fwiw,
semibiznews.com
Atmel orders ASML step-and-scan for
0.18-micron production; other new deals
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story updated 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m., PST, 7/29/99
SAN JOSE -- Atmel Corp. here today announced that it has ordered several of ASM Lithography's
latest deep-ultraviolet and i-line step-and-scan photolithography systems.
Atmel plans to convert its Rousset, France, fab from its current 0.25-micron production capacity to
more advanced production capacity at 0.18-micron and below, said T.C. Wu, Atmel's executive vice
president of technology. Atmel will add enough 0.18-micron capacity to fabricate approximately
20,000 eight-inch wafers per month by the end of 2000, he added.
Some of the equipment in these orders have already been shipped and installed in the Rousset fab.
Atmel selected ASML's PAS 5500 family of step-and-scan systems because they "demonstrated
high productivity and the superior overlay performance needed to enhance the cost competitiveness
of our IC manufacturing processes at the 0.18-micron technology node and below," said Wu.
For the past year, Atmel has been developing a 0.18-micron (drawn) process for high-performance
logic and non-volatile memory.
The DUV systems are specified for 0.18 micron and the i-line systems for 0.28 micron resolutions.
All the systems are capable of processing more than one hundred 200-mm wafers per hour, and
designed to achieve cost-effective, mix-and-match lithography solutions. |
