INDUSTRY NEWS

300-mm Imperative

Axcelis books $18M order

A DRAM joint venture in Asia has spent $18 million on ion implantation tools from Axcelis. Inotera Memories, a new collaboration between Infineon Technologies and Nanya Technology, will begin installing the systems in November at its 300-mm fab in Taiwan. The order includes multiwafer HE3 systems and HC3 systems. The HE3 tools are designed for well and channel implants; the HC3 Ultra implanters accommodate volume production of advanced transistors. The fab is scheduled to begin production in 1Q04.

Sematech lauds SEZ

International Sematech has presented SEZ with two awards for its participation in the consortium's 300-mm equipment integration and automation standards conformance testing project. The single-wafer wet clean company was recognized for its efforts in helping member companies and the industry speed the transition to a complete automation and process control mamangement infrastructure within 300-mm fabs, says Steven Fulton, Sematech's project manager for I&A software testing.

Mattson adds new customer

A new customer described as a leading DRAM manufacturer in Taiwan has purchased RTP tools from Mattson Technology. The vendor says the 3000-series systems will be placed in a production line in which all of the RTP systems had been supplied by a competitor. Shipments to the 300-mm fab in Hsinchu are scheduled to begin by the end of 3Q03. The chipmaker will use the Mattson tools to make DRAMs at the 110-nm technology node.