Picosun's PicoArmour™ Reduces Semiconductor Manufacturing Costs

Espoo, Finland /PRNewswire/ - Picosun Group has pending patent rights for an ALD enabled corrosion protection solution against plasma etch that will bring benefits in semiconductor fabrication processes in terms of throughput, film uniformity and conformality. With PicoArmour™ the corrosion protection can be achieved more efficiently compared with the industry solutions commonly used today.

Wafer fabrication process flows include several steps where plasma etching is necessary. An inevitable consequence of using etching chemicals is that the tool itself will be etched. A common industrial solution for reducing the tool damage is applying a corrosion-resistant coating to the etch tool using for example PVD or spray coating with Y2O3. Compared to only using Y2O3, PicoArmour™ enables an up to five times faster and a more cost-effective way of producing the coating. Compared to Al2O3, the coating can be five times more durable.* Also, the maintenance interval of etch tools can be increased which also translates to significant reduction of manufacturing costs.

"Picosun's approach with PicoArmour™ is to combine the highly-etch-resistant Y2O3 ALD process with more robust ALD processes. A high performance ALD corrosion barrier combining the speed and convenience of Al2O3 process with the durability of Y2O3 can be achieved by carefully controlling the film composition. With ALD, the protective effect can be achieved with thinner films, which in turn leads to material savings and a more environmentally friendly process", states Juhana Kostamo, VP, Industrial Business Area of Picosun Group.

To learn more about PicoArmour™ and a study Picosun has done related to protective coatings against plasma damage, join Picosun talk at the virtual ALD 2021 conference on June 29 at 10:25 am EDT. Register here.

*Values dependent on deposition and etch parameters

Picosun provides the most advanced AGILE 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.