MICRO:Product Technology News (June '99)

The Titan robotic platform is designed to meet the reliability, repeatability, and durability needs of advanced IC manufacturing in 200- and 300-mm fabs. Features include brushless motors that eliminate failure and maintenance modes, backbone frame, and linear bearing assembly for high accuracy and repeatability. The robot also has monolithic tubular arm links and a rotating-mast drive coupled with software capabilities that enable optimal path planning with minimal mechanical complexity and lost motion. The modular system can handle harsh processing environments associated with CMP and copper deposition. It also satisfies new requirements created by complex wafer-transport mechanisms, intricate wafer paths, and larger wafers. The system's simple design gives it the adaptability to accommodate expected advances in wafer process automation. (Semicon West, San Francisco, South Hall, Booth 1338) The dual-frequency Exelan dielectric etch system for processing 0.18-µm devices has a streamlined design that features a single RF power supply and fixed-gap chamber that minimize components. Hard-mask opening, inorganic and organic ARC etching, and photoresist stripping are performed in situ within a single chamber. The system's process portfolio includes all dual-damascene structures, contacts, vias, spacers, and passivation etch in doped and undoped oxides and low-k dielectrics. Throughput can exceed 70 wafers/hr in some critical applications. The system also includes closed-loop active RF and wafer-area pressure control. (Semicon West, San Francisco, South Hall, Booth 1632) The 8100XP-R CD scanning electron microscope addresses the metrology requirements of low-k1 lithography and 0.18-µm technologies. It can measure both reticles and wafers without any hardware or software changeover, eliminating a source of error in reticle-to-wafer correlation studies. By characterizing both reticle patterns and the corresponding image on the wafer, the SEM facilitates image transfer and defect printability studies and enables customers to optimize pattern transfer for high productivity and yields. The microscope's ESD-reduction technology, along with advanced metrology algorithms,