The CVD aluminum process technology is one of the key interconection technologies in DRAM manufacturing process. It involves forming conducting films by turning metal organic source, including aluminum, into particles through chemical reactions and depositing them on a wafer surface, and then creating wiring for the interconnecting circuits.
Existing DRAM circuit-wiring processes have employed the Physical Vapor Deposition or PVD method in which thin films are formed by turning solid-state materials into particles. However, due to the problem of “void” in which the deposition is not evenly made on the wafer surface, thus causing problems in the circuit properties, this PVD method has been difficult to apply in the 90-nano-or-less scale processes.
However, if the CVD aluminum process technology is employed, not only is the problem of cavitations addressed, but also the electrical properties of circuit-wiring are dramatically improved, making it an essential process technology in manufacturing 70 nanometer DRAMs.
Furthermore, if this CVD aluminum process technology is employed, analysis shows that it would reduce costs related to circuit-wiring process by up to approximately 20 percent, as it does not require planarization (etch-back) and cleaning process, which have been required until now in circuit-wiring process.
As the application of high-performance DRAMs expands from the PC to mobile and consumer electronics products, it is imperative to develop nano-scale DRAMs in order to respond to the ever-increasing demand. However, until now there has been little progress in the development of next generation DRAM processes in the industry.
On the other hand, Samsung Electronics has been the industry leader in unveiling advanced nanometer-node DRAM process technologies and design technologies such as metal capacitor technology, three-dimensional transistor design technology, and inlaying technique design technology, thereby taking the lead in next generation nanometer-semiconductor technologies and building a foundation for maintaining its competitive advantage in the future.
In particular, the CVD aluminum process technology was submitted as a technology paper at the VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integrated-circuit) Technology Symposium and IEDM (International Electron Device Meeting), the world’s most prestigious semiconductor symposiums, and gained a highly favorable reception. The company has also applied for 15 international patents related to this technology.
Samsung Electronics has already secured 90 nanometer 512Mb DRAM samples by applying the CVD aluminum process technology and plans to unveil 70 nanometer DRAM employing this process technology by the end of the year.
Full press release at
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconductor/
Related stories:
UMC's Embedded DRAM, URAM Proven in 65nm Customer Silicon
UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that it has produced functional 65nm customer products incorporating URAM, the company's patented embedded DRAM (eDRAM) technology.
Elpida Develops Top-Tier Power Efficient 2Gbps High-Speed DDR3 SDRAM
Elpida Memory, Inc., Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), announced today that it has developed a top-tier power efficient 1 Gigabit DDR3 SDRAM, which is capable of operating at an ultra-fast speed of 2 Gigabits per second (Gbps). By reducing power consumption to around the lowest possible level the new high-performance environmentally friendly DRAM marks an important milestone in Elpida's aggressive development of eco-products.
Novel memory device is set to rival transistor-switched silicon-based memory
Working with an international group of researchers, Professor Gehan Amaratunga has produced a novel memory device which is set to rival transistor-switched silicon-based memory.
Researchers Prove Existence of New Basic Element for Electronic Circuits -- 'Memristor'
HP today announced that researchers from HP Labs have proven the existence of what had previously been only theorized as the fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering.
Toshiba develops the world's fastest speed embedded DRAM technology
Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has realized the world's fastest circuit technology for embedded DRAM for System LSI, achieving a speed of 833MHz at 32Mb density. The technology will be applied to graphic processing LSI. The technology was today introduced at the ISSCC (International Solid State Circuits Conference), held at San Francisco CA from February 3rd.
Toshiba Launches High Performance Solid State Drives With MLC NAND Flash Memory
Toshiba Corp. today announced their entry into the emerging market for NAND-flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs) with a series of products featuring multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory.
Elpida Develops a 65nm-Process 1-Gigabit DDR2 SDRAM, World's Smallest Chip
Elpida Memory, Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), announced today that it has completed development of a 1-Gigabit DDR2 SDRAM based on new 65nm process technology. The 65nm process allows Elpida to create the world's smallest chip products.
Elpida Introduces the World's Fastest DRAM Based on the Rambus XDR Memory Architecture
Elpida Memory, Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed chip architectures, today introduced the industry's fastest DRAM, the 512 Megabit (Mb), 4.8GHz XDR DRAM, based on Rambus' XDR memory architecture.