INDUSTRY NEWS

Applied, Novellus claim their latest copper process tools are global hits

As the shift to copper-based processes picks up steam, both Applied Materials and Novellus Systems report widespread interest in their latest copper tools. Both companies say that interest has spread across all regions for their respective systems, which they introduced in April.

"I think the good news is we're getting strong interest globally," asserts Dan Carl, general manager of the copper division for Applied Materials. "Our initial shipments are indeed global." The company says it has received multiple orders for the new tool from customers in the United States, Japan, and Europe.

FORWARD LOOKING: Applied's Millennia has separate wet and dry process areas serviced by robots.

"I have my production floor working 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Carl says, adding that first shipments have already been sent. "We expect...to make a significant impact on market share this year."

Mark Fissel of Novellus expressed similar upbeat sentiments about the level of customer support. He reports "great interest" in the company's Sabre xT copper electrofill system. "The improvements we put in the Sabre xT platform are basically what we've learned over the last year and a half of copper integration with the top 10 semiconductor manufacturers," says Fissel, who is the general manager, metals group, PVD and electrofill products. "So, they're looking at this developmental experience we've pulled together in our second-generation plating system."

CUTTING EDGE: Novellus has created new chemistries for its next-generation Sabre xT tool.

Novellus has seen the greatest interest for the Sabre coming from chipmakers in the United States and Asia. With its first-generation tool launched in June 1998 already installed "at a lot of major manufacturers," Fissel says, "we still see our market share greater than 50%."

On April 7 Novellus unveiled the next-generation Sabre tool, followed a day later by Applied's official launch of the Millennia Electra electrochemical plating tool. Novellus claims the Sabre can produce copper interconnects with aspect ratios up to 10:1 and linewidths down to 0.13 µm. Based on the original Sabre platform, the system has the same cell design and footprint of its predecessor but delivers a higher throughput of up to 75 wafers/hr. A special kit enables users to change wafer sizes to accommodate both 200- and 300-mm substrates.

Applied is selling the Millennia as one component in a copper interconnect toolset that also includes the company's Endura barrier and seed system and Mirra Electra CMP tool. The vendor says the Millennia's closed-loop chemical management system ensures plating consistency while its low-acid electrolytes enable void-free and uniform copper interconnects. The chemical management system controls the solution to parts-per-million accuracy, according to Applied.

Both spokesmen say that strong particle performances for each tool are givens. Applied says it has integrated throughput design concepts from both its Endura and Producer platforms that ensure low contamination. To minimize copper contamination, the Millennia has separate wet and dry process areas serviced by dedicated robots. A post-electroplating cleaning module in the wet process area uses two spin-rinse-dry cells to clean the electrolytes from both sides of the wafer and then dry the substrate.

Carl says the Millennia's particle performance "is comparable to that of the Endura product. Performance is different from specs, of course...but let's just say it's not an issue."

Novellus has teamed with Shipley, a maker of electrofill chemicals, to develop new chemistries for processing chips with 0.25-µm geometries. To ensure process reliability, the tool manufacturer developed what it calls SmartDose. Initiated with the first Sabre tool, the feature bases its bath chemical dose on production volume and the plating process. The new Sabre xT also features an automatic bath monitor option that eliminates operator involvement and demonstrates a reproducibility rate of <3% wafer to wafer, Novellus claims.

Fissel sees a "general confidence" in particle performance specs for the Novellus system, but he notes parenthetically that commonly used defect detection tools have difficulty measuring copper contamination. "They're just learning calibration curves for copper specifically," he maintains, adding that there's a question of whether "the particle is in the film or on the surface."

Applied's Carl declines to quote a price for the Millennia, although both that system and the Novellus tool are reported to cost in the range of $2.5 million each. Carl says Applied is the first to market a closed-loop system, while Fissel believes the Sabre's Smart Dose technology and Shipley-based electrofill chemistry give it an edge.

"Semitool was first in the market with a machine that can work, and, of course, the Novellus Sabre tool has been out for a little over a year," notes Carl, later adding, "Our customers are savvy; they shop around for the best performance."

As for the heat from Applied, a confident Fissel says, "People are looking at who the major players are going to be in electrofill. They know who is out there now and see that Applied has entered the market. People know that a major competitor has come."

Both introductions come as the demand for copper process tools continues to climb. Novellus cites internal figures showing the copper electrofill market will grow from $100 million in 1999 to $200 million in 2000, $320 million in 2001, $400 million in 2002, and $500 million in 2003. Applied says Dataquest figures estimate that the market for copper deposition gear, including both barrier-seed and electroplating tools, will grow at a compound annual rate of 37% between 1999 and 2003.

Carl credits IBM with shaking up the semiconductor world when it became the first chipmaker to commit to copper. "IBM had this big earthquake in 1997, and the tsunami has been going around the world since then," he says. High-speed copper-based devices will be essential "not just for microprocessors and battery-operated PDAs but for cell phones as well. Customers say, 'I want the battery life to double,' and you can't get that unless you use low-k dielectrics or use copper as a conductor."

Fissel says he has even seen nibbles for the Novellus tool from some of the Asian foundries. "A lot of the foundries are starting to get interested in copper earlier than anticipated. They see they're going to have to be competitive with logic, systems-on-a-chip, ASICs, and other processes that benefit from copper."

MicroHome | Search | Current Issue | MicroArchives
Buyers Guide | Media Kit