BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, July 2, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq:ASMI) (Euronext Amsterdam:ASM) today announced the grant of patents No. 6,352,945, 6,383,955 and 6,410,463 by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office covering advanced lowk dielectric PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) film deposition technology used in BEOL (BackEndOfLine) interconnect structures to increase the speed and performance of nextgeneration semiconductors. The patents call priority to its parent Japanese application filed February 5, 1998.
"These new patents cover unique low-k dielectric film deposition technology combined with precursors and deposition method, which differentiate ASM and other lowk suppliers," said Tominori Yoshida, product manager of Lowk Modules Group. "These patents cover Aurora films and deposition technology using our Eagle series PECVD platforms and demonstrate our unique leadership in providing customers with most advanced technology to meet their nextgeneration chip manufacturing requirements." Issued in March, May and June 2002, these patents center on ASM's Aurora films and deposition technology, a family of OSG (Organosilicate glass), also known as, CDO (Carbondoped oxide) lowk dielectric products.
"Our Aurora lowk films offer lowcost film deposition solution on 200mm and 300mm wafers as these films are PECVD deposited on hot wafer and do not need anneal steps," said Devendra Kumar, Director of BEOL Technology. "Aurora lowk films (k less than 3) are deposited from organic silicon precursors containing oxygen attached directly to silicon, and have superior thermal stability and mechanical strength. This enables chip manufacturers to costeffectively integrate Aurora film with multilevel copper interconnect structures and packaging."
Introduced in September 1998, Aurora technology has achieved growing global acceptance, with several chipmakers working with it in development and production lines. Aurora films with k less than 3, targeting 130 to 90 nanometer devices, is the industry's leading productionworthy lowk dielectric solution and has demonstrated the unique capability to be used in multilevel copper interconnect structures. Customers are expected to ship chips that integrate Aurora in 2002. Aurora films are extendable to k values of less than 2.4 using the same PECVD platforms, for use in 65 nanometer and lower technology nodes.
About ASM
ASM International N.V. is headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. ASM International is a global company, serving one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technological base, stateoftheart manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International's subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing, assembly and packaging through their facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock shares trade on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASM's Web site at http://www.asm.com
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