INDUSTRY NEWS

'ROUND THE CIRCUIT

Applied process KOs PFCs

Applied Materials has added an innovation to its dielectric CVD tools that "virtually eliminates" PFC emissions to the atmosphere, the fab equipment giant announced. The new remote plasma clean process converts source gases to active atoms in a plasma located upstream of the process chamber. The neutral atoms are then transported to the process chamber to selectively remove the material on chamber surfaces without harming metallic or ceramic parts.

In the conventional method of postprocess chamber cleaning, the etch gas exhausted from the chamber is usually a PFC gas, Applied notes. In addition, the charged ions from the plasma can shorten the lifetime of chamber components. The new cleaning method can lower the level of metallic contamination in applications such as shallowtrench isolation structures, according to the vendor. Applied is seeing a 5 to 10% net increase in uptime for its dielectric CVD systems using the plasma clean technology, asserts Thomas St. Dennis, president of the company's planarization and dielectric deposition product group.

First used in the Ultima HDP-CVD tool, the cleaning method will be made available on most of the vendor's dielectric CVD systems by the end of this year, St. Dennis says.

USDC aligns with Elsicon

Elsicon, a manufacturer of optical alignment materials and equipment, was awarded a contract by the United States Display Consortium (USDC) to develop a method for creating liquid crystal alignment layers that does not require mechanical rubbing. The goals of the $3.3-million project are to eliminate cleaning, boost yields, reduce cost of ownership, and improve process control on pretilt angles, USDC says. Wilmington, DE­based Elsicon will establish a facility where it will both develop materials suitable for alignment layers and define process conditions that can produce alignment controlled by exposure to UV light. The company plans to team up with an equipment maker to design and manufacture systems capable of noncontact optical alignment layer processing. Funding for the project is evenly split between Elsicon and USDC, whose mission is to help establish an infrastructure capable of supporting a healthy U.S. high-definition display industry.

IES becomes IEST

When the Institute of Environmental Sciences holds its annual technical meeting next year it will do so under a new name. The nonprofit organization has renamed itself the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology.

The new moniker eliminates confusion that had arisen because the institute, which was incorporated in 1956, shared the initials "IES" with the Illuminating Engineering Society, an older nonprofit professional association dating to the heyday of Thomas Edison.

In 1995 the institute "received a polite request through an attorney" representing the society to refrain from using "IES," wryly notes Julie Kendrick, recently appointed executive director of the new IEST. The older society owns certain trade and service marks covering the use of the initials, the attorney pointed out. Furthermore, Kendrick says, "as the [the Institute of Environmental Sciences] became better known...people began to confuse the two organizations" when seeking information from technical libraries, for example.

The institute, which has its headquarters in Mount Prospect, IL, announced in August 1995 that it would refer to itself on first mention by its full name. "We tried using just 'institute'...and as we started thinking about the idea of adding 'and Technology,' we realized it is probably a better indicator anyway of what we do," Kendrick points out. "We're not just a pure science organization; we're involved in the applications end of things as well." The change was approved unanimously by the institute's board of directors.

IEST will hold its 44th annual technical meeting and exposition in Phoenix, April 26­May 1, 1998. The International Confederation of Contamination Control Societies (ICCCS) 14th Annual Symposium on Contamination Control will take place in conjunction with the conference. Information: 847/255-1561.

Updated EE text published

Fifteen chapters and 24 new articles have been added in the recently released revised edition of The Electrical Engineering Handbook. The comprehensive first edition was published in 1993. The 2736-page revision contains 12 major sections covering circuits, signal processing, electronics, electromagnetics, electrical effects, energy, and related electrical engineering topics. The volume also contains physical, mathematical, chemical, and material data, as well as approximately 2000 definitions, 3000 equations, and 1700 figures. A new cross-referencing system features more than 3500 references.

Edited by Richard Dorf, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Davis, the book, which costs $110, is published by CR Press of Boca Raton, FL. Information: 561/994-0555; fax, 800/374-3401.

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