The Last Piece: Novellus Introduces Cu Electrofill

Novellus Systems Inc.stems (San Jose, CA) capped a series of announcements related to copper interconnects on Tuesday, with the introduction of the new Sabre copper electrofill system (See "Copper Electrofill System" in Semiconductor Online's Product Showcase.). The new system is the centerpiece of the company's Damascus "complete copper" product suite. In addition to Novellus' metal (See "PVD Conforms to Smaller Features") and dielectric deposition systems, Damascus includes etch, CMP, and post-CMP equipment and processes from Lam Research, IPEC Precision, and OnTrak, respectively (See "Solving the Copper Puzzle: Novellus Partners with Lam, IPEC"). According to executive VP Peter Hanley, Novellus will guarantee the results of all Damascus tools, including those from partner companies.

Chairman and CEO Richard Hill explained, "By reaching across corporate boundaries, we have assembled the tools and expertise global chipmakers need to speed their transition to high-volume manufacturing of devices with copper interconnects. These cooperative efforts are focused solely on resolving the process integration issues customers will face in their copper migration strategies, as well as on developing complementary processes for cost-effective manufacturing."

The initial Damascus equipment set includes the following:

Novellus Equipment	Process
Sabre	Copper electrofill
Inova	PVD Ta(N) barrier and Cu seed layer
Speed	F-HDP line dielectric and SiN hard mask
Speed/Sequel	SiN diffusion barrier, SiO2 via dielectric and SiN etch stop
Sequel	SiON anti-reflective layer
Other equipment	Process
Lam 4520XLE	Dual-damascene oxide etch
IPEC AvantGuard	Cu CMP
OnTrak Teres	Cu CMP
OnTrak Synergy Performa	Post-CMP clean

By Katherine Derbyshire

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