Litho leads partnering parade

Collaborative agreements and strategic alliances continue to criss-cross the semiconductor manufacturing space, led by recent deals struck within the lithography and photomask areas. A multiyear agreement signed by ASML MaskTools and Micron deals with the creation and improvement of the practical applications of resolution enhancement techniques (RETs) for the 95-nm and below technology nodes. As part of the deal, the chipmaker gets a global license for the optical extension technologies company's intellectual property portfolio to use in its production fabs. Micron will also buy ASML's MaskWeaver RET implementation and LithoCruiser scanner optimization products, while the semiconductor company will supply the OEM unit with its high-end maskmaking and mask-characterization services to help qualify ASML ArF scanners for volume production at the 65- and 45-nm nodes.

Photronics has signed two strategic deals to bolster its efforts to provide design and mask integration support and improve advanced mask manufacturability and quality.

Sigma-C will grant the maskmaker preferred-partner access to the software company's portfolio of litho simulation platforms—including first looks at early releases of new products—as well as offering strategic input on Photronics' software development options. The mask house says it will deploy Sigma-C tools to anticipate and understand the implications of the entire photomask process on advanced litho integration options.

Synopsys will work with Photronics to explore and develop solutions in the design for manufacturing (DFM) and mask synthesis areas that will shorten time to yield for chipmakers. Specific programs will include efforts to improve the design flow from layout to mask for alternating-aperture phase-shift masks, speed up the yield and cycle time for masks using strong RETs, and reduce mask-inspection turnaround times through the use of Synopsys's suite of DFM software tools.

The trend toward partnering and alliance building shows no signs of letting up in other corners of the semiconductor equipment, subsystems, and materials community. KLA-Tencor has agreed to distribute SII NanoTechnology's high-speed, high-resolution atomic force profilometer outside of Japan. The yield management and process control company will sell the Seiko Instruments unit's Nanopics 2100 tabletop system as a joint product in North America and Asia, targeting surface-metrology applications in such markets as semiconductor, data storage, MEMS, and biotechnology.

MKS Instruments and Umetrics have formed an alliance to provide chipmakers with a turnkey solution for real-time advanced process control and e-diagnostics. The Swedish company's embedded multivariate analysis engine will be integrated with MKS's TOOLWeb product suite, offering a "complete sensor-to-analysis fault detection and classification capability," according to the company. MKS will back up the package with its worldwide support network.

A strategic alliance between Pall and Matheson Tri-Gas will bring the two corporations together to develop, manufacture, and sell gas-purification products to the semiconductor industry. The agreement builds on the working relationship the suppliers have had since 1997. Both companies will have exclusive access to each other's purification media to improve chipmaking by eliminating molecular and particulate contaminants from process gases. They will also collaborate on new technology development.

Vesta Technology and Integrated Process Systems (IPS) have joined together in an exclusive technology deal that encompasses marketing, sales, and service efforts focused on the atomic layer deposition (ALD) space. Vesta will provide global support for IPS's line of ALD, ALD/CVD, and etch tools, as well as work with the Korean company on joint development efforts.

On the legacy tool front, Aspect Systems (ASI) has licensed another product line from Axcelis—the reactive ion etch systems formerly manufactured by Matrix Integrated Systems (now a part of Axcelis). ASI can manufacture, sell, and service the 150- and 200-mm versions of the Bobcat and Cheetah tools, adding to its already-licensed portfolio of legacy Matrix/Axcelis and Lam etch equipment.

ASMI sets Singapore plant

Semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASM International plans to build a wafer-processing tool factory in Yioshun, Singapore. The facility will be the first front-end toolmaking facility in the city-state, according to company and Singaporean government sources. The Dutch company says it will invest close to $29 million in the plant over the next few years. Located in two buildings with 150,000 sq ft of total floor area, including 30,000 sq ft of cleanroom space, the site will employ 50 by year's end and up to 300 within 3 years. ASMI plans to hit full production of generic vertical furnaces by mid-2005, with shipment levels of 100 systems expected by the end of 2006. The facility will make its own parts or source locally and assemble the generic subsystems for vertical diffusion furnaces, ASMI says. It will also provide manufacturing support to the company's U.S. and Japanese units.

AMAT buys Metron

In another move to enhance its service and support business, Applied Materials will buy Metron Technology for approximately $85 million. The deal will add Metron's worldwide organization of more than 30 offices and operating facilities to Applied's Global Services unit. The outsource solution company's assets include parts and materials supply, equipment maintenance, kitting and cleaning of process parts, legacy tool refurbishment, and specialty products distribution. Metron's traditional support for non-Applied systems will be included in the expanded fab services program. The deal is expected to close in Applied's fourth fiscal quarter. (For more on Applied's other recent transactions on the service and support front, see "Service, spares management deals extend Applied's global fab reach" in the Industry News section in MICRO's July 2004 issue.)

Kodak snaps up National unit

Eastman Kodak has acquired the CMOS image sensor (CIS) business of National Semiconductor, adding the unit to its Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) group. As part of the deal, Kodak obtains some IP (such as advanced mixed-signal circuit design) and equipment assets. The company also says it plans to hire about 50 former National employees, who will work out of a new ISS organization office in Sunnyvale, CA, and collaborate with an existing team located at Kodak's Rochester, NY, headquarters. The CIS technology will augment the company's existing high-performance charged coupled devices (CCDs). "The acquisition demonstrates Kodak's continued commitment to CIS products and accelerates our longer-term goal of providing CIS devices that offer the image quality of CCD sensors, while still taking advantage of the power, integration, and cost benefits traditionally associated with CMOS technology," says Kodak's Chris McNiffe.