ORDER DESK

Singapore gets ionized

More than 800 ceiling emitters and related ionization equipment from Ion Systems will be installed at TECH Semiconductor's Class 1 Fab 2 plant in Singapore this year. The joint venture of Texas Instruments, the Economic Development Board of Singapore, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard already has installed more than 600 ionizers at its Fab 1 site. The latest equipment will be delivered in three phases over a six-month period.

Helix buys CD systems

Helix International has ordered compact-disc manufacturing systems valued at $16 million from Fairchild Technologies. The equipment will be used to manufacture CDs and recordable CDs at Helix's plant in Pennsylvania. The system incorporates a closed-bowl, spin-on-dye coating technology. It is Fairchild's first such order from Helix.

Eaton to serve Dominion

Eaton's semiconductor equipment business has been named primary supplier of high-current and high-energy ion implantation equipment for Dominion Semiconductor. Eaton shipped the first implanters in December, and additional systems will be delivered during the second half of 1997 and early in 1998. Based in Manassas, VA, Dominion is a partnership formed by IBM and Toshiba to manufacture DRAMs. The venture's first product will be 64-Mb DRAMs.

PRI nails automation order

PRI Automation signed a multimillion-dollar contract to install cassette stockers and related robotics at a 200-mm wafer fab being built by a major American company at an undisclosed site outside the United States. The automation gear includes an AeroTrak overhead monorail and machine-loading robot vehicles. Installation is scheduled for fourth-quarter 1997.

GaSonics moves more systems

GaSonics International of San Jose recently sold cluster tools and thermal processing systems worth more than $10 million to several chipmakers in the United States and Asia. The equipment order includes the Performance Enhancement Platform (PEP) 3510A cluster system with dual photoresist- removal modules as well as the VHP high-pressure thermal processing tool. The PEP systems will be used to make DRAMs with 0.25-µm linewidths, while the VHP tools will be used to extend LOCOS isolation technology in 64-Mb DRAM manufacturing as well as for low-temperature steam oxidation during the making of devices with 0.25-µm features. Meanwhile, GaSonics announced that it received subsequent orders valued at $10 million for PEP systems from two chipmakers based in the Asia-Pacific region. The tools, which are equipped with SMIF indexers, will be installed between May and September. The company says sales in the region represented 24% of its revenues in 1996, an increase of 5% over 1995.

Veeco scores AFM sales

National Semiconductor, ETEC, and Hyundai are three of five chipmakers that have recently purchased Dektak SXM atomic force microscopes worth more than $4.5 million from Veeco Instruments. The other two are Chartered Semiconductor and Macronix. The critical-dimension systems will be installed in fabs in the United States, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Shipments of the in-line metrology tools, which have a measurement capability of better than 0.25 µm, were scheduled for completion by the end of March.

Ultratech takes new step

Ultratech Stepper received its first order for the Model 6700 photolithography system from a leading U.S. manufacturer of disk drives, the San Jose-based vendor announced. Shipment was set for the first quarter of FY97. The system is the second in the supplier's line of submicron i-line lithography tools designed for thin film-head applications. Introduced in September 1996, the Model 6700 is made specifically for manufacturing magnetoresistive heads.

VLSI sticks with Tencor

VLSI Technology bought a SwiftAccess defect-data management system from Tencor Instruments, which described the chipmaker as a "long-standing customer." The system was scheduled for installation at VLSI's fab in San Antonio, TX, where it will be used to manufacturer ASICs. The system accommodates 10 operators simultaneously, Tencor says. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Tool to show off CMP system

Applied Materials will employ a recently purchased film-thickness measurement system from Therma-Wave to demonstrate the capabilities of its new Mirra 3400 CMP tool. Applied will use the Opti-Probe 2600 for making post-CMP measurements in its demonstration lab. In full production, one of the metrology systems can support between two and five CMP tools.