Tungsten CMP application enables advanced chip designs
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In a bid to enable advanced chip designs, Applied Materials has announced the extension of its chemical mechanical planarisation (CMP) system to include the planarisation of tungsten films.
The company claims this process is critical to fabricating the transistor contacts and vias in advanced DRAM, NAND and logic devices.
Applied Materials is the only tungsten CMP system manufacturer to provide closed loop film thickness and uniformity control - a vital capability to achieve high yields of today's advanced transistor structures.
"Fabricating advanced chips is becoming increasingly complex, requiring more tungsten CMP steps and more sophisticated process control," said Lakshmanan Karuppiah, general manager of Applied's CMP business unit. "The Reflexion GT system can help chipmakers meet these challenges with superior on wafer performance at a sustainable cost. The rapid adoption by customers of our innovative Reflexion GT system for copper applications has demonstrated the value of the dual wafer concept and resulted in significant market share gains, further extending our leadership position in this critical chip making process."
The Applied Reflexion GT platform was launched in late 2009 and its dual mode architecture enables two wafers to be processed simultaneously on each polishing pad.
