Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) system to be deployed in China for compound semiconductor applications
May 15, 2012 – SPTS Technologies, a supplier of advanced wafer processing solutions for the global semiconductor industry and related markets, today announced that its Sigma fxP PVD system had been selected by a Chinese foundry dedicated to producing RF devices on gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. The system will be used to deposit front and backside metal layers including integrated passives for producing monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for mobile phones, and increasing counts of GaAs-based switches and power amplifiers (PAs) appear in every handset. As a production-proven platform used by the majority of the world’s leading radio frequency IC (RFIC) device makers, the Sigma fxP system provides the critical capabilities for GaAs based RFIC fabrication.
“SPTS is proud to be part of China’s developing compound semiconductor device manufacturing industry,” said Kevin T. Crofton, executive vice president and chief operating officer at SPTS Technologies. “We look forward to contributing to our customer’s success in their production ramp.”
This is SPTS’ second new Chinese customer announcement in recent weeks, following previous announcement from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) selection of a SPTS’ Primaxx® Monarch 3 dry release system for MEMS. Chinese domestic production of such components will grow to serve the China market, the world’s largest consumer of handsets.
About the Sigma® fxPTM PVD System
The award-winning Sigma® fxPTM is a single-wafer cluster tool designed for high-volume PVD processing, offering excellent process control with high throughput. It is a highly flexible system supporting various process chamber configurations and combinations to address a large variety of specific applications. Deposition process modules are based on a standard design that enables simple technology upgrades. Key applications for the Sigma® fxPTM include, thick Al alloys for power device and next generation CMOS bondpad, metal seeds for advanced packaging applications such as 3D-IC TSV & UBM/RDL, highly uniform aluminum nitride (AlN) for RF-MEMS devices and processes for the compound semiconductor industry.