ALD is used today in high-volume manufacturing for mainstream memory applications.
Attracted by their healthy growth and the benefits over alternative deposition technologies, it has found significant interest in the field of More-than-Moore devices.
Indeed, markets such as power electronics, RF GaN, MEMS or even photonics are now driving the More-than-Moore ALD equipment market: for example, the power semiconductor devices market segment, showing an healthy growth for several years now, reached a US$17.5 billion in 2018 (Status of the Power Electronics Industry, Yole Développement). Same for the overall GaN RF market that is expected to reach US$2 billion by 2024 (RF GaN Market: Applications, Players, Technology and Substrates 2019, Yole Développement). There is no doubt this promising method found it playground !
After the recent announcement of the Beneq TransformTM, Amandine Pizzagalli, Technology and Market Analyst, Semiconductor Manufacturing at Yole, had the opportunity to interview Dr. Mikko Söderlund, Sales Director of Beneq. He shared interesting insights about the company’s vision of ALD market and this promising method. Here is a summary of their discussion
Amandine Pizzagalli: Can you briefly introduce Beneq, its history and current activity?
Dr. Mikko Söderlund: Beneq is the home of ALD, offering a wide portfolio of equipment products and services. Today Beneq is a key market leader with innovative solutions for versatile volume manufacturing (BENEQ Transform™), advanced R&D (TFS 200, R2), roll-to-roll thin-film coating of continuous webs (WCS 600), and specialized batch production for thicker film stacks (P400, P800). Headquartered in Espoo, Finland, Beneq is dedicated to making ALD technology available for the semiconductor industry and providing the invisible advantage in emerging device applications.
AP: Can you explain Beneq’s involvement in the ALD market for More-than-Moore devices?
MS: Beneq is a leading supplier of ALD production equipment and services to the More-than-Moore markets. Our focus is within MEMS (RF, actuators), power (Si & WBG), CIS, RF, advanced packaging, and photonics applications. We offer solutions covering front-end applications like surface passivation, wafer-level encapsulation, nucleation layers, and gate dielectric deposition, as well as back-end solutions e.g. for chip scale, package, or module-level encapsulation. We also support our customers in demo/exploration and coating services through our ALD factory in Finland. We offer compelling service support solutions to assist our production customers.
AP: Can you describe Beneq’s new product portfolio in ALD deposition for More-than-Moore, and the roadmap?
MS: The MEMS and Imaging Sensors Summit in Grenoble September 25 – 26 will serve as the official launch of the BENEQ Transform™, a versatile automated ALD platform for More-than-Moore device fabrication. The product’s brand-new cluster design offers customers unparalleled flexibility by combining both thermal and plasma ALD with single-wafer and batch processing, on a single platform. Fully compliant with SEMI quality standards, the BENEQ Transform™ is a one-stop ALD solution for power electronics, MEMS & sensors, RF, LED, photonics, and advanced packaging applications. The BENEQ Transform™ produces a wide range of oxides including Al2O3, HfO2, Ta2O5, TiO2, and SiO2, and nitrides such as AIN and TiN. The BENEQ Transform™ also features a proprietary preheating module that eliminates hours of waiting time and boosts throughput to a whole new level (15 wph @50 nm Al2O3, for a single thermal batch module). Throughput can be further increased by adding up to two more process modules, either thermal or plasma. What further sets the Transform™ ahead of other tools is its ability to scale-up throughput and maintain the same or better performance regardless of temperature, e.g. >400°C. The BENEQ Transform™ supports wafer sizes from 3 – 8 inches. It is in full production, and available to customers.
Find out more from www.beneq.com/transform
Source: i-Micronews