2016.05.27
EBARA CORPORATION
The Precision Machinery Company of EBARA CORPORATION (hereinafter “EBARA”) has achieved 2000 cumulative shipments of Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) equipment in May 2016. EBARA takes this opportunity to sincerely appreciate our customers and partner companies whose support made this great achievement possible.
CMP equipment is a critical semiconductor manufacturing system that uses chemical and mechanical polishing to obtain the planarity demanded in nanometer scale (one nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter). EBARA shipped the world’s first “Dry-in/Dry-out” ※ CMP equipment in 1993 and is continuing to grow its CMP equipment business today.
Semiconductor chips are a brain of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, home electrical appliances, and automobiles. With the dawning of the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), these electronic devices are becoming increasingly efficient and compact, requiring the technology to integrate an increasing amount of transistors and wires into an even smaller semiconductor chip. A width of these wires can be as small as 24 nanometers to 32 nanometers. In addition to this miniaturization, a need for higher density integration in a limited space makes today’s semiconductor chips to have a multilayer structure like the floors of a high-rise building, which can be 10 or more layers in high-performance semiconductor chips. To make such fine wires and a more multilayered structure, it is critical to create an advanced planarity in a range of 10 to 20 nanometers in thickness on a 30 centimeter diameter wafer, which requires a use of CMP equipment.
EBARA’s CMP equipment has been successfully providing the advanced planarity solutions to meet these technical challenges in terms of miniaturization and multilayered structure. The F-REX300SII series and the latest F-REX300X series that offers enhanced productivity at cleaning stations are based on EBARA’s unique concept of meticulously processing each individual wafer with “1-head per 1-table” architecture, while the 4-table platform generates high throughput. These products have achieved both ever-increasing standards of process performance and higher productivity demands, and have been well-received by many customers.
This time, EBARA’s Kumamoto Plant, which began mass production of CMP equipment in 2001, has also achieved 1000 cumulative shipments. Thanks to the extraordinary support of our partners, and with an united efforts of our employees, the plant is currently operating normally following the recent Kumamoto Earthquake in April. Moving forward, the new factory building will be completed and commence production in December 2016, ensuring to meet growing customer demand.
EBARA will continue beyond the achievement of 2000 cumulative shipments to promote a further development of the semiconductor industry by supplying high-performance CMP equipment that satisfy customer demands, ultimately contributing to the realization of an affluent and comfortable society.
The 2000th CMP Equipment (at the Kumamoto Plant before shipment)
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Dry-in/Dry-out: “Method and Apparatus for Dry-in/Dry-out Polishing and Cleaning of a Semiconductor Device” is patented in the United States (U.S. Patent Number: 5,885,138).