ASM International N.V. announced TENZATM ALD, an innovative single wafer atomic layer deposition (ALD) process technology for 300mm wafers. TENZATM ALD is optimized for gap-fill applications and provides the best film quality, conformal coverage through the full trench and highest productivity in its class. TENZATM ALD is offered on ASM's high productivity quad chamber module (QCM) architecture, with four tightly integrated reactors on each QCM.

In a compact configuration, up to 4 QCMs running the TENZATM ALD process can be attached to the XP8 platform, enabling processing of up to 16 wafers at a time. TENZATM ALD utilizes a novel design optimized for ALD reactions, minimizing process volume for maximum precursor utilization efficiency, reducing precursor consumption up to 50% and increasing productivity more than double compared to conventional ALD approaches. Each reactor chamber controls the RF plasma power supply and matching system individually to improve process reproducibility.

The small volume reactor also provides excellent defect performance and extended reactor life (run time before preventive maintenance). Process reactions are confined within each small volume reactor space to minimize consumable parts, making maintenance very easy and less costly. TENZATM ALD enables a variety of silicon oxide applications for gap-fill and liners for a range of structures in advanced transistors, memory devices and interconnects.

The industry can count on TENZATM ALD to deliver a high quality, reliable, repeatable, production proven gap-fill process with the lowest cost of ownership on the market today. Deliveries of TENZATM ALD have begun to multiple global customers, among them leaders in memory device manufacturing. ASM's mature compact ALD quad chamber module architecture has a proven track record with more than 2,000 reactors shipped to customers.