To create a semiconductor
chip, many individual steps are performed using various types of
wafer processing equipment, including
photolithographic patterning,
depositing thin layers,
etching to remove material,
thermal treatments, and other steps. ASM's systems are designed for deposition processes, when
thin films, or layers, of various materials are grown or deposited onto the wafer. Many different thin-film layers are deposited to complete the full sequence of process steps necessary to manufacture a chip. ASM's technology development is driven by its customers' goal to build faster, cheaper, and more powerful semiconductor chips with reduced energy consumption. This goal drives the need to shrink the dimensions of
components on the chip, targeting to double the number of components per
unit area on a chip every two years (
Moore's law). As part of this
scaling of dimensions, ASM supplies its customers –
chip manufacturers – with machines that deposit ever thinner films of
semiconductor materials. ASM also develops deposition processes for new materials to be used in semiconductor fabrication. During the past 15 years, an increasing array of new materials has been introduced in the fabrication of chips. These new materials were required to achieve the necessary performance improvements of chips, as outlined by Moore's Law. For instance, in 2007 in a
MOSFET transistor, the
silicon oxidegate dielectric was replaced with a
high-κ, a material that has a higher dielectric constant than silicon oxide. In this particular case, ASM pioneered the chemical process and theanew deposition method called atomic layer deposition after nearly a decade of R&D. ASM has a leading position in single wafer atomic layer deposition (ALD).
R&D is critical in that effort. In 2021, the company spent 151 million euro on R&D (or 9% of its annual revenues). R&D activities stretch from
basic research of new materials to the application of new materials in chip manufacturing.
Products ASM designs and sells both single-wafer deposition tools, in which the process is performed one
wafer at a time, as well as so-called
batch tools, in which the deposition is performed on multiple wafers at a time. The prices of the company's systems varies, but typically are multiple of million
euros per system. The products of ASM can be categorized by deposition method:
Atomic Layer Deposition is a layer-by-layer process that results in the deposition of thin films one atomic layer at a time in a highly controlled manner. Layers are formed during reaction cycles by alternately pulsing
precursors and
reactants and purging with
inert gas in between each pulse. ASM offers single wafer ALD tools in two technology segments:
thermal ALD and
plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD). ASM's ALD tools include Synergis, Pulsar and EmerALD. PEALD tools include Eagle XP8 and the XP8 QCM.
Epitaxy is a process that is used for depositing precisely controlled crystalline silicon-based layers that are important for semiconductor device electrical properties. The silicon epitaxy process can be used to modify the electrical characteristics of the wafer surface to create high-performance transistors during the manufacturing of semiconductor chips. ASM's epitaxy tools are single wafer tools and include Intrepid and Epsilon.
Chemical Vapor Deposition is a chemical deposition process in which the wafer is exposed to one or more volatile precursors, which react and/or decompose on the
substrate surface to produce the desired film. Within Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) ASM offers two types of tools: single-wafer
plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) and batch low pressure CVD (LPCVD). ASM provides single-wafer PECVD processes on the Dragon XP8 tool. ASM provides batch LPCVD/diffusion processes on the vertical furnace A400 DUO and novel Sonora tools. ==History==