ESPOO, Finland, 17th of February 2022 – Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT) has taken PICOSUN® P-300B ALD system into use as their powder MEMS technology platform.

Fraunhofer ISIT PowderMEMS is a new innovative technology for creating three-dimensional microstructures from a multitude of materials on wafer level. The technology is based on bonding together µm-sized powder particles in a cavity with Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). It has many advantages compared to other manufacturing techniques as it allows using much lower process temperatures compared to a traditional sintering process. The bonded porous structures are thermally and chemically resistant thus enabling their extensive post-processing in a clean room.

"The technology can be used for various applications, such as microelectronics, MEMS sensors, MEMS actuators and microfluidics. For example, it enables the integration of porous and magnetic 3D microstructures on wafer level", explains Dr. Björn Gojdka, Group Leader at Fraunhofer ISIT.

“We were looking for a solution for conformal high surface area coating of powder located in trenches. Picosun solution is a perfect fit for this need as we are also looking into scaling up the technology. We are especially happy about the tool’s hot wall reactor, versatile precursor sources and its easy maintenance”, states Dr. Thomas Lisec, Chief Scientist at Fraunhofer ISIT.

“We are excited over this new technology coming to life and all the opportunities it will bring. I am especially impressed by the potential applications for the Fraunhofer ISIT PowderMEMS as they are exceptionally diverse. I’m looking forward to continuing working closely with Fraunhofer ISIT on bringing the technology up to industrial production”, says Dr. Christoph Hossbach, General Manager of Picosun Europe GmbH.

More information:
Dr. Christoph Hossbach, General Manager, Picosun Europe GmbH
Tel. +49 1522 449 49 11
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.picosun.com

About Picosun
Picosun provides the most advanced ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for global industries. Picosun’s ALD solutions enable technological leap into the future, with turn-key production processes and unmatched, pioneering expertise in the field – dating back to the invention of the technology itself. Today, PICOSUN® ALD equipment are in daily manufacturing use in numerous leading industries around the world. Picosun is based in Finland, with subsidiaries in Germany, USA, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China mainland and Taiwan, offices in India and France, and a world-wide sales and support network. Visit www.picosun.com.

About Fraunhofer ISIT
Fraunhofer ISIT in Itzehoe is one of Europe's most modern research facilities for microelectronics and microsystems technology. At the heart of the institute are the clean room facilities, large enough not only to conduct research but also to manufacture the developed microchips on an industrial scale. In close cooperation with partners from industry, 160 scientists at ISIT develop power electronics components and microsystems with fine moving structures for sensor technology and actuator technology, including the necessary packaging technology. www.isit.fraunhofer.de

• Read more about Picosun delivers powder MEMS technology platform to Fraunhofer ISIT

BENEQ, PRESS RELEASE, December 6, 2021

Beneq revolutionized ALD cluster tools for More-than-Moore device makers with the highly successful Beneq Transform® family of products. Today, Beneq broadens its product portfolio further with two new distinct solutions: the Transform® 300 and ProdigyTM.

The Beneq Transform 300 and Prodigy were each created in response to specific technology requirements in the semiconductor manufacturing sector.

“The Transform 300 is designed to meet the growing demand of emerging semiconductor applications at 300 mm for devices such as CMOS image sensors, Power Devices, Micro-OLED/LED, and Advanced Packaging, which call for a high degree of versatility,” explains Patrick Rabinzohn, Vice President, Semiconductor ALD at Beneq.

“We created Prodigy to address those market segments that need a simple solution supported by high-end technology. It inherits the ALD design and processing knowhow we at Beneq have developed over the last 15 years, packing advanced features in a simpler, targeted industrial form factor,” continues Rabinzohn.

Beneq Transform® 300
Beneq Transform 300 is the only 300 mm ALD cluster tool that combines thermal ALD (batch) and plasma ALD (single wafer) technologies to provide a highly versatile platform for IDMs and foundries. It is dedicated to advanced thin-film applications in CIS, Power, Micro-OLED/LED, Advanced Packaging and other MtM applications.

Beneq Transform 300 is a highly configurable platform that caters to multiple advanced thin-film applications ranging from gate dielectric including in high aspect ratio trenches, to anti-reflection coating, final passivation or encapsulation, Chip-Scale-Packaging and beyond.

