공고 • Jun 26
Applied Materials, Inc. Introduces New Chipmaking Systems for 3D Architectures in AI Chips Applied Materials, Inc. introduced a suite of new chipmaking systems for building the advanced 3D chip architectures that power next-generation AI. A new epitaxy system optimized for DRAM fabs adds a critical logic-class step—boosting memory speed and efficiency while maximizing output within tight fab footprint and supply constraints. New CMP and deposition systems target the most critical advanced packaging steps, delivering higher-yield chip stacking for HBM and logic. New eBeam systems bring wafer-fab-grade metrology and defect review to advanced packaging, optimized to handle the unique challenges these packages present. Epitaxy has been used for years in leading-edge logic, where precision growth of a crystalline material in the transistor channel has boosted performance well beyond what geometric scaling alone can deliver. Those same techniques are now becoming critical in DRAM peripheral transistors. Applied pioneered silicon germanium epitaxy in transistor channels more than a decade ago with its Centura Prime Epi system. Applied is now introducing an enhanced Centura Prime Epi system that selectively grows doped silicon germanium and silicon phosphorous in source/drain regions, combining advanced strain engineering with precise doping control. The result is higher drive current and transistor efficiency, enabling faster, more power-efficient DRAM operation—essential for the bandwidth demands of HBM and next-generation DDR. The new system also features a 20% smaller footprint, enabling higher tool density and faster capacity scaling in DRAM fabs. In recent years, advanced packaging has become as strategically important to the computing industry as on-chip transistor scaling. Modern AI server chips pack trillions of transistors by integrating multiple dies into a single package. HBM is a leading example of this approach, stacking DRAM chips on top of one another and connecting them with through-silicon vias (TSVs). Applied is the leader in process equipment for advanced packaging, including systems covering the majority of materials engineering steps required to create the TSVs, copper pillars and microbumps that connect stacked dies. Applied is introducing three new systems targeting the most critical advanced packaging process steps. Leveraging Applied’s leadership position in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), the Opta Quad platform is engineered specifically for advanced packaging, where thicker films, longer polish times and tighter tolerances raise the risk of non-uniformity and yield loss. Opta Quad continuously monitors wafer conditions during polish and dynamically adjusts in real time, improving within-wafer uniformity and total thickness variation control. This is particularly critical for hybrid bonding—an emerging 3D stacking technology in which copper wiring and surrounding dielectrics from two chips are fused together in a single step, requiring near-perfect surface planarity for high-yield results. Nokota VMax 2 is an electrochemical deposition (ECD) system engineered for high-precision copper plating across a broad range of applications for next-generation packaging, from TSV fill for 3D stacking to fine-pitch interconnects such as microbump formation. Nokota VMax 2 introduces Adaptive Pattern Tuning (APT), which dynamically shapes the electric field to correct for layout-driven variation and improve plating uniformity across the wafer. Producer Avila 2 is a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system that improves the mechanical stability of ultra-thin DRAM dies by depositing stress-balanced dielectric films around TSVs, enabling reliable stacking of 12, 16, and future high-layer-count HBM designs. In addition to HBM, the system supports a range of advanced memory and logic integration schemes. Advanced packaging fabs are encountering defect and metrology challenges once exclusively found in wafer fabs. Feature dimensions have shrunk below the resolution limit of optical inspection tools, and particles that were tolerable with larger bumps now impact yield. A single defect can require scrapping an entire HBM stack, elevating process control to a strategic priority. Applied is extending its eBeam leadership with two new systems specifically designed for advanced packaging—both engineered to handle a wide range of substrate geometries and materials. The latest in Applied’s VeritySEM portfolio for critical dimension (CD) metrology, VeritySEM 7AP enables precise measurement of features on thick, heterogeneous, and highly warped substrates common in HBM and chiplet architectures. VeritySEM AP systems automatically reconfigure to support a range of sizes and materials, while delivering sub-10nm sensitivity—orders of magnitude better than optical tools. SEMVision is the industry’s leading eBeam defect analysis platform. SEMVision G7AP extends Applied’s leadership into advanced packaging, enabling high-resolution defect review and automated classification across silicon, organic, and glass substrates. The system can accelerate yield learning by helping customers quickly distinguish critical defects from nuisance signals. SEMVision G7AP is already in production at memory and logic manufacturers supporting high-volume advanced packaging. A media kit with additional information on the new systems is available.