DPMI's joint venture R&D Facility with MU, Motorola, AMD, etc, in Texas is another reason, IMHO, that DPMI's future growth is assured.. DPMI is working with those folks right now to identify the ways to maximize the effectiveness of photomask technology... with the prospect that it is DPMI to which these companies will go to meet future photomask needs... Here's more, off the DPMI Home Page: Quote
Industry Leaders Collaborate on Next-Generation Photomask
Technology
by Kenneth A. Rygler
Published in Channel Magazine, Feb./Mar. 1997
The increasing complexity and shrinking geometries of today's
submicron circuit designs are placing new demands on virtually all
aspects of the semiconductor fabrication process. Nowhere are these
demands more stringent than in the development of next-generation
photomasks.
To meet these demands, a group of forward-thinking semiconductor
manufacturers have joined forces with DuPont Photomasks Inc.
(DPI) to develop advanced photomask technologies for deep
submicron design rules. Advanced Micro Devices, Micron
Technology and Motorola will collaborate with DPI to build, equip
and operate a $40 million, state-of-the-art center for advanced
photomask development adjacent to DPI's existing photomask plant
in Round Rock, Texas. The 17,000-square-foot stand-alone facility
will include a 5,500-square-foot Class 1 Cleanroom housing a pilot
production line for leading-edge photomask fabrication.
The DPI Reticle Technology Center (RTC), which brings together
leaders in microprocessors, memory and advanced logic design,
reflects a growing trend in the increasingly challenging semiconductor
fabrication industry to cooperate in the development and funding of
advanced technological methodology. Engineers from all four
companies will work together at the center, which will become the
focal point for designing and testing new equipment platforms and
advanced materials.
In this way, the group will better ensure that photomask development
will keep pace with deep submicron design demands in virtually all
areas of circuit design. By bringing together leaders in a wide range of
semiconductor engineering and process disciplines, the technology
that is developed by the RTC will have ample breadth and depth to
meet the broad needs of customers worldwide.
Deep Submicron Demands
As design rules of high-volume production circuits move below
0.35-micron geometries, lithographic tolerances become increasingly
difficult to achieve. While the impressive development of innovative,
new techniques and higher precision production equipment continue
to provide solutions for packing more data into a shrinking piece of
semiconductor real estate, the cost of "stepping up" to each
successive generation of equipment adds a new element to the
equation.
Manufacturers need to squeeze more life out of current circuit designs
and expensive semiconductor manufacturing and inspection equipment
before moving up to purchase the next generation of tools. The mask
technology developed at the RTC will enable its semiconductor
members to expand the effectiveness of current and future optical
lithography technology and extend the life of their investment in the
latest in wafer stepper and other optical lithography tools.
Examples of emerging techniques that do just that are various types of
phase shift masks such as i-line phase shift and deep UV phase shift,
as well as masks with aggressive optical proximity correction features.
These and other approaches will form the focus of the RTC.
State-of-the-Art Production Tools
The RTC will take advantage of the latest in photomask development
and production tools. Equipment to be housed in the center includes
two pattern generators, an ALTA 3000 and a MEBES 4500. In
addition, the RTC plans to install advanced processing, inspection,
metrology, repair and cleaning equipment, providing the partners with
a full array of next-generation tools for all aspects of photomask
design, production and repair processes.
Group Members
DuPont Photomasks Inc.
DPI is the world's leading supplier of photomasks. Operating
globally from eight facilities in North America, Europe and
Asia, DPI produces and supplies a wide array of photomasks
as well as photoblanks and pellicles. Unquote.. TSO |
