Applied Materials intros new tungsten CMP app

BANGALORE, INDIA: Applied Materials, Inc., announced on Monday the extension of its successful Applied Reflexion GT CMP1 system to include the planarization of tungsten films.

This CMP process is critical to fabricating the transistor contacts and viasin advanced DRAM, NAND and logic devices. With the Reflexion GT system’s proven dual-wafer architecture, customers can achieve unmatched throughput and more than40 p.c lower cost-per-wafer than competing systems, said a press release.

Importantly, Applied Materials is the only tungstenCMP system manufacturer to provide closed-loopfilm 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. The Reflexion GT system can help chipmakers meet these challenges with superior on-wafer performance at a sustainable cost,” said Lakshmanan Karuppiah, general manager of Applied’s CMP business unit.

He added that the rapid adoption by customers of their 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 chipmaking process.

The Applied Reflexion GT platform, launched in late 2009, set new benchmarks in CMP performance and productivity. The system’s unique dual-mode architecture enables two wafers to be processed simultaneously on each polishing pad to boost throughput and significantly cut consumable costs.

The system’s sophisticated, real-time profile and endpoint control technologies enable superior profile control and repeatability, the release added.