News: Suppliers
4 July 2024
Forge Nano launches TEPHRA 200mm single-wafer ALD cluster tool
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment provider and materials science company Forge Nano Inc of Thornton, CO, USA has further expanded into the semiconductor market by unveiling its new TEPHRA single-wafer ALD cluster platform. By offering single-wafer ALD coating quality at throughputs similar to the speed of batch systems, TEPHRA enables the production of what are claimed to be best-in-class coatings at commercial scale with unrivaled precursor efficiency and speed.
Powered by Forge Nano’s ALD technology, which is said to offer ultrathin, uniform, pinhole-free films with an unprecedented 10x throughput for single-wafer processing, TEPHRA is dedicated to the manufacturing of specialty semiconductor applications on 200mm wafers and below. With 100x efficient chemical use, rapid cycle times, increased yield, and low-risk manufacturing, TEPHRA is claimed to be the only single-wafer cluster tool with commercial throughput speeds serving applications in advanced packaging, power semiconductor, radio frequency devices (RFD), micro-LEDs, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and more.
“TEPHRA is designed to unlock new capabilities to meet the growing demand of novel More-than-Moore market device applications that seek high-throughput ALD capabilities without sacrificing film qualities,” says CEO Paul Lichty. “Forge Nano will enable advanced device architectures with groundbreaking efficiency in the semiconductor space with our innovative ALD wafer tools that prioritize cost, performance and efficiency,” he adds. “With TEPHRA, Forge Nano is opening new coating solutions and opportunities for our proprietary coating techniques that address high-aspect-ratio structures, which have previously been underserved in the semiconductor industry.”
Forge Nano says that its ALD technology enables conformal coatings to scale to aspect ratios greater than 10:1. With a flagship all-ALD Metal Barrier Seed film application, TEPHRA offers nitride and metal depositions in high-aspect-ratio structures for advanced 3D integration applications, including through-silicon and through-glass vias. By moving beyond 10:1 aspect ratios, manufacturers can scale their packaging processes and reduce power consumption by overcoming common pitfalls of directional deposition technologies — including plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) — which struggle with conformality and void formation.
Available in a range of configurations (with the option of four-sided, six-sided and eight-sided cluster platforms), TEPHRA can process wafers up to 200mm between 80°C and 300°C with six process precursor channels and dedicated chambers for oxide, nitride and metal depositions. TEPHRA also features Forge Nano’s patented CRISP technology, a suite of catalyzed thermal ALD processes that enable low temperature and hard-to-deposit materials without the need for plasma.
Forge Nano is exhibiting in booth #133 at SEMICON West 2024 in San Francisco, CA, USA (9–11 July).
