Hi Peter: This looks quite natural to me, to happen simultaneously. The reason being, the technology "breakthroughs" such as IBM's copper chip and Intel's flash mem., are very difficult to exploit individually. Thus, one can expect to see technology changes, such as 300 mm wafers, Cu metallization, low dielectric constant insulators (where Trikon is the boss!) and eximer laser exposure systems (may be the cause of recent CYMI woes! :-|), being introduced concurrently and jointly, including participation from Japanese companies. All of these technologies will have to be introduced synchronously to generate the practical semiconductor technology used in the next evolution phase, as outlined in the Sematech roadmap.
Depositing diffusion barriers may be straightforward but getting them to prevent Cu diffusion in a reliable and repeatable manner is anything but simple (as of yet). One of the problems with copper is a poor adhesion strength. Any surface treatment would not only have to act as a bullet-proof "diffusion block" but also as a sticking layer. This is not to say it can't be done, but if it can, the details might emerge, imho, from IBM's (or Intel's) new buddy (potential) - our TRKN!
regards to all,
-/Sonny. |
