Applied Materials Ships 200th
Producer APF System, the CVD Patterning Technology of Choice for
Advanced Device Scaling
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied Materials, Inc. announced the shipment of its 200th
Applied Producer APF®
system. Providing customers with a unique family of CVD1
pattern transfer films, the Producer APF system has been key to enabling
the extension of optical lithography to 45nm and beyond. As a result,
the Producer APF has become the CVD patterning tool of record at
advanced logic, DRAM and flash manufacturers worldwide.
“The Producer APF system has been one of our
most successful products, achieving exponential growth as customers
adopted it into volume production for an increasing number of device
layers,” said Derek Witty, general manager of
Applied’s blanket dielectric films division. “Customers
continue to expand their use of our APF family of films as a critical
lithography-enabling solution for device scaling in both front and
back-end applications. In addition, the Producer GT platform enables a
100% improvement in APF productivity, thus significantly reducing cost
of ownership.”
The Applied Producer APF system is being used in nearly all advanced
memory fabs for as many as ten layers of a device, employing
application-specific APF chemistries for different patterning
requirements. No other PECVD system delivers as extensive a portfolio of
patterning films. Applied’s family of APF
films are currently in production for gate, STI, contact, capacitor
formation, bitline and contact-to-source/drain patterning applications
where they offer superior etch selectivity with the lowest stress and
line edge roughness at the highest throughput density.
The Producer APF plays a critical role in the manufacturability of
self-aligned double patterning (SADP), a process that is being employed
for the 45nm generation and beyond. Applied has demonstrated an
integrated SADP process for producing APF arrays as small as 22nm lines
and spaces, with line edge roughness below 2nm. Applied’s
APF is a leading candidate for 3xnm and below hardmask applications as a
result of its excellent structural properties that enable excellent CD
control, without line waviness or bending. For more information, visit: www.appliedmaterials.com/products/producer_apf_4.html.
Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the global leader in
Nanomanufacturing Technology™ solutions with a
broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products
for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar
photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At
Applied Materials, we apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the
way people live. Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.
1 CVD=chemical vapor deposition
