ASM Secure Two More Orders for Pulsar ALD Production Tools

ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM), today announced two new Pulsar orders from leading logic customers. One system was purchased by a new customer for the development of next generation advanced high-k metal gates, while the second is a repeat order from an existing customer planning to use Pulsar in its 32 nm high-k manufacturing ramp. Both tools include multiple Pulsar high-k reactors.

"These two sales reflect our belief that advanced logic customers view our high-k process as the standard for hafnium based high-k gate stacks," said Peo Hansson, GM of the Thermal Products business unit at ASM. "During the decision process with our new customer, Pulsar was able to demonstrate significant thin film performance advantages over competing tools for hafnium-based gate dielectrics. Beyond process development, we are also seeing more customers migrating high-k from development into initial volume manufacturing using our Pulsar ALD production tools."

The Pulsar ALD reactor utilizes a unique solid chemical source delivery system that enables the most efficient and precise deposition of hafnium oxide (HfO2) and hafnium silicon oxide (HfSiO) films at atomic thickness scales. It enables advanced integration solutions down to 22 nm and below through its ALD process that deposits one atomic layer at a time. Implementing high-k films extends transistor gate technology scaling because the high-k materials have a much higher dielectric property than silicon oxide. Pulsar's high-k dielectric ALD deposition process enables faster and smaller chips, ideally suited for high performance servers and advanced products that require low power such as laptops, PDA's and smart-phones.