Corning Unveils New Product for Use in Making High-Speed Computer Chips - HPFS photomask substrate - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Nov 8, 1999

Corning Incorporated Monday launched a new product for use in the manufacture of today's most advanced computer chips. HPFS photomask substrates, made from an ultra-pure glass, are used by integrated chip manufacturers as a type of stencil to transfer extremely detailed circuit patterns onto silicon wafers using optical lithography. This new product complements Corning's growing HPFS optical-lens business, which also serves the advanced optical lithography market.

Corning's HPFS photomask substrate offers advantages of better critical dimension uniformity as well as better yields from krypton-fluoride and argon-fluoride laser lithography systems. These are the advanced technologies used to manufacture today's high-speed chips. The purity of the material is in the parts-per-billion range and the excellent homogeneity of HPFS photomask substrates is ideally suited for current and future generations of photomask applications. The product is supported by Corning's world-leading metrology capability.

"We are building on more than 50 years of experience in research and manufacturing of fused silica for leading-edge technology applications," said Randall D. Price, executive vice president, Advanced Materials. "We are also building our portfolio of semiconductor materials to bring value to our customers and provide them with enabling materials of strategic necessity."

Corning certifies transmission at 248 nm and 193 nm, transmission uniformity (<1%) and low birefringence (<2nm/cm on 6025 substrates). Process capability includes large sizes of up to 230 mm square with material available as polished, ready-to-coat or as a ready-to-polish blank. FMI: www.hpfs.corning.com

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 1998 were $3.5 billion. More information on the company is available at www.corning.com.