Beneq Prodigy
Beneq Prodigy is the deal manufacturing solution for compound semiconductor including RF IC’s (GaAs/GaN/InP), LED, VCSEL, Light Detectors and for MEMS manufacturers and foundries looking to enhance device performance and reliability through an affordable stand-alone ALD batch tool. Beneq Prodigy provides best-of-breed passivation and encapsulation films across multiple wafer types and sizes.

To learn more, visit:

Beneq Transform 300:  https://beneq.com/en/products/semiconductors/transform300/

Beneq Prodigy: https://beneq.com/en/products/semiconductors/prodigy/

Further information:
Lie Luo, Head of Marketing, [email protected]

About Beneq
Beneq is the home of atomic layer deposition. In 1984, we established the world’s first industrial production using ALD. Today, we lead the market with products for R&D (TFS 200, TFS 500, R2), semiconductor device fabrication (Transform®), 3D and batch production (P400A, P800, P1500), ultra-fast spatial ALD (C2R), and roll-to-roll ALD (Genesis).  Beneq’s unique Development Service simplifies customer adoption and proof-of-concept for new ALD processes, while our Coating Service cuts down time to market by outsourcing state of the art ALD production. Our team of engineers and experts is dedicated to making ALD tools accessible for researchers. 

• Read more about Beneq unveils two new ALD products for 300mm and compound semiconductor device fabrication respectively

FREMONT, Calif. - YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.), a leading manufacturer of process equipment for semiconductor advanced packaging, life sciences and “More-than-Moore” applications, today announced that it has set up Engineering Centers of Excellence at two locations in India: Coimbatore and Bangalore. A sales office will also be located in the Bangalore area.

“It is no secret that high-caliber engineering expertise is in high demand in Silicon Valley,” said Ramakanth Alapati, Chairman and CEO of YES. “Our company’s rapid growth has inspired us to widen our technical recruitment efforts to include global engineering talent powerhouses like India. In addition, we feel there is a strong market for reliable, cost-effective YES systems within India’s domestic semiconductor industry.”

Leading YES’s efforts in India will be Dr. Ankineedu Velaga, a high-tech engineering executive with more than 35 years of experience spanning engineering and fab operations, customer interaction and retention, and business development support in the US and Asia.

“Ankineedu’s experience in driving teams to improve processes will be a great resource for YES as we scale to meet the challenges of worldwide growth. We will be looking to him to draw upon his impressive track record of building organizations to develop complex semiconductor capital equipment as well as leading organizations to achieve better process development, yields, process control, cycle time, cost, and product quality,” said Rezwan Lateef, President of YES.

Dr. Velaga has held leadership roles with BRIDG, imec, SilTerra, Applied Materials, Avago, and Lucent (among others), and his global management experience extends from the US and the European Union to Malaysia and Singapore. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, and a B.S in Chemical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College in Warangal, India.

“I am pleased and honored to be embarking on this exciting endeavor with YES,” commented Velaga. “We expect to build our India team quickly, and I look forward to talking with high-potential candidates. To see our current job postings for YES India, please visit Careers at yieldengineering.com and scroll down to the ‘YES India’ heading. If you don’t see a job there at the moment that aligns with your skills and interests, but you are a qualified candidate with a technical background and semiconductor experience, I encourage you to submit your resumé to [email protected] and include ‘YES India’ in the subject line.”

About YES
YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) is a preferred provider of high-tech, cost-effective equipment for transforming surfaces, materials, and interfaces. The company’s product lines include thermal processing systems, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems, plasma etching tools, and wet process equipment used for the precise surface modification of semiconductor substrates, semiconductor and MEMS devices, and biodevices. With YES, customers ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies can create and volume-produce products in a wide range of markets, including Advanced Packaging, MEMS, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and Life Sciences. YES is headquartered in Fremont, California, with a growing global presence. For more information, please visit www.yieldengineering.com.

