Technical Basis

The following tools are currently being used:

The key asset is a state-of-the-art pilot line in a 1,000 m2 class-1 clean room with a 24 h / 7 days per week mode of operation.

The Toolset is capable for 0.13 µm technology on 200 mm wafers. Cycle times are typically 2 days per mask level. Processing times from tape-in to the shipment of diced chips are about 10 weeks, depending to some extent on the technology used.

Key equipment for processing and inline measurement in the pilot line includes:

• I-line and DUV (248 nm laser exposure) photolithography
• CMP in front-end of line (oxide, poly Si) and back-endof line (oxide, tungsten)
• Dry etch processes for standard CMOS and BiCMOS process modules
• PVD (Co, Al, Ti, TiN) and CVD (W, TiN) for the Al metallization system
• PECVD (inclusive HDP) and SACVD for deposition of dielectrics in front-end of line and back-end of line
• Wet etch and wet cleaning processes required for 0.13 µm technology level
• Low temperature Si, SiGe, SiGe:C epitaxy (differential, and selective epitaxy)
• Standard high temperature Si epitaxy
• Low to medium energy and low to high dose ion implantation (As, B, P, In, Sb, Si, Ge, F, Ar)
• Oxidation, LPCVD (including low temperature oxide and nitride), and annealing in standard batch systems
• RTP for annealing, oxidation, and silicidation
• Inline measurements for CD, overlay, thickness, resistance, defectivity, topology (SEM, AFM), and XRD
• Parametric test using two fully automatic test systems

The following key methods are employed for offline diagnostics and analytics, electrical measurements, and reliability tests:

• SIMS, TEM, SEM, AES, XRD, XRR, XPS, AFM, and FTIR
• DC Parameter set-up for on-wafer and packaged device measurements
• LF Noise setup for 1/f noise on wafer measurements
• Ring oscillator set-up for on-wafer and packaged device measurements
• S-Parameter/DC/RF-noise equipment for on-wafer measurement
• S-Parameter/DC equipment for parameter extraction, device modeling
• Digital tester for digital/mixed signal functional test
• MOS-CV/IV equipment for DC/CV characterization
• Load Pull system
• Universal Microwave setup
• Tester for intrinsic reliability tests for technology qualification