News: Suppliers
29 January 2025
Forge Nano adds cleanroom, tripling ALD cluster tool production space
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment provider and materials science company Forge Nano Inc of Thornton, CO, USA has completed its new 2000ft2 semiconductor cleanroom, which enables it to manufacture multiple commercial TEPHRA ALD cluster tools to accommodate growing demand from the semiconductor market.
Forge Nano announced the expansion of its semiconductor ALD business in 2024 with the launch of TEPHRA. The firm’s ability to coat single wafers at 10x the throughput of traditional ALD systems has significantly grown customer demand, thus requiring the expansion of manufacturing capacity.
“The Forge Nano TEPHRA can enable conformal metal barrier seed layers for through-silicon and through-glass vias at aspect ratios greater than 25:1 at production speeds,” says Matt Weimer, director of R&D. “With this new cleanroom, Forge Nano will be able to showcase the capabilities of our ALD atomic layer deposition processes to our customers and further our solutions for advanced packaging and 3D chip integration.”
The new cleanroom provides a Class 10 (ISO 4) space for processing sensitive customer samples and includes a metrology lab for advanced thin-film measurement and particle inspection. The remainder of the cleanroom will house Forge Nano’s own internal TEPHRA tool and provide space to build multiple customer tools, serving as a dual operating space for demonstrations and manufacturing. In addition to increased manufacturing space, this expansion is poised to accelerate Forge Nano’s ability to provide proof-of-concept and commercial solution validation to manufacturers planning to integrate new ALD processes.
Picture: Forge Nano’s TEPHRA ALD cluster tool in the new cleanroom production space.
Powered by Forge Nano’s ALD technology, which offers ultrathin, uniform, pinhole-free films with 10x throughput for single-wafer processing, TEPHRA is dedicated to the manufacturing of specialty semiconductor applications on 200mm wafers and below. With 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 200mm applications in advanced packaging, power semiconductor, radio frequency devices (RFD), micro-LEDs, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and more.
Forge Nano expects to deliver TEPHRA tools in early 2025. It is offering on-site TEPHRA demonstrations to new and existing customers starting in early 2025.
Forge Nano launches TEPHRA 200mm single-wafer ALD cluster tool
