News-in-brief: May 2022

Technology ACM Research announced the start of mass production of its new wafer wet cleaning tool, the Ultra C VI. The single-wafer cleaning tool is suitable for use in several wet clean processes, including polymer removal, pre-deposition cleaning, post-etch, deep trench cleaning and post-chemical mechanical planarization cleaning. The Ultra C VI can reportedly clean more than 800 wafers per hour. Applied Materialsannounced innovations in a new portfolio of technologies for extending 2D scaling with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. This includes the Stensar Advanced Patterning Film which is used during the chemical vapor deposition step to enable greater specificity of EUV hard mask layer thickness and greater uniformity across the wafer. Other innovations include the Sym3 etch system, which reduces stochastic errors, and the PROVision metrology technology used to detect placement errors through several chip layers.
Policy & Regulation 3Mhas shut down its Belgian per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) production plant due to emission controls mandated by the Belgian government. 3M indicated that the timeline to reopen the plant is uncertain, but the company has engineered a wastewater treatment system to significantly reduce emissions. The plant is a major supplier of coolant for chip etching processes. Chipmakers Intel and Micron do not foresee the shortage immediately impacting operations, whereas SK Hynix anticipates the need to diversify sources of coolant. Company News DAS Environmental Expert has opened a EUR 35 million facility in Dresden, Germany, as part of its plan to double production of waste gas treatment systems for the semiconductor industry. Intelfinished a $3 billion fab expansion in Hilsboro, Oregon. The campus is nearly 500 acres, and has been renamed Gordon Moore Park at Ronler Acres. Intel indicated that this expansion gave engineers an additional 270,000 square feet of clean room space for developing next-generation technologies.

Wolfspeed officially opened the world's largest 200mm SiC fab in Marcy, New York. The fab is intended to accelerate transition from silicon to silicon carbide, and Wolfspeed announced a multi-year agreement with Lucid for the supply of Silicon Carbide devices. It is expected that the project will create more than 600 high-tech jobs by 2029. US company Air Products announced a $400 million investment to build, own and operate a number of large air separation units to supply ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen to a new wafer fab expansion in Tainan Science Park, Taiwan. The company has brought two air separation units onstream so far. The timeline of the investment and the customer has not been disclosed, but Air Products indicated the customer was one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in Asia. US company Lam Research opened a new research and development center in South Korea to be located closely to chip manufacturers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix at the Jigok industrial complex. The tool company invested $100 million in the new facility.