Chemical Vapor Deposition System
With a maximum throughput in excess of 110 wafers per hour (wph), the system delivers unprecedented levels of manufacturing performance. At the same time, it delivers up to 40 percent higher capital productivity, up to 100 percent higher footprint productivity (throughput per square foot of fab space) and up to 40 percent lower cost ownership (CoO) than competing CVD systems. A 300 mm version of the tool is also available.
The system is designed to deposit the advanced dielectric films required for today's most powerful integrated circuits (ICs) with increased speed, reduced size and greater functionality. The key to building ICs with these characteristics is to reduce interconnect resistivity and capacitance. Just as the introduction of copper interconnects provided the reduced-resistivity solution, low-k dielectric films provide the reduced-capacitance solution. The combination of copper interconnects with advanced low-k films are expected to enable production of ICs below the 0.1-micron node.
The system leverages the company's production-proven Sequel platform with its multi-station sequential deposition architecture to offer high productivity, wide process windows and superior reproducibility. With the tool, each wafer is processed through the same path as every other wafer in the lot. As a result, the system delivers the highest possible control over critical device parameters. This high-level of performance and process control is essential for damascene films, including thick low-k films requiring chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), ultra-thin anti-reflective layer (ARL) films, copper diffusion barriers and etch stops.
The system architecture deposits each film in six sequential deposition layers, thereby preventing the propagation of pinholes and providing enhanced copper-diffusion blocking even with ultra-thin films. Effective copper blocking has been demonstrated on films with a thickness of less than 100 angstroms.
With ultra-thin gate oxides, advanced damascene structures can be susceptible to damage from processes utilizing high-power densities. The multi-station sequential deposition architecture offers high throughput, while maintaining power densities that are approximately one-third the level used in single-wafer and mini-batch reactors. This enables volume production with high device yields and damage-free processing.
Novellus Systems, Inc., 4000 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95134. Tel: 408-943-9700. Fax: 408-570-2635.