Materials Innovation: Holistic Solutions for Improved Yield and Reliability
New trends in IoT and smart devices, industrial automation and autonomous vehicles, AR and VR, 5G communication and AI, are pushing the limits of data storage and data processing. To meet the ever-increasing demand for high density memory and high-speed computing, significant innovation is required in device architecture and the materials used to make these devices.
The emergence of 3D structures like gate-all-around devices and >100-layer 3D NAND technology, requires new materials with higher performance and higher levels of purity than ever before. The integration of such materials into the chip fabrication increases process complexity and makes yield ramps more challenging.
With more process steps in the overall device build, speed to yield is critical to achieve technology qualification schedules. In this environment, material purity and defect control are critical. Since the supply chain for most materials spans multiple geographies over several months, the ability to ensure the integrity of materials from the point where they are manufactured to where they are used on the wafer is important. In addition, there is a recognition of increasing interdependency within the semiconductor ecosystem with significant overlap between device, equipment and materials companies.
Materials suppliers able to provide holistic solutions are uniquely positioned to work with both device and equipment companies to help accelerate cycles of development and yield learning. Instead of dealing with the time consuming process of implementing a cleaning chemistry on a tool and individually optimizing it with the right filter or dispense technology, a process engineer can start envisioning an integrated “bottle-to-nozzle” material and wetted surface solution. Instead of wrestling with the challenges of achieving a stable flux from low-vapor pressure precursors, a CVD engineer can envision an integrated solid source delivery solution including precursor, delivery vessel, inline filtration and flux control. This presentation will focus on holistic solutions that combine both materials and critical materials handling capabilities to enable a new approach to the most challenging yield problems of advanced node technologies.