Date: 18/03/2011

Applied offers gentle doping of semiconductor instead of bombarding with ions

Applied Materials has come out with a new semiconductor manufacturing equipment for doping the nano meter node complex SoC chips. The new system called Centura Conforma system supports 3 dimensional fabrication of the semiconductor IC chip. Applied uses Plasma Doping (CPD) technology to enable the fabrication of advanced 3D structures in next-generation logic and memory semiconductor chips. The Conforma system delivers high-dose, low energy doping technology with in-situ clean capability in a single vacuum chamber to deliver uniform, high throughput doping on both planar and 3D silicon structures.

semiconductor dopingApplied says this system uses pure, additive-free doping chemistry that preserves the underlying device structures - a critical feature not found in any other plasma doping system.

"Our plasma doping technology capitalizes on Applied's expertise in RF engineering, CVD chamber design and extensive process knowledge," said Sundar Ramamurthy, vice president and general manager of the Front End Products business unit at Applied Materials. "Our Conforma technology has already been embraced by many of our customers. They have systems running in both pilot and high-volume manufacturing, and we're also working with customers and research entities on pioneering R&D programs using our proprietary technology."

The traditional doping process where the silicon wafer is bombarded with a beam of dopant ions moving at high speed is not accurate and also can damage ultra-thin semiconductor layers in cutting-edge chips, which are now running in the range of 22nm.


The Centura Conforma combine integrated plasma pre-clean and RTP anneal on the same vacuum platform - to allow integrated process sequences and to assure that the processed wafers are free of potentially harmful residues.

The types of semiconductor devices which can be utilizing the benefits of this system includes finFET logic, vertical gate DRAM and vertical NAND flash memory arrays.