• Read more about YES Establishes Engineering, Design and Sales Presence in India; Ankineedu Velaga to Lead YES India as Country Head and Managing Director

Heidelberg/Würzburg – "1 - 10 - 100 - 1000" – Achievable component heights of over 1 cm, surfaces with roughness in the order of 10 nm, structure sizes of less than 100 nm, and writing speeds over 1000 mm/s: At the SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, from January 25th to 27th, Heidelberg Instruments will be presenting, for the first time, the new two-photon polymerization MPO 100, a multi-user tool that combines both the requirements of 3D lithography with resolutions in the 100 nm range and 3D microprinting with structure heights of over one centimeter, all in one device.

"The MPO 100 is a unique tool for microfabrication and achieves the highest resolution among additive manufacturing processes at 100 nanometers. Furthermore, the 1-10-100-1000 capability of the MPO 100 will enable users at universities, R&D institutions, as well as the industry and offer significant advantages for new developments in areas such as micro-optics, microfluidics, and biomedicine," says Dr. Benedikt Stender of Multiphoton Optics GmbH, the subsidiary of Heidelberg Instruments where the development of the MPO 100 was carried out.

The MPO 100 works with a laser wavelength in the green spectral range, which is ideally suited for the 3D structuring of typical photoresists. Furthermore, MPO 100 is optimized to use the hybrid polymers (ORMOCER®s), particularly important for various applications. In addition to sophisticated algorithms to maximize structure quality, the synchronized scanning system offers the possibility of stitching-free patterning. In addition, the MPO 100 is currently the only tool in the market equipped with a flowbox that guarantees temperature stability of up to 0.1°C and thus provides the necessary stability for large-scale exposures. Application-specific writing modes enable customer-specific printing requirements and distinguish the MPO 100 as a multi-user tool.

"With the MPO 100, we have combined the strengths of both companies in one system: Multiphoton Optics' sophisticated exposure unit for two-photon polymerization and Heidelberg Instruments' industrial platform, which guarantees the required stability and meets the necessary industry standards. The capabilities of the MPO 100 are already very popular with our customers, who benefit from the worldwide support from our service organization and ISO-certified production," says Steffen Diez, COO of Heidelberg Instruments.

Contact for further questions:
Veronika Loose, Marketing and Communications
[email protected]
+49 931 90879288

More information:
https://heidelberg-instruments.com/
https://multiphoton.de

About Heidelberg Instruments Mikrotechnik GmbH
With over 35 years of experience and more than 1,000 installed systems, Heidelberg Instruments is one of the leading international players in the development and production of high-precision photolithography systems and nanofabrication tools. Heidelberg Instruments systems are installed in industrial and scientific facilities around the world. They are used for efficient direct writing, as well as for photomask fabrication for a wide range of industries - including semiconductors, quantum computing, photonics, 2D materials, IoT, and many related application fields.

About Multiphoton Optics
Multiphoton Optics GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Heidelberg Instruments Mikrotechnik GmbH, is a global solution provider for 3D lithography via two-photon polymerization (TPP). This disruptive technology enables the production of complex functional structures in micro-optics and microsystems technology, optical interconnect technology, micromechanics, and biomedical technology. The modular 3D printing platform enables the high-precision fabrication of structures in the submicrometer to millimeter range with very high throughput.
 

• Read more about MPO 100 - Multi-User Tool for 3D Lithography and 3D Microprinting

ESPOO, Finland, 3rd of February 2022 – Picosun Group and Shincron Co., Ltd. have joined forces for development and commercialization of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for optical coatings. ALD technology provides uniform and conformal coatings to the even most challenging structures and is therefore well suited for high-end optical applications.

The R&D teams from both companies have worked together to tailor existing ALD processes optimizing them for the use in optical applications. In addition to standard ALD optical films, ALD magnesium fluoride (MgF2) has been researched and is now available for commercial use for the first time. So far, ALD MgF2 processes have been only presented in academic research by universities and science institutes. MgF2 is a desired material in optical applications due to its low refractive index at visible light and high transmittance in FUV optical region. It can be used as a single layer or as part of an optical stack combining low and high refractive index materials. It has also other features, such as barrier properties and high chemical stability, which bring big advantages in some applications.

The collaboration agreement was first signed in 2019 including the appointment of Shincron as Picosun’s sales representative and ALD product distributor in Japan. The collaboration was extended with Joint Development Agreement (JDA) in 2020 with the aim to develop novel and advanced ALD coatings for optical applications.

