Applied Materials Breakthrough Accelerates Chip Performance in the Big Data and AI Era
June 05 2018 - 7:30AM
Applied Materials, Inc. today announced a breakthrough in
materials engineering that accelerates chip performance in the big
data and AI era.
In the past, classic Moore’s Law scaling of a small number of
easy-to-integrate materials simultaneously improved chip
performance, power and area/cost (PPAC). Today, materials such as
tungsten and copper are no longer scalable beyond the 10nm foundry
node because their electrical performance has reached physical
limits for transistor contacts and local interconnects. This has
created a major bottleneck in achieving the full performance
potential of FinFET transistors. Cobalt removes this bottleneck but
also requires a change in process system strategy. As the industry
scales structures to extreme dimensions, the materials behave
differently and must be systematically engineered at the atomic
scale, often under vacuum.
To enable the use of cobalt as a new conducting material in the
transistor contact and interconnect, Applied has combined several
materials engineering steps – pre-clean, PVD, ALD and CVD – on the
Endura® platform. Moreover, Applied has defined an integrated
cobalt suite that includes anneal on the Producer® platform,
planarization on the Reflexion® LK Prime CMP platform and e-beam
inspection on the PROVision™ platform. Customers can use this
proven, Integrated Materials Solution to speed time-to-market and
increase chip performance at the 7nm foundry node and beyond.
“Five years ago, Applied anticipated an inflection in the
transistor contact and interconnect, and we began developing an
alternative materials solution that could take us beyond the 10nm
node,” said Dr. Prabu Raja, senior vice president of Applied’s
Semiconductor Products Group. “Applied brought together its experts
in chemistry, physics, engineering and data science to explore the
broad portfolio of Applied’s technologies and create a breakthrough
Integrated Materials Solution for the industry. As we enter the big
data and AI era, there will be more of these inflections, and we
are excited to be having earlier and deeper collaborations with our
customers to accelerate their roadmaps and enable devices we never
dreamed possible.”
While challenging to integrate, cobalt brings significant
benefits to chips and chip making: lower resistance and variability
at small dimensions; improved gapfill at very fine dimensions; and
improved reliability. Applied’s integrated cobalt suite is now
shipping to foundry/logic customers worldwide.
Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the leader in materials
engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and
advanced display in the world. Our expertise in modifying materials
at atomic levels and on an industrial scale enables customers to
transform possibilities into reality. At Applied Materials, our
innovations make possible the technology shaping the future. Learn
more at www.appliedmaterials.com.
Contact:Ricky Gradwohl (editorial/media)
408.235.4676Michael Sullivan (financial community) 408.986.7977
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024