Gelest Announced Diiodosilane Commercialization for PEALD Silicon Nitride

MORRISVILLE, Pa., July 27, 2018 — Semiconductor material Gelest Inc. has announced the commercializing of diiodosilane to meet the global demand of the semiconductor industry for next-generation semiconductor chips.

 

Diidosilane (LINK)

Gelest’s dedicated diiodosilane plant in Morrisville is fully operational and can produce commercial quantities of diiodosilane with purity in excess of 99.9 percent. Diiodosilane is a key chemical precursor used by semiconductor companies worldwide in the development and scale-up of next-generation semiconductor chips that require high-throughput, highly conformal silicon nitride thin films.

Diiodosilane is typically deposited by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition to create the silicon nitride thin film. Gelest sees a significant increase in demand for high purity diiodosilane driven by development and production of semiconductor chips requiring silicon nitride thin films at low thermal budgets.

Gelest is a manufacturer of specialty materials for the semiconductor industry.

Source : Photonics LINK

Gelest is sponsoring and exhibiting at the AVS ALD2018 conference currently taking place in South Korea (LINK)  

Related Literature from Gelest:

Solid State Technology: Understanding ALD MLD and SAMs as they enter the fab – Arkles, Goff, & Kaloyeros
ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Tech: Silicon Nitride and Silicon Nitride-Rich Thin Film Technologies: Trends in Deposition Techniques and Related Applications – Kaloyeros, Jove, Goff, & Arkles

ASM International N.V. 2018 Q2 - Results

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today reports its second quarter 2018 operating results (unaudited) in accordance with IFRS. (LINK)

• New orders received of €176 million.
• Net sales for the second quarter 2018 were €209 million, an increase of 31% compared to the previous quarter.
• Gross profit margin was 42.1% in Q2 2018 compared to 37.8% in the previous quarter.
• Operating result increased to €38 million compared to the previous quarter. The increase is mainly the result of the higher sales level and higher gross margin.
• Normalized net earnings for the second quarter 2018 increased by €44 million compared to Q1 2018.

Earnings Call slide deck (Seeking Alpha) : LINK

 

 

COMMENT

Commenting on the results, Chuck del Prado, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASM International said:

"In Q2 we realized sales of €209 million and an order intake of €176 million. Both sales and order intake were within our guidance, despite the uncertainty around the exact timing of individual tools as mentioned in the Q1 earnings release. The gross margin in Q2 at 42% returned back again in the range of low to mid 40's. This month at Semicon West, we introduced the Synergis, the latest addition to ASM's industry-leading line of ALD tools, which addresses a wide range of advanced applications and will drive expansion of our Served Available Market within single-wafer ALD."

OUTLOOK

For Q3, on a currency comparable level, we expect sales of €180-200 million and an order intake of € 200-230 million. Q3 reflects still some uncertainty around the exact timing of individual tools.

For 2018, general expectations for growth of the wafer fab equipment market are currently mid to high single digits. Based upon the current market developments we expect our sales in the second half to be stronger than in the first half. We expect to outgrow the wafer fab equipment market in 2018.

Changelight orders additional AIXTRON systems

Company expands MOCVD capacity for ROY fine pitch and mini LEDs with AIXTRON's flagship product AIX 2800G4-TM

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA), a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, is supplying additional leading-edge MOCVD technology to Xiamen Changelight Co, Ltd (Changelight). Thus, the Chinese company is expanding its production capacities for arsenide-phosphide-based red, orange and yellow LEDs (ROY LED) and solar cells by several AIX 2800G4-TM cluster systems. The tools will be delivered to the customer between Q3/2018 and Q1/2019. 

All production systems have a wafer configuration of 15x4 inches, which enables maximum yield at the highest quality level. Due to its unique production performance and the high manufacturing capacity of AIXTRON's automated Planetary Batch Reactor concept, the AIX 2800G4-TM has established itself as a reference system for the production of ROY LEDs in recent years.

Jin Zhangyu, president of Xiamen Changelight, said: "We have been using AIXTRON's equipment technology to manufacture advanced optoelectronic devices for years and therefore, have great confidence in the AIX 2800G4-TM. The outstanding performance of the system in terms of wafer homogeneity and efficiency in material consumption combined with maximum flexibility and versatility in production will help us to position Changelight as one of the world's leading suppliers of ROY LED for fine pitch, mini LED and micro LED applications."

 

Source: Aixtron (LINK)

Picosun - The ALD Company

While waiting for the ALD2018 in Korea starting you should have a look at the new Picosun promotional video. You can see a number of cool ALD reactors passing by in the background.

Leading memory chip manufacturer purchases multiple VEECO AP300 lithography systems for DRAM interconnect applications

Growing Demand for Advanced Packaging in the Memory Market Highlights Value of Veeco’s
High Volume Manufacturing Lithography Systems

PLAINVIEW, New York, July 9, 2018 – Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) today announced that one of the world’s leading memory chip manufacturers has ordered multiple AP300™ lithography systems to support the fast growing demand for DRAM with copper (Cu) pillars. The company selected the Veeco tools for their versatility in addressing advanced packaging applications, proven reliability in supporting high volume manufacturing and low total cost of ownership. 

This approach echoes a larger industry trend, with more and more memory manufacturers exploring the use of Cu pillars in DRAM interconnect applications due to their higher input/output (I/O) density, improved electrical performance and better thermal efficiency. “Within the DRAM market, the interconnect is shifting from wire bond to flip chip,” said Jan Vardaman, president of semiconductor packaging analyst firm TechSearch International, Inc. “We project that over the next three years, the annual number of flip chip interconnects in DRAM will grow 29 percent on a unit volume basis.”

The AP300 is part of a family of lithography systems built on Veeco’s customizable Unity Platform™, which delivers superior overlay, resolution and side wall profile performance, driving highly automated, cost-effective manufacturing for customers. The system is particularly well suited for Cu pillar, fan-out, through-silicon via (TSV) and silicon interposer applications. A low risk, low cost, high volume manufacturing solution, the AP300 is staged to support rapid market adoption of advanced packaging applications among memory manufacturers.

“The growing demand for innovative, alternative solutions to wire bonding in memory presents a strong opportunity for Veeco,” said Rezwan Lateef, vice president and general manager of lithography products at Veeco. “Furthermore, this significant customer adoption validates the AP300’s ability to address advanced packaging applications in a broader high-volume production market. To meet this demand, we are strengthening our regional technical staff to support numerous memory manufacturers looking to fast-track adoption.”

Veeco will be at Booth #6070 at SEMICON West in San Francisco, CA, July 10-12, 2018.