Ultratech Stepper to develo¥ion-implantation system

Ultratech Stepper to develo¥ion-implantation system

Ultratech Stepper (San Jose, CA) will shi¥the first projection-gas-immersion laser-doping (P-GILD) system in the first quarter of 1998, according to grou¥vice president Richard Williams, who will head the company`s P-GILD unit. The technology essentially combines lithography with a laser to implant ions on a wafer in ultrashallow junctions. Using a 308-nm XeCl excimer laser, Ultratech`s P-GILD systems achieve ultrashallow junction sizes as small as 0.07 nm, Williams said. In addition, the laser-annealing process avoids the heat-control problems of conventional annealing processes that cause wafers to bend and buckle because of rapid heating. "The laser can do it on a chip-by-chi¥or die-by-die basis," he said, "instead of heating the whole wafer at a time." The P-GILD system was originally developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA), and about three years ago Ultratech Stepper entered a joint development effort with Sematech (Austin, TX) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Washington, DC). The company now has exclusive rights for commercial development of the technology.