INDUSTRY NEWS

Intel to build 12-in. fab

Intel has begun construction in Hillsboro, OR, of its first 300-mm fab. The facility will cost more than $1.5 billion and feature a 120,000-sq-ft Class 1 cleanroom. The fab will be the future home of Portland Technology Development, an R&D operation that Intel is establishing to develop manufacturing recipes for 0.13-µm processes and beyond. The giant chipmaker expects to complete the Hillsboro fab in 2000. The plant is the second phase of a development called Ronler Acres. Intel says it will spend approximately $2.8 billion on R&D in 1998 and will increase capital spending to $5.3 billion, up from $4.5 billion in 1997.

SpeedFam finds U.S. customer

MEMC Electronic Materials became the first U.S. customer for the 300-mm edge polisher from SpeedFam International. The tool has been installed at MEMC's 300-mm pilot line in St. Peters, MO. SpeedFam, which specializes in CMP equipment, has delivered polishers to five other sites around the world. According to the Arizona-based vendor, the polishing system was developed to minimize particulate contamination, ensure molecular continuity, and resist shock. The tool polishes both sides of the unfinished wafer edge, reducing the particulates that can be transmitted to the top surface of a substrate from the edge during fabrication, SpeedFam says.

Applied tool goes to Dresden

A 300-mm fab operated jointly by Siemens and Motorola in Dresden, Germany, will install a large equipment order from Applied Materials. The order includes plasma etch, CVD, and PVD tools, as well as CD-SEM equipment. Called Semiconductor 300, the fab will produce 64-Mb DRAMs with 0.25-µm linewidths. Delivery of the equipment was to begin during the first quarter of 1998 with production of the chips set to begin in early 1999. Applied says it has assigned more than 500 engineers and technologists to its 300-mm tool development programs.

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