AMD Buys Multiple Producer Systems From Applied Materials; 'Producer is a Breakthrough Concept in System Technology and Productivity,' says AMD
Jack Saltich, vice president and general manager, AMD Saxony Manufacturing GmbH, said, "The Producer's design establishes a new direction of greater simplicity in process equipment. The system's footprint, coupled with its very efficient hook-up capability, allows for a savings in both expensive fab floorspace and tool installation costs. We plan to use Producer for numerous CVD applications, including anti-reflective coatings, etchstop, passivation and interconnects in our advanced microprocessors, as well as other devices."
Producer uses Applied Materials' market-leading multi-chamber architecture in a new design that transfers wafers in pairs to process modules; each module has two identical chambers that use common vacuum and gas delivery subsystems. For high reliability, Producer's chambers are extensions of the production-proven hardware and process technology found in Applied Materials' industry-leading CVD (chemical vapor deposition) products. Producer is currently offered for plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) applications using TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate), silane oxide, silane nitride chemistries. The system also features the company's unique Remote Plasma Clean technology, which significantly reduces the frequency of chamber cleans and virtually eliminates global-warming perfluorocompound (PFC) emissions.
"AMD was extremely helpful during the development of Producer, providing a tough, real-world environment for our process transfer and productivity evaluations," noted Kevin Fairbairn, general manager of Applied Materials' PECVD Product Division. "We are delighted that this cooperation has led to AMD's qualification of the Producer, which is now targeted for use in their most advanced production fab, in Germany, and their process development facility in California."
AMD is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets. AMD produces processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices, and products for communications and networking applications. Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, California, AMD had revenues of $2.5 billion in 1998. AMD is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMD."
Applied Materials, Inc. is a Fortune 500 global growth company and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT." Applied Materials' web site is http://www.AppliedMaterials.com.