Ultratech, a supplier of lithography, laser processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-brightness LEDs (HBLEDs), as well as atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, today announced that it has received a multiple system follow-on order for its LSA101 dual-beam laser spike anneal (LSA) systems.
Ultratech's millisecond anneal systems will be used by its customer for expansion of 10-nm FinFET production. The key differentiators over competing tools and the basis for choosing Ultratech's LSA101 dual-beam systems are due to its annealing capability with a low overall thermal budget and the flexibility and extendability for use with existing and future nodes. Ultratech plans to ship the first LSA101 system in 2Q17 and the second system in 3Q17 to the customer's facility in Asia.
As the industry scales to smaller dimensions, millisecond anneal technology has continued to enable critical applications around transistor fabrication for multiple annealing steps for the front-end-of-line (FEOL) as well as those in middle-of-line (MOL).
Ultratech's global customers have benefitted from the extendability of the LSA systems across multiple production nodes including both planar and FinFET technologies.
This existing customer selected Ultratech's LSA101 dual-beam system for this expansion because of its low thermal budget capability, which is a key differentiator from other millisecond anneal tools and is an enabler for advanced processing steps beyond the FEOL.
"This follow-on order for second-generation FinFET production reinforces Ultratech's strong market position with the LSA101 dual-beam system which is targeted to enable new millisecond anneal steps for advanced FinFETs," said Scott Zafiropoulo, General Manager, Laser Products and Senior Vice President, Marketing at Ultratech.
"The LSA101 system provides our customers with a millisecond anneal tool that is extendable across multiple technology nodes and we anticipate continued use of the LSA101 platform for 7-nm and beyond. Ultratech looks forward to providing extendable, advanced technology solutions that enable this important customer, as well as all of our global customers to achieve competitive advantages to meet today's and tomorrow's product roadmaps."
The LSA101 with the dual-beam option expands the process space by adding a second low-power laser beam that adds process flexibility and enables millisecond annealing with a low thermal budget process and is built on the customizable Unity Platform™.
Inserting a millisecond anneal step post-junction formation, such as gate stack formation, silicide or post-silicide anneal, has been shown to improve leakage and device reliability, while reducing contact resistance and improving both performance and yield.
Compared to competing millisecond annealing technologies, LSA with dual-beam offers the lowest thermal budget millisecond anneal process along with superior within-die uniformity for different layouts. The LSA101 delivers high flexibility and extendability for advanced annealing applications and is currently in high-volume production for planar and FinFET logic devices.
