ST. LOUIS and SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SEMICON West -- SAFC Hitech(R), a business segment within SAFC(R), a member of the Sigma-Aldrich(R) Group, today announced details of its new materials roadmap for Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) processes on silicon semiconductor substrates. The roadmap outlines the development paths across current and future advanced memory and logic devices, which includes barrier layers, interconnects, dielectrics and metals, that the company expects to see play out between now and 2014.
SAFC Hitech last reviewed its semiconductor materials roadmap in mid-2007. However, regular monitoring is required in order to ascertain whether the market for semiconductor materials has evolved as expected. "There are numerous variables that can affect the selection, timing of insertion point and volume demand for electronic materials," commented Dr. Geoff Irvine, SAFC Hitech's Vice-President of Business Development. "SAFC Hitech routinely analyzes external guidelines such as the ITRS roadmap, trends in device development and economic conditions, and performs evaluations of our own research and development programs, allied to what we are seeing in our partnerships with customers. Through assessment, for example, if there are certain materials that have been adopted more rapidly than anticipated or adapted for an alternative application and, conversely, if there are some that may have seen a delay or reconsideration in use, our review process enables us to recast the materials requirements of the semiconductor industry and revise our roadmap accordingly."
"This rapid adoption and developmental trend is perfectly illustrated by deposition materials and, the rate of adoption and subsequent change of materials employed for dielectric materials for metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors in the manufacture of DRAM devices," expanded Ravi Kanjolia, SAFC Hitech's Chief Technology Officer. "Precursor chemistries have transitioned rapidly from providing solutions for growing high quality conformal amorphous films of Al2O3 to HfO2 followed by ZrO2. Similar trends regarding timescales for the adoption and integration of new materials in other functional layers of the devices are now also being seen."
For further information, visit SAFC Hitech during Semicon West at booth 5465 in the North Hall, or go to www.safchitech.com.
About SAFC Hitech: SAFC Hitech provides a unique chemistry service translating application understanding into performance materials worldwide. Through collaborative partnerships and an integrated approach from research and development, process development and scale up to commercial manufacturing, SAFC Hitech invests in innovation and manufacturing enabling current and future technology needs. Further information can be found at http://www.safchitech.com.
Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Company's operations and conditions in the markets the Company serves. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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