Applied gets $73M chartered order

Electronic News, Dec 8, 1997

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.--Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. of Singapore ordered $73 million worth of semiconductor production equipment from Applied Materials. The order, booked this fall, will begin to ship in the spring of 1998.

The new systems will be installed at Chartered's Fabs 2 and 3 in Singapore to produce devices, including SRAM and Flash memory products as well as digital logic and analog integrated circuits, using 0.35-micron and 0.25-micron geometries.

The big order follows $183 million in orders placed by other Asian chip makers, notably a $96 million order for Applied equipment by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Asia's first silicon foundry (EN, Nov. 24).

Chartered's order includes the following chip-making technologies:

* Endura physical vapor deposition (PVD) systems for aluminum and barrier metal deposition;

* Decoupled plasma source (DPS) systems for metal etching;

* DxZ Centura systems for dielectric chemical vapor deposition (CVD);

* WxZ Centura tungsten CVD systems;

* xR80 systems for ion implantation; and

* RTP Centura systems for rapid thermal processing.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is a member of Singapore Technologies Semiconductors, which provides a full range of design, wafer fabrication, assembly, test, marketing and distribution services.

Separately, Applied reported it has entered the fast-ramp production stage of its Dielectric Etch IPS Centura system with fully configured systems now being shipped to customers around the world, several of which are repeat orders. The IPS system has been qualified by several customers to etch their most difficult dielectric device structures including high-aspect ratio and self-aligned contacts. The system is also being used by customers to develop dielectric etch applications for dual damascene structures enabling copper metallization.

"Our first challenge was to develop the industry's most advanced dielectric etcher with a multiple-generation capability that will take us to at least 0.13-micron," said Joseph Bronson, president of Applied Materials' Etch Products Business group. "Then we spent more than a year working closely with several key development customers to assure total capability of the IPS system in high-volume production environments. We are now seeing repeat orders from these companies as we move beyond the beta phase.

"This strategy of limiting early system availability to a few key customers before beginning volume shipments enabled our earlier Metal Etch decoupled plasma source (DPS) Centura system to become one of Applied Materials' fastest ramping new products of recent years. Now that we are past the IPS Centura development phase, we expect to gain a leading position in advanced dielectric etching over the next several years as the industry shifts to complex dielectric structures that require the capabilities of this unique system," Mr. Bronson said.

Where Early Shipments Went

Early shipments of the system were made to customers in North America, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Additional IPS Centura shipments are scheduled to begin the first quarter of Applied Materials' fiscal 1998, with a full production ramp by summer of 1998.

The IPS system's inductively coupled, parallel plate etch technology was created specifically for high-aspect ratio dielectric etch applications. The system's new plasma source and chamber design ensure the vertical profiles and high selectivities required for high-aspect ratio dielectric etching, with excellent repeatability and without device damage. At the same time, consumables cost is below most other oxide etchers in existence, including all high-density plasma etchers. The system has demonstrated more than 3,000 wafers per chamber between wet cleans, and a cleaning and recovery time of less than four hours.