Don,
Here you go with a few things....
* Our NovaMOS materials division, with its BST efforts, is involved with the ferroelectrics...who, what, where is something I can't go into. We do think that we are leading the pack, since we've been working on BST technology for many years. It's more than just the BST material, it's the technology to consistently introduce it as a reliable thin film, plus making the contacts to the myriad other thin films that make up DRAMs.
* We are also working with the non-volatile and other ferroelectric materials; think about our strategic partnerships with Lucent and Siemens.
* Our Epitronics advanced materials division (Phoenix, AZ) sells SIMOX SOI wafers, as well as thin film services. So we've got those bases covered, too. We distribute the SIMOX for our strategic partner, Nippon Steel Corp.
* Below is a technical version of the DRAM consortium press release. It explains a bit more of the results in scientific terms like "femtofarad" and "angstrom." Please don't expect me to decipher these!
Regards,
Dean
For Immediate Release
ATMI ANNOUNCES ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF MEMORY CONSORTIUM
1 Gigabit DRAMs; Could Reduce Current DRAM Costs
DANBURY, Conn., February 19, 1997 - Advanced Technology Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATMI), today announced strong, positive results from a four year effort to develop a barium strontium titanate (BST) capacitor for use in advanced memory chips, or DRAMs (dynamic random access memory). ATMI was the prime contractor under a DARPA-sponsored (a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) consortium with IBM, Micron Technology, and Texas Instruments-the three largest U.S. manufacturers of DRAMs; Varian Associates, a leading semiconductor equipment supplier; RWTH Aachen University of Technology; and North Carolina State University.
Results of the program exceeded expectations. Not only do the properties of the BST capacitor offer the potential to significantly reduce the complexity of the capacitor cell in 1 Gigabit (Gb) DRAMs, but several barriers to integrating ferroelectric materials into mainstream semiconductor manufacturing have been overcome.
Dr. Peter Kirlin, ATMI Executive Vice President, said, "We are delighted with the final results of the program-the properties of the BST capacitors exceeded our original expectations by a wide margin. Present BST capacitance density represents a 15-20x improvement over ONO (silicon oxide-silicon nitride-silicon oxide), which could significantly reduce the complexity and the associated manufacturing cost of the storage node in advanced DRAMs."
The consortium demonstrated BST capacitors with 100 fF/æm2 (femtofarads per square micron) and symmetric leakage currents less than 0.01 æA/cm2 (micro-amperes per square centimeter). Accelerated aging studies yielded extrapolated dielectric life in excess of 10 years at 85øC (Celsius) and 1.6 volts. In addition, several novel process modules were developed to produce a storage node with a conductive plug capable of withstanding BST capacitor processing at sub-micron geometries.
Dr. Pierre Fazan, Senior Fellow and 256 Mb Integration Manager of Micron, said, "The consortium has demonstrated that BST DRAM fabrication is plausible; the next step is pilot production on full flow DRAM cells." Dr. Paul Schuele of Micron added, "We need about 75 fF/æm2 for the 1Gb/0.18 æm (micron) generation, and this has been achieved on 200 (angstrom) films in the consortium!"
Dr. Mark Anthony, Manager of the Silicon Materials and Processing Branch of Texas Instruments said, "The consortium has shown BST capacitors on test chips have dielectric properties suitable for leading edge DRAMs; reproducibility and yield must be established on prototype 1 Gb DRAMs."
Richard Aurelio, Executive Vice President of Varian commented, "We expect that the CVD BST module developed by Varian and ATMI for the consortium will form the basis for pilot scale manufacturability studies by the DRAM industry moving forward."
ATMI, with headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut, is a leading provider of advanced semiconductor materials and environmental equipment. It is also developing next-generation semiconductor devices based on its new materials technologies. NovaMOS, an ATMI division, develops semiconductor thin film materials and processes for next-generation integrated circuits. It also manufactures and markets semiconductor thin film precursors and associated delivery equipment.
Statements which are not historical information are forward looking, which involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: changes in semiconductor industry growth or ATMI's markets; competition, problems, or delays developing and commercializing new products, and other factors discussed in ATMI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
