TSMC buys MVD equipment to boost rate of MEMS

TAIPEI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the dedicated semiconductor foundry based in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, has bought the molecular vapour deposition (MVD) equipment developed by Applied MicroStructures (AMST), headquartered in San Jose, California, the United States.

The MVD equipment by was procured by TSMC in order to meet the yield rate of manufacturing the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as required by Analog Device (ADI), the company engaged in the design and production of high-performance analog, digital-signal and mixed-signal processing integrated circuits (ICs).

The molecular vapour deposition equipment, bought by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at a cost of US $1.3-1.4 million, can improve yield rates by almost 15 percentage points, according to market sources. It is expected that the (MVD) equipment is expected to help TSMC get orders from other clients.

It has been reported that TSMC has obtained orders for accelerometer (g-sensor) from Analog Device (ADI). The Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and the Nano Science and Technology Centre at National Tsing Hua University, in Taiwan, have installed the MVD equipment.

DigiTimes said in a report that Touch Micro-system Technology (TMT) and Asia Pacific Microsystems (APM), both based in Taiwan, also are considering buying the MVD equipment with a view to boosting their yield rates.

The world’s leading suppliers of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) – including Freescale Semiconductor, Analog Device (ADI), and Knowles – have installed the MVD equipment developed by AMST, said report.