ACM Research, a US manufacturer of semiconductor equipment has just announced its first order from a leading U.S. chipmaker for its breakthrough Ultra Stress Free Copper Polishing technology (Ultra SFP)(TM). This order was announced at the opening of the semiconductor industry's annual Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS).
With shipment scheduled for April 2002, the order follows months of demonstrations and verifications and is further proof that this technology continues to garner rapid support and interest around the industry. The company proved their technology by successfully polishing device wafers with copper integrated with pure ultra low-k dielectrics under k=2.2. Company CEO David Wang claims "It's a winning solution that improves device speed and reliability when polishing copper on device wafers below 0.13micron geometries, particularly when integrating low and ultra low k dielectric materials."
Unveiled last year, ACM's Ultra SFP product line overcomes a major semiconductor industry challenge by addressing the physical limitations of conventional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) techniques in the sub 0.13micron feature sizes where extendibility is highly unlikely. Using conventional CMP processes on copper, device performance is negatively impacted by damages such as film delamination and ruptures in the copper lines due to the mechanical force applied during the polishing process.
These damages and defects induce major losses in terms of overall yield and have prompted many industry observers to conclude that CMP is Unextendable for copper polishing below the 0.13 micron technology node integrated with low and ultra low k dielectrics. ACM's ultra stress free polishing technology is the viable alternative.
ACM's ultra stress free polishing technology has the advantage that there is no contact with the wafer. Thus, device performance, reliability and yields are increased.
Furthermore, the cost of ownership is greatly reduced through the elimination of the use of slurries, pads, pad conditioning and other associated waste dispensing costs inherent with the CMP process.
ACM believe that they have overcome the drawbacks of conventional CMP on copper for next generation IC manufacturing technologies below 0.13 micron. They are now coupling their success in technology by partnering with our customers and equal effort in building an effective global infrastructure to support our products and customers around the globe. Major progress in terms of production capability, sales, distribution and support in Asia, Japan, Europe and the U.S., with further capabilities slated throughout the year."