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To: GuinnessGuy who wrote (7738)11/1/1997 10:37:00 PM
From: Maxwell  Read Replies (2) of 25960
 
Craig Siebels:

<<Could you please clarify the part about the polishers(i.e - CMP)? I was under the impression from Mr. Sam(SpeedFam thread) that polishers were not in much use at 0.35 micron and above but became essential at ).25 micron. If my impression is/was wrong then I have certainly invested in SpeedFam for all of the wrongreasons:-(>>

When Mr. Sam said that polishers were not much in use at 0.35um he meant the DRAM/SRAM makers. These devices use only 2 metal layer process and the metal lines and topography are not complex. Thus polish is not needed for these low profit margin product. Polishing is an expensive process. On the other hand, microprocessor chips of high performance usually consist of 3 or more level metal layers. The interconnects are long and the topography of these interconnects are extremely complex. Polish is used at every metal layer to planarize the surface to achieve high yields and high speed. Polishing has been used constantly in the industry to make microprocessors at 0.7um, 0.5um, 0.35um, 0.25um, and beyond.

As the memory makers migrate to 0.25um and lower, the transistors are tighter packed and the metal lines are closer. Thus the topography is complex and gives problem to photolithography due to narrow depth of field in the 248nm wavlength. Polishing is almost a must to resolve the narrow depth of field to achieve high yield.

You seem to concern about Intel's delay of the Texas fab. You must look at a bigger picture. A good number for the demand of DUV excimer steppers comes from VLSI's research. They project the demand for the DUV excimer steppers for 1998 be 700. I still think the actual number will be much higher as the industry is racing to get to the .25um and 300mm.

Maxwell
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