Tegal Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems used in the production of integrated circuits, MEMS, and nanotechnology devices, announced it had received an order for an Endeavor AT(TM) PVD cluster tool from a top-tier MEMS foundry located in Europe. The Endeavor system will be installed in the customer's recently-expanded 150mm MEMS fab, and will be used to produce MEMS devices for the telecommunication, automotive, biomedical, and consumer electronic markets.
"The Endeavor PVD system was selected by our customer on the basis of the Endeavor's production track record, its versatility, and on the quality of the films that the Endeavor AT(TM) produces," said Thomas Mika, President & CEO of Tegal Corporation. "Tegal's MEMS customers, like this major MEMS foundry, are investing in expanded production capacity to support the surging demand for MEMS devices in applications such as cell phone handset silicon microphones, where unit shipments are expected to double, from 300M to 600M yearly, by 2009. Our Endeavor AT(TM) system was purchased to support these commercial MEMS fabrication needs."
The Tegal Endeavor AT(TM) system is a state-of the-art, ultra-high vacuum PVD cluster tool used in production fabs to deposit consistent, high purity films, with low to zero stress values, in an extremely clean process environment. These films are widely utilized in under-bump metallization applications, advanced packaging, power devices, photo masks (including EUV), high-brightness light emitting diodes (HB-LEDs), and in creating electro-acoustic devices for FBARs and RF MEMS. The Endeavor AT(TM) has an easy-to-use GUI, SECS/GEM communication, reliable low-contact wafer handling, and flexible wafer shape and size capability, that makes it ideal for ultra-clean production environments for both front-side and back-side applications. Optional damage-free soft-etch modules, and a variety of RF magnetron configurations, are available to sputter many different dielectric and conductive films used in semiconductor, MEMS, and other electronic device production.