Alchimer comes up with AquiVia XS process

LONDON: Alchimer SA, the company that provides wet-deposition processes for semiconductor interconnects and 3-D through-silicon vias (TSV) has said it has invented a technique to eliminate the seed-layer step from the standard isolation-barrier-seed process flow.

The AquiVia XS process, of Alchimer, SA allows bulk-fill to take place directly after application of the barrier layer, a statement from the company said, adding that the product is also the first deposition solution to support both copper and nickel metallization.

According to Alchimer SA, based in Massy, France, cost-of-ownership analyses for a typical 5-by-50-micron TSV shows an 80 per cent mprovement over the traditional dry-process stack.

The new product, Alchimer claimed, is capable of producing TSVs with aspect ratios of 20:1 and beyond – even on the highly scalloped TSV etch profiles that are made by the DRIE/Bosch process.

Steve Lerner, chief executive officer of Alchimer SA, said in the statement that the new addition to the AquiVia product family is expected to expand the company’s existing markets.

The new product, according to Steve Lerner, offers the customers valuable and strategic options as well as widens the cost-of-ownership gap between Alchimer and the traditional dry-deposition processes.