 INDUSTRY
NEWS
300-mm Imperative
Alliance
targets advanced R&D
Three
major semiconductor manufacturers have launched an alliance to speed
development of 300-mm CMOS technology at the 90-nm technology node and
below. Motorola has joined STMicroelectronics and Philips in a 300-mm
wafer project called Crolles2, named after the city in France where
the program is based. A fourth partner, the Taiwan-based foundry TSMC,
also will participate. CEA/LETI, the French research laboratory in Grenoble,
will contribute as well.
Motorola,
STM, and Philips will share equally in the alliance's expenses, research
costs, and wafer output at the fab in Crolles. By 2005 the total investment
in the venture will reach $1.4 billion. Alliance members believe TSMC's
participation will strengthen the development of CMOS process technology.
Motorola brings expertise in SOI and embedded MRAM processes to the
partnership. The new agreement expands a pact signed in March by Philips,
STM, and TSMC to codevelop advanced CMOS processes.
Sematech pushes standards tool
International
Sematech wants to save the semiconductor industry from unnecessary testing
of 300-mm production gear. The Texas semiconductor research consortium
has launched a program to define a single set of requirements for certifying
300-mm equipment. The goal of the program is to develop criteria that
will enable objective, independent tests. By the end of the year organizers
hope to establish broad guidelines that can be used in any standards
domain, as well as criteria for 300-mm software standards testing.
"By
setting up industry guidelines and processes and certifying the companies
that apply those criteria in testing equipment, we can save our member
companies the time and expense of testing the same tools that their
neighbor down the street just tested," says Scott Kramer, director of
manufacturing methods and productivity at Sematech.
Draft
guidelines are scheduled for publication in July 2002. They will focus
on processes and criteria for the administering agencies and test-service
vendors. The guidelines will also contain a standardized method for
creating tests and test criteria based on standards and customer requirements,
Sematech says. The consortium will publish the final guidelines on its
Web site in December.
After
the guidelines are finished, Sematech says it will find an organization
to administer the certification process. The consortium is seeking input
from equipment suppliers, test-service vendors, chipmakers, and interested
agencies. Information: www.sematech.org.
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