ASM Launches 'Vertos Flowable Carbon' Technology to Advance Next-Gen 3D Semiconductors
TECHWORLD ·
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ASM announced the launch of 'XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon' as a technology for advancing next-generation 3D semiconductors.
The technology is a PECVD-based flowable carbon film formation technology that enables gap fill and planarization simultaneously in a single PECVD process.
ASM said the technology reduces process complexity and eliminates the need for post-process CMP and post-process etch-back, leading to lower manufacturing costs and a reduced risk of defects.
ASM announced the launch of 'XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon' as a technology for advancing next-generation 3D semiconductors.
'XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon' is a PECVD-based flowable carbon film formation technology. The technology enables gap fill and planarization simultaneously in a single PECVD process.
As a result, it reduces process complexity and improves wafer surface planarization control, while supporting the realization of complex 3D semiconductor structures.
The new PECVD process addresses deep, narrow high-aspect-ratio structures and enables uniform film formation without voids or seam defects inside trenches. It also allows self-planarization across the wafer.
The technology is implemented within an all-in-one PECVD system, and it is said to eliminate the need for post-process CMP and post-process etch-back, leading to lower manufacturing costs and a reduced risk of defects.
ASM said the flowable carbon technology integrates key patterning steps into a single platform, enabling process simplification. It added that it reduces the number of process cycles needed for surface homogenization, improves the level of planarization across substrates with varying pattern densities, and has high thermal stability and ASD(area selective deposition) characteristics. It also presented the technology as a scalable patterning solution applicable to current and future technology nodes.
Hicham Hosseini, CEO of ASM, said that sustaining semiconductor scaling requires materials innovation along with advances in device structures and design. He said Vertos Flowable Carbon is an example of innovation based on materials development turned into a practical manufacturing solution, and a technology that addresses the challenge of integrating next-generation semiconductor processes. He added that chips using the technology will enable faster and more efficient AI performance and support personal and industrial progress through the use of AI.
Tyler Sample, executive vice president and head of the major product division at ASM PECVD, first pointed out that conventional carbon films are deposited by conforming to the shape of a structure, which causes continued propagation of surface topography issues and requires additional steps to compensate for them. He then explained that XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon represents a fundamental shift from existing process methods, as the material flows into the structure, fills from the bottom up without gaps, and self-planarizes to create a flat, uniform surface that can be used immediately for the next patterning process.
He also said that achieving flowability, thermal stability, and area selective deposition(ASD) simultaneously on a single PECVD tool platform is an unprecedented innovation. He added that the technology enables the implementation of highly challenging next-generation device structures that are difficult to address with existing carbon film technologies, and that it points to a new technical direction.
Source: TECHWORLD · Lee Gwang-jae
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407467
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Source: TECHWORLD
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