Varian Semiconductor Announces Launch Of New Single Wafer High Energy Implanter

Gloucester, MA - Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. announced recently the successful launch of its newest product, the VIISta HE. Capitalizing on VSEA's patented True Zero beam angle control architecture, the VIISta HE has been designed to meet strong customer demand for a precise single wafer high energy tool. VSEA has shipped two VIISta HE systems into high volume DRAM and foundry manufacturing environments.

Mark Merrill, General Manager of the Low Dose Product Business Unit, commented: "We've designed the VIISta HE to meet the growing demands of cost-conscious DRAM manufacturers. We've combined VSEA's highly successful single wafer VIISta platform with simple DC acceleration technology to create the most precise and cost-effective high energy solution on the market today. The VIISta HE has been shipped to two customers and has broken VSEA installation records for first tool shipments by achieving production readiness nine days after the start of installation."

Gary Dickerson, Chief Executive Officer, added: "In 2004, there was a key technical inflection point that drove the transition to single wafer high current. VSEA is now the market share leader in high current. Today, we've reached a similar inflection point for high energy. The VIISta HE with True Zero(TM) beam angle control provides the most precise zero degree implants available. Zero degree implants provide chipmakers with higher packing densities, thereby extending Moore's law and potentially increasing revenue by many millions of dollars per year at a typical high-volume DRAM fab. Additionally, our customers have shown that the VIISta HE True Zero capability provides improved device performance and yield by reducing transistor leakage."

Utilizing the highly successful VIISta common end station, the VIISta HE tools are running at greater than 95% uptime and have been qualified for production. Since 2000, VSEA has shipped over 950 VIISta-based implanters to chip manufacturers worldwide.

SOURCE: Varian Semiconductor