Advanced Energy Industries Unveils RF Power-Delivery System
Advanced Energy® Industries, Inc. (AE®) announced its newest power platform: the Paramount™ RF-power delivery system. Featuring what the company claims is unprecedented power-delivery accuracy and control for increasingly complex film stacks and fine feature sizes, the 3kW Paramount system is well suited for both etch and deposition processes in semiconductor, FPD, MEMS and solar photovoltaic manufacturing.
Next-generation device fabrication processes feature anti-reflective coatings, hard masks, cap layers and stop layers in their recipes. Process designers must account for these layers while at the same time accurately etch or deposit the primary layer that may comprise multiple compositions and doping profiles. The company claims that the Paramount platform easily accommodates these complexities with ultra-accurate power control and delivery across the full output range-both on and off 50Ω –for seamless process transitions in etch, strip, PECVD, HDP-CVD, PVD and PEALD. Where pulsing is required to enable next-generation process steps, the Paramount system’s optional pulse and pulse synchronization features is said to offer the widest pulse-frequency range available.
Hans Betz, President and CEO of AE noted, "The Paramount system continues AE’s tradition of enabling process-power innovation. This new platform has also facilitated AE’s continued, technical collaboration with our valued OEM customers. Paramount systems are already installed on next-generation etch platforms at major OEMs worldwide."
The Paramount RF power-delivery system’s impedance measurement is claimed to rival the accuracy of a network analyzer, enabling unprecedented power delivery accuracy and control at 13.56 MHz fixed or variable frequencies. Able to keep pace – in real time – with the most abrupt plasma-impedance changes, the Paramount system is said to enable faster transitions, shorter process steps and reduced process times, while optional frequency tuning performs virtually instantaneously (within msec). The company claims that the result is truly unprecedented accuracy, repeatability and process control – for 50Ω and non-50Ω loads.
