Notes from Semicon West, part 1

Doom and gloom were the order of the day at Semicon West, held this week in San Francisco. The show began with SEMI's announcement of the mid-year consensus forecast for semiconductor equipment industry. SEMI members expect the industry will ship US$31 billion of new chip manufacturing, test, and assembly equipment in 2001, down 35% from the US$47.7 billion posted in 2000. The forecast also anticipates 11.6% growth in 2002, and robust 22.5% growth in 2003.

Attempts to find a silver lining focused on the opportunities for process development and other research in this year's relatively calm environment. Both fabs and equipment makers have excess capacity, at least some of which can be redirected to longer term projects. When the industry comes back, suppliers and customers alike need to be ready with solutions for technical challenges.

For several years, Applied Materials has offered complete processes to accompany its manufacturing equipment. The company's new Process Module strategy goes a step further, adding metrology and inspection systems to the mix. Integration of these systems supports feedback and feed forward process control within each module. For example, the copper wiring module includes barrier/seed deposition, electrochemical plating, and chemical mechanical polishing.

More interesting from a technology standpoint, Applied Materials introduced atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology in its Sprint Plus tungsten deposition system. The ALD chamber deposits a smooth defect-free surface, providing a conformal seed layer for the subsequent CVD fill process.

Companies with less far-reaching internal capabilities are turning to partnerships and alliances for process integration. Ultratech Stepper, Varian Semiconductor, and Tokyo Electron Limited established an advanced technology center dedicated to ultra-shallow junction formation for the sub-70 nm technology node. The proposed junctions will use Varian's ion implant and plasma doping, annealed by laser thermal processing from Ultratech's Verdant Technologies division. A PVD cap layer from Tokyo Electron will serve to stabilize the structure during the thermal process.