An Irish company has developed technology which it believes will lead the next wave of semiconductor chip manufacturing processes.
Dublin-based Scientific Systems is currently undergoing evaluations with IBM and Siemens to provide its instruments for their wafer fabrication processes. Both companies have tried to develop the same technology, but are now considering adopting Scientific's process instead.
Scientific received a £1.6 million (€2 million) investment from venture capital company ACT and Enterprise Ireland this week. The funding will be used to mobilise Scientific's sales efforts, particularly in the US, where it is seeking to roll its technology into semiconductor manufacturing plants. It will also result in the creation of 34 new jobs over the next three years. ACT now takes a 25 per cent equity stake in Scientific Systems, while Enterprise Ireland takes a 6 per cent holding.
Scientific Systems, which originated as a Dublin City University (DCU) campus company, has exploited plasma-based technology to allow semiconductor manufacturers to improve the yields of chips. Current process control methods mean that defects in chips are only detected near the end of the production cycle, which can be several weeks in the manufacture of a complex chip like a microprocessor. Faulty processes can lead to millions of dollars in lost chips.
By developing sensor-based process control systems to replace the statistically-based process that dominates today, Scientific has developed technology which has been identified by SEMATECH, a US industry research consortium, as crucial, but is not predicted to appear in the semiconductor industry until 2002. Plasma-based manufacturing is the technique by which transistor chips are manufactured. These transistors are the key building blocks in the production of complex silicon chips for a wide range of electronic and computing products. The plasma - a gas through which an electric current is passed - can be used to deposit very thin layers of metal or insulator to make electrical connections in transistors, a process known as plasma deposition. Plasma can also be used to cut very fine lines to separate transistor devices and their electrical connections through a plasma etching process.
Scientific Systems's new technology will allow semiconductor manufacturers to automatically measure plasma etch and deposition processes to control the production of transistors and integrated circuits. The greatest challenge facing chip manufacturers is the reduction of production costs. This can be achieved through increased wafer size and a greater number of transistors in the composition of chips. Scientific Systems is one of the few companies with a viable technology to help semiconductor companies control their manufacturing processes.
The process was primarily developed by Dr Michael Hopkins, when he was head of plasma research at DCU. Scientific Systems was established in 1995, though Dr Hopkins only left his post in DCU last November.
Scientific Systems has already forged strategic partnerships with US and Japanese companies for the mechanical installation of its technology in chip manufacturing companies. Its business is currently divided between the US and Japanese markets, and its customers already include IBM, Siemens, Hitachi, Lucent Technologies and ST Microelectronics.
By selling its products to a wide range of blue chip semiconductor companies, Scientific Systems has already established a working relationship with many of its potential customers for its new technology. Plans are well developed to begin evaluation of sensors in chip fabrication plants at IBM and Siemens.
If IBM was to adopt Scientific Systems's technology, it would have to be installed in 400 types of process, amounting to a contract worth around $6 million. Scientific Systems is projecting revenues within about three years of around £10 million annually.