“We are very excited about the collaboration. The teamwork has been fruitful, and the results obtained now are excellent. We see optical coatings as one of the emerging ALD applications and believe in strong growth in this market”, says Jussi Rautee, CEO of Picosun.

“We are happy to add ALD technology to our offering. This way we can increase our services for our customers. We have set up a demo capability for ALD optical coatings and Japanese optical companies have shown high interest for this process”, says Masaya Narita, CEO of Shincron.

Read more: picosun.com/optics/magnesiumfluoride

More information:
Jussi Rautee
CEO, Picosun Group
Tel: +358 50 345 4457
Email: [email protected]
www.picosun.com

Masaya Narita
CEO, Shincron Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81 45 650 2411
Email: [email protected]
www.shincron.co.jp/en/

About Picosun
Picosun provides the most advanced ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for global industries. Picosun’s ALD solutions enable technological leap into the future, with turn-key production processes and unmatched, pioneering expertise in the field – dating back to the invention of the technology itself. Today, PICOSUN® ALD equipment are in daily manufacturing use in numerous leading industries around the world. Picosun is based in Finland, with subsidiaries in Germany, USA, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China mainland and Taiwan, offices in India and France, and a world-wide sales and support network. Visit www.picosun.com.

About Shincron
Shincron is a leading global supplier of innovative vacuum thin film deposition equipment. Visit www.shincron.co.jp/en/ for more information.

• Read more about Picosun and Shincron join forces for ALD optical coating development

Cranston, RI USA - Technic is proud to announce its commitment to the MATQu project, which aims to drive materials and technology options for quantum computing by bringing together leading European companies, academia, and consortia. As demand for complex computing and ever-increasing volumes of data continue to grow, quantum computing is a key emerging technology. Technic’s breadth of technology offerings in electrochemistry and semiconductor surface preparation, cleaning and etching afford a unique opportunity to accelerate development in this exciting field.

“MATQu – Materials for Quantum Computing”, led by the joint business office of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics and the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (GS VUE/FMD) as well as Fraunhofer IAF, started in June 2021 intending to support the creation of a Pan-European research infrastructure for advanced computing technologies. The project brings together world-class European research and technology organizations, industrial fabrication facilities, and leading application partners in the domain of solid-state qubits — a subject of intense global competition — to realize the vision of a European supply chain for materials and processes.

The project will create a European eco-system to expand the applicability of core components of solid-state qubits—such as Superconducting Josephson junctions (SJJs)—by improving materials, as well as processing and characterization technologies for quantum computing hardware. In the three-year project, SJJs is the primary use case as they are currently the most mature solid-state platform to realize stable superconducting qubits.

The main technical goal of the project “MATQu” is to improve and transfer materials and technologies for superconducting qubits from laboratories to the market. Several project partners have extensive infrastructures suited for this purpose and will contribute with their expertise in materials, process integration, and research to build robust and reproducible qubits. Industry-style fabrication infrastructures will allow optimizing process parameters and systematically improving the performance of superconducting qubits.

“As demand for complex computing and ever-increasing volumes of data continue to grow, quantum computing is a key emerging technology. Technic’s breadth of offerings in electrochemistry and semiconductor surface preparation, cleaning and etching afford a unique opportunity to accelerate development in this exciting field.”

- Douglas Holmes, Global Business Development Manager of Semiconductor Technology

Technic supplies some of the most advanced solutions for semiconductor fabrication and packaging in the industry including electroplating chemistry, photoresist strippers, cleaners (post-etch residue removers), metal etchants, and high purity wet chemistry, as well as manufacturing equipment and analytical controls.

Learn more about Technic Semiconductor products at https://www.technic.com/applications/semiconductor/semiconductor-fabric… or contact us at (401) 781-6100

About Technic
For over 75 years, Technic has been a global supplier of specialty chemicals, custom finishing equipment, engineered powders, and analytical control systems to the semiconductor, electronic component, printed circuit board, industrial finishing, and decorative industries. Technic is also a major supplier of engineered metal powders to the solar industry.

• Read more about Technic joins MATQu – European based project for quantum computing hardware eco-system