WaferMasters Introduces Industry's First Low-Cost Mini Batch Furnace for 200 mm and 300 mm Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SEMICON West 2003

Booth 4001 Esplanade

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 2003

WaferMasters, Inc. today introduced its new MBF Mini Batch Furnace, a single chamber multi-process tool for 200 mm and 300 mm chip manufacturing. The MBF platform offers customers a low-cost system for new applications where small wafer lots are processed, especially in foundry type manufacturing. Exceptional process uniformity and repeatability make the MBF ideal for producing next-generation devices on large 300 mm wafers, and the small batch sizes offer a hedge against catastrophic yield loss. The MBF is a productive alternative to large batch furnaces.

Large batch furnaces often stand idle waiting for sufficient wafers to make a full production run. Customers typically avoid production bottlenecking by adding dummy wafers to the queue, a practice that adds unnecessary wafer handling and material costs. The MBF, by virtue of its small batch size, eliminates wafer queuing, assures a balanced production flow, and improves productivity.

WaferMasters' MBF Mini Batch Furnace is a fully integrated platform that incorprates a single 26-wafer process chamber, power supply, vacuum pump, and automated wafer handling -- three MBF systems have a combined clean room footprint equal to one high-volume batch furnace. The simplified design ensures rapid setup, ease of operation, low operating cost, and exceptional reliability. WaferMasters thermal production tools have few consumable parts and typically provide better than 99.5% uptime and more than 5,000 hours MTBF. Maximum power consumption is a mere 10 kW.

Based on WaferMasters' proven isothermal chamber technology and an innovative new internal heater, the MBF offers improved process repeatability and stability, with clone-like consistency between systems. Temperature uniformity is better than +/-1 degree centigrade within-a-wafer, wafer-to-wafer, and run-to-run. This exceptional temperature stability meets customer demands for tighter CD control and more repeatable results, requirements considered essential for meeting the stringent specifications of nanometer feature sizes, device speed, and high production yields.

"We wanted the MBF to give our customers extended process capability," said Dr. Woo Sik Yoo, president and CTO of WaferMasters, Inc., "so we designed the system to support all annealing applications, including implant annealing and salicidation, as well as thermal oxidation at temperatures up to 1,000 degrees centigrade. Other applications for the MBF include thermal nitridation, high-k annealing, BPSG reflow and densification, and thermal CVD."

"We believe it is critical for our customers to have the most productive and reliable equipment possible," continued Dr. Yoo. "Our new MBF Mini Batch Furnace combines remarkable process flexibility and temperature uniformity with high equipment utilization to give customers the lowest cost of ownership in the industry for thermal production tools."

The MBF Mini Batch Furnace is priced in the U.S. at $1.2 - 1.5 million, depending on options. Delivery is 12 weeks ARO.

About WaferMasters, Inc.

WaferMasters, Inc., founded in 1999, is a privately held manufacturer of thermal production tools used to fabricate advanced semiconductor devices. The company's core philosophy is to produce elegantly simple equipment engineered to give customers stable and reproducible process results in a high production environment. Reduced process monitoring and high equipment utilization, combined with minimum consumables usage and low maintenance contribute to the lowest COO in the industry for RTP equipment. WaferMasters, Inc. maintains headquarters at 246 East Gish Road, San Jose, California 95112. Visit WaferMasters on the web at www.wafermasters.com, or at SEMICON West, Booth 4001 Esplanade level.