Equipment
The slurry injector system (SIS) is our flagship product. SIS has proven to successfully reduce polishing defects (by up to 4X less) and slurry consumption (by up to 67 percent less) for myriad of chemical mechanical planarization processes. With 46 units presently in high volume manufacturing on AMAT and Ebara polishers, and with a dozen or so ongoing beta tests worldwide, we are well positioned to exponentially grow the company in the next couple of years. Compared with the standard pad center area slurry application (POR), due to its intrinsic design, SIS has the following major advantages:
Improved slurry utilization by efficient delivery of fresh slurry to the pad-wafer interface (up to 2X reduction in slurry mean residence time).
Reduced mixing of spent slurry (and residual water) with fresh slurry supplied during polishing. This causes higher material removal rate at the same slurry flow rate (by up to 30 percent), or an equivalent material removal rate at lower slurry flow rates (by up to 67 percent).
Effective capture of foam (due to hydrogen peroxide and surfactants) and pad fragments (due to conditioning). This results in lower wafer-level defects (by up to 4X) at POR or lower flow rates.
In addition to SIS, in exclusive partnership with our corporate investor, Fujikoshi Machinery Corporation (Nagano, Japan), we manufacture state-of-the-art polishers (for 50 to 300 mm diameter wafers) capable of real-time measurement, analysis, correlation and reporting of shear force and down force. The polishers are also capable of reporting pad surface temperature in real-time.
The systems are intended for use in R&D environments at universities, research institutes and consumables suppliers worldwide. They have proven to be indispensable for slurry and conditioning disc QC applications where functional tests are required.
R&D CMP Polishers and Tribometers
Through an exclusive partnership with our strategic corporate investor, Fujikoshi Machinery Corporation (in Nagano, JP), we continue to manufacture state-of-the-art polishers and tribometers for most wafer sizes.
The single-platen APD-800X® system, our flagship product, is suitable for processing 100, 150, 200, and 300 mm wafers. It is equipped with high-frequency (up to 2,300 Hz) shear force, and downforce sensors, adjustable pad surface temperature sensor, wafer slip sensors, air cylinder actuated wafer and diamond conditioner downforce assemblies, platen heating and cooling capability, a multi-zone diamond conditioning arm, advanced quick-disconnect wafer carrier with two independent zones for the wafer and another for the retaining ring, three independent computer-controlled slurry or chemical delivery systems, and a myriad of other standard features.
The system is powered by our FSX® proprietary force acquisition and data analysis system having a superb GUI including calibration, data acquisition, waveform analysis, Stribeck+ analysis, end-point detection, spectral analysis, and several data correlation menus.
The single-platen RDP-500® system is suitable for processing 100, 150, and 200 mm wafers. Its features and functions are identical to those of the APD-800X® system.
Both systems are intended for use in research and development environments at universities, research institutes, consumables suppliers, and end-users worldwide. They have proven to be indispensable for slurry and conditioning disc QC applications where functional tests are required.
By providing standardized and affordable polishers and tribometers to the CMP and silicon polishing communities, we are significantly enhancing the rate at which fundamental knowledge is acquired and shared among various stakeholders on common experimental platforms. Our quest in proliferating our large wafer size R&D systems is based on several studies that show that using wafers of smaller sizes yield thermal, kinetic, and tribological results that are not representative of real-life situations, and can quite often be misleading.
Within-wafer removal rate non-uniformity (WIWRRNU) for most processes are well below 5 percent (1-sigma, 5 mm edge exclusion). Run-to-run non-uniformity values of average removal rate, WIWRRNU, average shear force, average downforce, and average pad temperature are less than 2 percent.
R&D Post-CMP PVA Brush Scrubber
Our single-sided PCC-300® PVA brush scrubber and tribometer is suitable for cleaning 300, 200, 150, and 100 mm blanket and patterned wafers. Based on the robust, and time-tested Struers Labopol-30® platform and employing most types of flow-through-the-core PVA brushes, the system is equipped with a high-frequency (1,000 Hz) shear force sensor, adjustable brush downforce, automated brush and wafer velocity controllers, up to 2 independent computer-controlled chemical delivery systems, a separate high-flow rinse water line, and a myriad of other standard features.
Built in the USA, the system is powered by our FSX® proprietary force acquisition and data analysis system, with a superb GUI including calibration, data acquisition, waveform analysis, velocity vector analysis, as well as spectral analysis menus.
Optional equipment includes our latest high-speed (240 Hz) camera and non-flickering LED illuminating system (VID-300®) for real-time videography. This is an indispensable tool for studying fluid flow around the brush and on the wafer as a function of tool kinematics, pressure, flow rate and nodule design (check out our 10x slow motion video). We also provide an enclosed and sealed environmental chamber (with a 10 cm OD standard tool exhaust port) with an integrated heavy table and a fold-away PC workstation.
The PCC-300® is intended for use in research and development environments (such as universities, research institutes, post-CMP cleaning consumables suppliers, and end-users) worldwide. It has proven to be indispensable for performing functional tests in an effort to understand the extent of mechanical forces imparted on the wafer surface due to brush mechanical properties, applied downforce, tool kinematics and myriad cleaning solution additives where functional tests are required.
By providing a standardized and affordable post-CMP PVA scrubber and tribometer to the CMP and silicon polishing communities, we are significantly enhancing the rate at which fundamental knowledge is acquired and shared among various stakeholders on a common, robust experimental platform.
Services
Araca Incorporated is committed to providing the following services to our clients:
Low and medium-volume foundry services for substrates of all types ranging between 50 and 300 mm in diameter.
Analytical and functional testing of consumables such as pads, diamond discs and retaining rings.
Pad surface preparation and grooving, as well as high-throughput pad dimensional QC such as surface roughness, groove depth, pitch and width.
Co-development of consumables and processes for a variety of CMP, polishing and cleaning applications.
