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EXPANSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS

Vendors sign copper pact

Novellus Systems and GaSonics International have signed an agreement to develop techniques for photoresist and residue removal in the making of copper interconnect structures. Novellus plans to install a GaSonics PEP Iridia DL tool in its Copper Integration Center in San Jose, where the system will be used to test copper dual-damascene processes. The pact makes GaSonics the newest member of the Damascus alliance of equipment manufacturers that Novellus established to address the challenges of copper interconnect integration. Other members include Lam Research and SpeedFam-IPEC.

GaSonics says wafer cleaning is becoming increasingly important as materials such as copper and low-k films are introduced into the sub-0.18-µm design realm. Its Iridia tool removes photoresist and residue from low-k dielectric films such as Novellus's Coral films without damaging them, GaSonics asserts. According to the manufacturer of film-deposition equipment, Coral can be used to make copper dual-damascene structures down to 0.10 µm.

Meanwhile, GaSonics is looking for a buyer for its vertical high-pressure (VHP) business in order to focus attention on its photoresist and residue-removal technology. The VHP product line dropped from 9.7% of GaSonics's total revenue in 1998 to 2.1% in 1999. The divestiture will also help the company focus on marketing its LPCVD products for LCD manufacturing. Alliant Partners of Palo Alto, CA, has been hired to find a buyer.

Veeco buys two firms

Veeco Instruments has started the new year on an acquisition binge. In late February the manufacturer of process and metrology tools announced plans to purchase CVC, a maker of deposition and etch systems based in Rochester, NY. Then, in late March the Plainview, NY­based supplier said it had purchased "certain assets" of an IBM atomic force microscope product line.

Veeco and CVC assert that their product lines will complement each other and broaden the process solutions available to customers in the semiconductor, optical communications, and data storage industries. The deal calls for CVC's shareholders to receive 0.43 shares of Veeco common stock for each share of CVC common stock. Accounted for as a pooling-of-interests transaction, the merger is expected to close by the end of June. CVC will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Veeco. Edward Braun will remain as chairman and CEO of Veeco; Christine Whitman--who is CVC's chairman, president, and CEO--will become Veeco's president and COO. She will also serve on the company's board. The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition.

Veeco did not disclose the terms of the IBM transaction. Don Kania, vice president and general manager of the company's metrology group in Santa Barbara, CA, says the purchase will allow Veeco to expand the capabilities of the vendor's etch and CMP metrology systems for 200- and 300-mm wafers.

SEZ, Ashland partner

Developing polymer-cleaning chemistries for processes ¾0.18 µm is the goal of a new alliance between the SEZ Group and Ashland Specialty Chemical. The companies will develop a BEOL postetch polymer removal application which they hope will slash process times and reduce the consumption of consumables. The alliance will last a minimum of one year. The partners recently completed a successful collaboration on a project with an Asian customer. Ashland's buffered ACT NE-89 has a process time of <1 minute and can be used with aluminum, copper, and some low-k films, according to the vendor.

The goal of the pact is to develop further polymer treatments for SEZ's spin process techniques, says Sally-Ann Henry, global polymer manager for the process applications group at SEZ. Henry joined the company in December 1999 from EKC Technology, where she served as vice president of quality and applications engineering.

Solkatronic expands two sites

Solkatronic Chemicals has doubled the capacity of certain specialty chemicals at two production sites. The supplier increased capacity of three ammonia products at its plant in Morrisville, PA, and doubled capacity of arsine at its plant in Catoosa, OK. The Morrisville gases include Blue Ammonia, which is used for gallium nitride processes in the making of blue lasers and LEDs. The expansion comes in response to an upward trend in sales of LEDs and LCDs, Solkatronic says. Likewise, the market for arsine has grown as sales of solar cells and wireless communication devices have increased, the company says. Arsine is used to make the gallium arsenide devices for these applications. Solkatronic is a unit of specialty-gas supplier Air Products and Chemicals, which bought the business from Solvay America in May 1998.

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