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Aluminum Nitride in Batch Production for Power Devices

October 26, 2016 by Jeff Shepard

Picosun Oy now provides its customers production-scale aluminum nitride (AlN) batch process with superior film thickness uniformity and fast speed. Picosun AlN batch process data include: Film thickness of 50 nm; 200mm Si wafer substrate; 25 pieces in a single batch; process temperature of 375 degrees C; Non-uniformity (1summation, within-wafer) of 0.9 %; and throughput (10 nm and one ALD tool) of 1300 wafers/day.

AlN is one of the key materials in semiconductor industries. Compatibility with III-V -semiconductors makes it an excellent material for power electronics, and in mobile communications technology it is used in the production of several key components such as RF filters and microphones.

"We have achieved excellent results in our new AlN batch process, so we are very happy now to offer it to our industry customers for mass manufacturing applications. AlN is a very sought-after material amongst our microelectronics production customers", says Dr. Erik Østreng, Applications and Services Director of Picosun.

High quality, but low cost microelectronics mass production is a prerequisite also for the rapidly expanding Internet-of-Things (IoT). Soon, the IoT will require trillions of sensors, actuators, transducers, energy harvesters and other, often independently operating electronic components. AlN thin films are important building blocks also in these devices.

In all semiconductor applications, the quality of the thin films, especially their uniformity and purity, is crucial. For the end product prices to stay competitive, the films must be manufactured fast and cost-efficiently in large batches.

"We at Picosun want to offer our customers comprehensive, turn-key ALD manufacturing solutions and the best and most agile customer care. A process, tailored, optimized and ramped-up for each customer's individual needs is the core part of this solution", continues Mr. Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun.

Picosun's production ALD systems are designed to fulfill the most stringent quality and reliability requirements of today's semiconductor industry. With Picosun's SEMI S2 compliant batch ALD tools equipped with fully automatic substrate handling in constant vacuum excellent AlN film thickness uniformities and conformality across the batch have been achieved.