Novellus opens new manufacturing facility in Oregon

BANGALORE: Novellus Systems Inc. has opened a new manufacturing facility in

Tualatin, Oregon. The new facility is designed to produce Novellus’ copper

metallization and damascene dielectric deposition tools. The 382,000-square-foot

"copper campus" will supply leading semiconductor fabs and foundries

around the world with the tools needed to produce the most advanced integrated

circuits (ICs) on the market today.

As a part of its expansion strategy Novellus opened a software development

and support office in Bangalore in June 2001, to provide software development,

testing and support for Novellus’ global customers.

The Bangalore facility, the only Novellus software center outside US, was

opened as the company’s ongoing efforts to improve customer satisfaction,

speed new software development and offer its customers with 24-hour software

service and support worldwide through the combined activities of centers in

India, Northern California, and Oregon.

The opening of Novellus’ Tualatin plant coincides with the semiconductor

industry’s mainstream transition to the use of copper deposition equipment to

build the ICs that power today’s sophisticated consumer electronic devices.

The facility will house the company’s Electrofill Products Business and the

PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) Products Business, and will

produce the tools that deliver the core technologies required to fabricate the

copper circuitry or interconnects. The expansion move doubles the manufacturing

capacity for the company’s PECVD products, VECTOR and SEQUEL Express, and

provides expanded research and development (R&D) space for its SABRE

Electrofill product.

"This new, state-of-the-art technology and manufacturing facility

expands our long-standing business presence in the greater Portland area,"

said, Novellus’ executive vice president for the deposition business group,

Jeff Benzing. "In fact, much of our early work developing our

industry-leading copper Electrofill products was accomplished at our

Wilsonville, Ore., plant, which opened in 1995. With leading semiconductor

players such as Intel already well established in the region, the Portland

metropolitan area offers Novellus and its employees numerous benefits in terms

of affordable housing and quality of life, as well as a rich supply of technical

talent. Especially significant is the close proximity to several major

customers, which bolsters the potential for cutting-edge co-development

activities."