INDUSTRY NEWS

Asia

Mitsubishi builds HP plant

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) began construction in January on a plant that will produce ultrahigh-purity hydrogen peroxide. Production at the site in Taichung, Taiwan, is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2000. MGC says it will produce 6000 metric tons annually of the gas, which will have trace metal impurities <100 ppt. The manufacturer picked the location because it is close to the many fabs in and near Hsinchu. MGC Pure Chemicals Taiwan, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Mitsubishi, will operate the plant.

Copper fosters SRC first

The Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), the U.S.­based R&D consortium comprising universities and private industry, has admitted UMC Group of Taiwan as its first overseas member. Until UMC's admission, membership in SRC had been limited to chipmakers and universities in the United States. Member companies include Motorola, Intel, AMD, TI, and IBM.

Research into copper-based processes brought the foundry group and the consortium together. UMC has been working with SRC to promote the adoption of copper interconnect technology through the SRC Copper IC Design Challenge. The contest requires student-faculty teams from U.S. universities to submit proposals that will be judged on their ability to speed the adoption of copper interconnect processes. UMC Group, which last month merged five Taiwan-based foundry companies, will manufacture the winning IC layouts chosen during the second phase of the contest. UMC introduced a commercial 0.18-µm copper process last year. It operates eight fabs in Hsinchu, Taiwan. SRC has its headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC, and an office in San Jose. The organization manages a $35-million program of basic and applied research. Information: http://www.src.org.

Korean gas biz sold

Air Products and Chemicals has purchased the largest manufacturer of industrial gases in Korea for an undisclosed sum. The giant Pennsylvania-based supplier of gases and chemicals acquired the remaining 51.1% of shares in Korea Industrial Gases (KIG) in December. Air Products and KIG had been operating a joint venture since 1980 with Air Products holding slightly less than 50% interest in the collaboration. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Products, KIG provides specialty gases, bulk gases, noncryogenic units, pipeline gases, and on-site services to South Korean customers. Revenues in 1999 were estimated at $83 million.

KIG operates liquid plant and pipeline franchises in Kumi for electronics industry customers requiring primarily oxygen and nitrogen. Facilities in Kiheung and Cheonan produce nitrogen. An affiliated plant in Shihwa transfills and produces silane, nitrogen trifluoride, arsine, and other ultra-high-purity specialty gases.

M+W nails cleanroom contract

The Korean National Institute for Technology and Quality hired M+W Zander of Stuttgart, Germany, to design and build a cleanroom in Seoul. The 132,000-sq-ft facility will house Class 100 and Class 1000 areas with a total of 113 filter fan units. The institute will use the facility to conduct research and testing for production equipment. Completion was scheduled for late 1999.

Tescom opens Korean branch

Tescom's high-purity controls division has opened a subsidiary in Seoul, South Korea. The Hankuk Tescom business was established to offer local product inventory, technical support, and service for the company's line of pressure regulators and valves. Tescom is based in Elk River, MN. Information: +82 2 4784677; fax, +82 2 4784678.

Consilium opens Narita office

Consilium, a California-based supplier of manufacturing execution systems (MES), has opened a regional office in Narita, Japan. The office will enable the company to introduce its FAB300 management software to the Japanese semiconductor market as Japan's manufacturers make the transition to processing 300-mm wafers, Consilium says. The MES program is based on Microsoft communications and operating systems. It is designed to manage materials, equipment, scheduling, yield enhancement, and related elements of the MES environment. Tatsuji Ohta will oversee the office. He formerly managed the integration of Applied Materials' equipment with CIM systems for more than 30 Japanese customers. Based in Mountain View, CA, Consilium was bought by Applied in December 1998.

Asian defect tool pact signed

Metron Technology will distribute defect and metrology tools made by August Technology under the terms of a recently signed agreement. The agreement covers China, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and India. Based in Edina, MN, August makes the NSX family of tools for inspecting wafers and the CV series of tools for inspecting wafer cassettes.

Europe

ST picks Extraction filters

STMicroelectronics has chosen Vaporsorb II filtration gear for the deep-UV lithography systems that the chipmaker has installed in a new 8-in. fab in Rousset, France. The filters will be placed in lithography tools made by ASML and DNS. The polymeric catalyst-based filters are designed to reduce discharge levels of airborne molecular contaminants to <100 ppt molecular base to facilitate photoresist processing.

IMEC installs Verteq tool

IMEC, the university-based research center in Belgium, has installed a single-wafer cleaning system from Verteq at its site in Leuven. Verteq says the tool features its Goldfinger megasonic technology and a new drying technology developed by IMEC for specific use with the Goldfinger platform. Researchers will use the system to develop more-efficient single-wafer cleaning and drying processes for use in copper post-CMP and critical front-end cleans.

Africa

BOC partners on plant

BOC Edwards and the chemical division of AEC have teamed up to build a nitrogen trifluoride plant at AEC's site in Pelindaba, South Africa. The facility will be built in stages with the first phase of production planned for mid-2000. Ultimate capacity will be approximately 551,000 lb annually. The partnership brings together AEC's expertise in making fluorinated gases and BOC's expertise in gas packaging, analysis, and distribution, the companies say.

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