ASM International has received multiple orders for its plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) reactor from an Asian memory customer. The company qualified a PEALD oxide application with another memory manufacturer for the 2X nm node.
General Manager of ASM's Plasma Products business division, Tominori Yoshida announced that besides increase mass production, the company’s portfolio of production-ready PEALD applications support memory manufacture in the 1X nm node.
The systems ordered by a major customer will enable bulk manufacturing and will be incorporated at multiple Asian facilities. The reactors will help deposit dielectrics to be used in advanced lithography double patterning applications at the 3X nm and below node. The company has qualified an oxide application for an advanced PEALD SiO layer for production at the 2X nm and below node. It is expected to commence mass production later this year for another Asian production company.
The reactors have been optimized to deposit dielectrics such as SiO, SiN and SiCN. It can also deliver conformal thin films at reduced temperatures to enable double patterning lithography technologies that involve thin dielectrics deposition over photoresists that are sensitive to temperatures to monitor important dimensions control and lower pitch.
The systems include multiple PEALD reactors installed on the company’s XP platform. The XP can be configured with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), thermal ALD or PEALD reactors.