A Malaysian foundry plans to spend approximately $107 million on capital equipment as part of a major expansion plan. Silterra Malaysia will use the money at its Kulim site to add more 0.18-µm tools and to introduce 0.13-µm equipment. The 0.18-µm tool set can be extended to accommodate 0.13-µm processes, Silterra says. Installed equipment will include FSG deposition tools, high-energy implanters, etchers, a DUV scanner, and metrology tools.

The systems will increase the plant's monthly capacity by 4000 wafers to 22,000 wafers. The 0.13-µm systems include low-energy ion implanters, a low-temperature nitride deposition system, and advanced metrology equipment. The advanced gear was scheduled to begin arriving in June. Silterra is installing the 0.18-µm gear through August, the company says.

Asyst ventures forth

Asyst Technologies is moving forward with its previously announced plans to purchase controlling interest in a new joint venture. The supplier will acquire 51% interest in the venture, Asyst Shinko, the automated material-handling systems business of Shinko Electric. Shinko will have the remaining share of the new company. Asyst will pay about $65 million to close the deal by October 1, 2002, the company says.

Asyst hopes the deal will boost sales of its FasTrack continuous-flow wafer-transport technology. After the two sides complete the transaction, Asyst says the venture will offer the semiconductor industry's only combined wafer transport and tool-loading technology. Shinko has installed automated materials-handling systems in more than half of the 300-mm fabs worldwide, according to Asyst. The installations include the two largest such fabs operating, one in the United States and the other by TSMC in Taiwan.

ASM International of Bilthoven, The Netherlands, plans to open a warehouse in Taiwan that will serve as the company's regional distribution hub. The manufacturer of vertical furnaces has contracted Jvan An International, the largest logistic center in Taiwan, to operate the warehouse. Located in Tao-Yun, the facility will offer duty-free customs, rapid customer clearance, and short delivery lead times, according to ASM. The supplier says many of its key customers are located in Asia. Its dual-reactor vertical furnace, the A412, is installed in nearly half of the 300-mm fabs operating, the company claims.

Edlon of Avondale, PA, has opened a plant in the eastern China city of Suzhou. The company manufactures high-purity chemical tanks, lined vessels, exhaust ducts for corrosive fumes, pipes, and related products. The wares will be made available through Robbins & Myers Singapore and Robbins & Myers Suzhou Process Equipment. The company is targeting semiconductor, chemical processing, and pharmaceutical manufacturers through Southeast Asia.

Two Taiwanese foundries have purchased sputtering systems from KDF Electronic & Vacuum Services of Rockleigh, NJ. Micro Electro Magnetical Technologies (MEMT) in Chunan bought a 603NT system for critical film applications, and Suntek Compound Semiconductor in Hsinchu purchased a 943NTX system for processing GaAs wafers. MEMT specializes in 6-in. Schottky, TVS, Super Fast, and thyristor wafer processing. Established in August 2000, Suntek offers foundry services for wireless, broadband, and optoelectronics device makers. Both orders are the first for KDF from the two companies.

The orders reflect the growth of the compound semiconductor and telecommunications markets in Taiwan, KDF asserts. The 900-series PVD systems feature in-line sputter-down capabilities. The systems offer an optional high-vacuum load lock and three or four target positions. The 600-series vertical side-sputtering tools are designed for use with targets that produce high particulate contamination levels, KDF says.

Advanced Energy Industries is opening new cleanroom facilities to bolster its MFC business in Asia. The Class 1000 rooms will be located in Hsinchu, Taiwan; Singapore; and the Pudong area of Shanghai. Opened in April, the support facility in Hsinchu contains a 165-sq-ft cleanroom dedicated to servicing Advanced's Aera flow products as well as its power, thermal, and source offerings. Based in Fort Collins, CO, Advanced built up its MFC assets through the recent purchases of Aera Japan and EMCO Flow Systems. The cleanrooms in Singapore and Shanghai are scheduled to open in the third quarter of this year.

Tegal has sold a plasma etch tool to a MEMS manufacturer based in Taiwan. It is the first purchase for the unnamed manufacturer, which will use the 903e system to make communications tools and related next-generation consumer devices, Tegal says. The Petaluma, CA–based vendor says it has a large installed base of 900- and 6500-series systems at MEMS fabs worldwide. The systems produce MEMS structures in silicon, silicon nitride, and silicon dioxide, as well as in BCB and other organic materials.

The world's largest chipmaker and one of the largest technical universities in Spain have announced plans to collaborate on microprocessor R&D. Intel will operate a research center with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona. Called Intel Labs Barcelona (ILB), the center will tap the talents of the university's computer architecture department and three renowned professors. One of the experts, Antonio Gonzalez, has conducted advanced microprocessor research for more than 16 years, while Roger Espasa and Toni Juan are experts on 64-bit processors, Intel notes. The research team will focus on Intel's Itanium processor and Pentium processor family design with the goals of increasing performance, reducing power consumption, and prolonging battery life.

The university's computer architecture department has approximately 70 full-time faculty members. The university has some 30,000 students, Intel says. The department's research covers areas such as VLSI systems design, process microarchitecture, and code generation. Intel says it supports research projects at more than 75 universities around the world.

Two major chipmakers will team with DuPont Photomasks to operate a new mask plant in Dresden, Germany. Infineon Technologies and AMD are establishing an equally owned joint venture with the DuPont unit, called the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC). The plant will share a building with a separately owned photomask facility that DuPont will establish at the site. Located near the chipmakers' respective Dresden fabs, the 57,750-sq-ft building will house both manufacturers. Completion is scheduled for early 2003 with production set for the second half of the year. The companies will invest approximately $340 million in the venture.

IMEC and the SEZ Group have established a two-year project to develop economical and environmentally benign wafer-cleaning methods. SEZ sent two systems to the IMEC R&D center in Leuven, Belgium, for evaluation and testing. The partners plan to develop backside- and bevel-cleaning processes for high-k dielectric materials. A SEZ Spin Processor 203 will be used for yield-enhancement work in backside film removal during prelithographic processes. In addition, researchers will explore backside and bevel clean such as copper decontamination as well as frontside polymer cleans for metal lines, vias, and copper dual-damascene technologies. Another system, the Spin Processor 1200, will be used to study FEOL critical precleans for gates. SEZ claims its spin processing technology is suitable for chip production at the 130-nm node and below.