with copper geometries
VILLACH, Austria and ZURICH, Switzerland, November 4, 2003?The SEZ Group (SWX: SEZN), the market leader and premier innovator in single-wafer cleaning technology for the semiconductor industry, today announced the first shipment of its recently unveiled DV-38F system to a major Taiwanese foundry. The DV-38F single-wafer, wet-clean spin-processing tool is the first product that leverages SEZ's innovative Da Vinci? platform, a modular, multi-chamber architecture that delivers the proven process performance and high throughput needed for manufacturing next-generation devices with 90-nm and below design rules. The customer will use SEZ's DV-38F to conduct back-end-of-line (BEOL) polymer cleaning of 300-mm wafers containing copper-interconnect ICs.
The increasing demand for microchips with greater functionality produced at low-cost has sparked recent interest among the world's leading microchip manufacturers for new cleaning methods that ensure maximum yield at minimum cost of ownership. With Da Vinci systems now bringing these advantages to the marketplace, combined with increasing interest in single-wafer cleaning from SEZ's customers, the company is accelerating the completion of its full line of Da Vinci systems. SEZ's new Da Vinci tools will be introduced over the next two quarters. Featuring a "best-of-breed" combination of new and proven SEZ technologies, the complete Da Vinci Series will provide the company's current wet-clean process applications for both 200- and 300-mm high-volume production.
According to SEZ's chief marketing officer, Kurt Lackenbucher, shipping the DV-38F signals the increase in market demand for customized, single-wafer cleaning solutions. "As the industry advances to 90-nm and below technology nodes, chipmakers are looking for cleaning solutions that deliver maximum yields at a low cost of ownership. The DV-38F not only meets the stringent process performance requirements needed to overcome the critical cleaning challenges associated with the development of more complex ICs, but it also delivers the flexibility chipmakers need to run their fabs cost effectively. Our new Da Vinci family marks another step forward in SEZ's strategic roadmap to become a one-stop supplier of single-wafer processing solutions based on our proprietary Spin Processor technology."
The Da Vinci technology platform is designed to help speed the transition from multiple-wafer processing to single-wafer technology, which is being driven largely by the critical processing requirements associated with shrinking design rules and new materials like copper and low-k dielectrics. This holds especially true for chipmakers and foundries that are producing ICs with high aspect-ratio geometries at and below 90 nm, since batch technologies are not able to clean these structures as effectively as single-wafer tools. Da Vinci's footprint is the smallest viable footprint for a single-wafer system that still allows sufficient room for serviceability and maintainability. Moreover, the system delivers high-volume throughput using a proven robotic handler technology, enabling SEZ to approach the threshold of wet-bench capability, while maintaining optimal system uptime.
DV-38F Features and Benefits
The first product in the Da Vinci Series, the DV-38F is a multi-chamber system that performs BEOL polymer removal?a key processing step in cleaning during the manufacture of ICs?on the front side of up to eight 300-mm wafers simultaneously. In addition to delivering high throughput with single-wafer cleaning care, each section of the system is compartmentalized so that the input/output (I/O) transfer section can be swapped out without affecting the processing section, and the type and quantity of pods can be easily changed. To further facilitate adoption into production lines, the DV-38F system allows customers to choose their own process chemistries, rather than having to employ only specific chemistries sold with the platform. All of these capabilities result in faster cycle times and increased flexibility in lot scheduling, which reduce work in progress on the fab floor.
About SEZ Group The SEZ Group is the leading provider of single-wafer, wet-clean processing solutions for the global semiconductor industry, with an installed base of over 750 tools. The company maintains operations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Japan and North America. SEZ Holding AG is traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange under the symbol SEZN. Additional information about the company is available on the Internet at www.sez.com
Da Vinci is a trademark of SEZ.
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