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SANJOSE,CA--(Marketwire-February7,2012)Meantimewire-NovellusSystems(NASDAQ:NVLS)today
announcedtheadditionoftheVECTORStratatothecompany'sdielectricproductofferings.VECTOR
Stratahasbeendevelopedspecificallyforhigh-volumemanufacturingofverticallyintegratedmemory
(VIM)Flashdevices.ThisisthesecondNovellusproductannouncedinrecentmonthsforthis
emergingmarket,followingtheALTUS®ExtremeFilltungstenCVDsystemintroducedinJuly2011.VECTOR
Strataemploysinnovativetechnologydesignedtodeliverultra-smoothfilmswithexceptionaldefect
performance,enablingin-situdepositionofthealternatingsilicon-basedlayersusedintheformation
oftheVIMstructure.TheVECTOR'smulti-stationsequentialprocessing(MSSP)architecture
providesauniquesolutiontothecostofmanufacturingforVIMthatwillallowaccelerationof
thetechnologyintohighvolumeproduction.
Astheindustrymovestowardssub-20nmnodes,traditionalplanarNANDflashdevicesare
approachingscalinglimitations.Atthesesmallerdevicegeometries,theclosepackingofmemorycells
resultsinasignificantincreaseinparasiticinter-wirecapacitancethatinturnleadstoincreasedcross
talkandpowerconsumption.Additionally,thecloserproximityofadjacentmemorycellscauses
shiftsinthethresholdvalueofamemorycellwhileanadjoiningcellisbeingprogrammed,
leadingtomemorydisturbance.Finally,atsub-20nmdimensionsthenumberofelectronsinthe
floatinggateofatraditionalplanarNANDflashdeviceissignificantlyreduced,tothepointwhere
multiplebitspercellarenolongerpossibleandthustheextendibilityofthetechnologybecomes
limited.
Inordertoaddressthesechallenges,NANDflashdevicemanufacturersareaggressively
pursuingdifferenttypesof3DVIMdesigns.Thoughthespecificmaterialsrequiredineachofthese
structuresaredifferent,alloftheseapproachesrequirealternatinglayersofsilicon-basedfilms.
Eachpairofalternatinglayersisusedtoformamemorycell,andupto64pairsofalternatinglayers
areexpectedtobeusedintheformationofaVIMchip.Usingthisprocessingapproach,underlying
filmroughnessanddefectswithineachlayercanpotentiallybemagnifiedwhilebuildingupthe
VIMstructure.Tocontroltheseproblemsandensurehighyields,exceptionalnano-particlecontrol
(requiredtoreducedefectivity)andultra-smoothfilmdeposition(requiredtoavoidwordlineedge
variability,andhencewordlineperformancevariations)arebothproductionrequirements.
ThenewVECTORStratasystemhasbeendesignedtomeetthestringentroughnessand
defectivitystandardsnecessarytomanufacturethesenext-generationVIMdevices.Figure1showsa)
VECTORStrata'sultra-smoothfilmsdepositedinanalternatinglayerfilmstackincomparisontob)
conventionalPECVDfilms.Thesystemalsoemploysseveralinnovativefeaturesthatoptimizegas
deliveryandRFdistribution,resultinginindustry-leadingthroughputanddefectcontrol.Figure
2showsatomicforcemicroscope(AFM)imagesofultra-smoothVECTORStratafilms,showingfilm
roughnessthatiscomparabletotheunderlyingsubstrate.
"VECTORStratadepositsthelowdefect,ultra-smoothfilmsrequiredfornextgeneration3D
NANDflashmemorydesigns,"saidSeshaVaradarajan,seniorvicepresidentofNovellus'PECVD
BusinessUnit."VECTORStratahasbeenadoptedbyleadingmemorymanufacturersastheVIM
developmenttoolofchoiceduetoitsindustry-leadingadvancedtechnologyandmulti-stationsequential
processingproductivity."
FormoreinformationaboutthenewVECTORStrata,pleasevisit
AboutNovellus'PEVCDTechnology:
Themulti-stationsequentialprocessing(MSSP)architectureofNovellus'VECTORplatform
allowsforindependenttemperatureandflowcontroltoitsdepositionstations,acriticalrequirement
tomeettheintegrationneedsofsub-3xnmtechnologynodes.Morethan1,000VECTORsystems
havebeeninstalledinlogic,memory,andfoundryfabsaroundtheworld.
AboutNovellus:
NovellusSystems,Inc.(NASDAQ:NVLS)isaleadingproviderofadvancedprocessequipment
fortheglobalsemiconductorindustry.Thecompany'sproductsdelivervaluetocustomersby
providinginnovativetechnologybackedbytrustedproductivity.AnS&P500company,Novellusis
headquarteredinSanJose,Calif.withsubsidiaryofficesacrosstheglobe.Formoreinformation,
pleasevisitwww.novellus.com
Contact:
BobClimo
PublicRelations
NovellusSystems,Inc.
Phone:+1408/943-9700
Email:[email protected]
RobinYim
InvestorRelations
NovellusSystems,Inc.
Phone:+1408/943-9700
E-mail:[email protected]