Case 1:14-cv-01432-LPS Document 238-8 Filed 12/12/19 Page 1 of 3 PageID #: 16132
`
`Exhibit H
`
`

`

`Thinning wafers beyond CMP
`McGrath, Vlan
`Case 1:14-cv-01432-LPS Document 238-8 Filed 12/12/19 Page 2 of 3 PageID #: 16133
`Electronic 8.5
`emlecvtoaasaaas Document 238-8 Filed 12/12/19 Page 2 of 3 PageID #: 16133
`pg. 34
`
`Manufacturing & Test Gear
`
`
`Thinning Wafers Beyond CMP
`
`Tru-Si Technologies
`
`I Br DYLAN McGnArn
`
`conductors are being re-
`quired for applications such
`(:.\i.ii~‘.~Tru-Si
`SUNNYVALE,
`as smart cards and laptop
`Technologies. a start-up
`computers. It is generally be-
`lievcd that silicon wafers
`based here. is poised to in-
`cannot be thinned to thick-
`troduce a new silicon wafer
`nesses below ZOO-micron.
`thinning technology at next
`week‘s Semicon/West 98
`However, Hitachi announced
`trade Show in San Francisco.
`in December that it had prev
`According to Tru~Si. the com-
`duced chips with a wafer
`thickness of 50 microns. ADP
`pany’s proprietary Atmos-
`technology. which removes
`pheric Downstream Plasma
`silicon by means of the mate»
`(ADP) technology is capable
`rial‘s reaction to oxygen and
`of thinning wafers to thick-
`nesses well below what con-
`a fluorine-containing gas. is
`designed to thin wafers down
`ventional mechanical grind-
`to the 50.micron level. "This
`ing and chemical mechanical
`is the first industrial applica»
`planarization (CMP) tech-
`tion of this technology,” said
`niques can offer.
`'l'hinner and thinner semi-
`Sergey Savastiouk. Tru-Si
`
`Advanced Energy Industries
`Quiet Power Behind Gear Makers
`I By CHAD FASCA
`ter. Sequentially, revenues
`did drop 20 percent from the
`fourth quarter. however
`gross margins remained in
`the 30 percent range at 30.3
`percent versus 36.3 percent
`in the first quarter of 1997
`and 37.6 percent
`in the
`fourth quarter of 1997.
`In terms of visibility, Ad-
`vanced Energy recently made
`noise by signing a merger
`agreement with the No. 3 com-
`petitor in power converters, RF
`Power Products. And accord-
`ing to Mr. Usher, the power
`product. supplier plans to be
`more vocal and visible player
`in the marketplace. Some of
`this new attitude will be on
`display at Semicom’West in San
`Francisco where AEI will on-
`veil its Apex product line
`Advanced Energy’s begin-
`nings are closely tied with
`the needs of the thin film in-
`dustry. Advanced Energy’s
`products have come to fit
`well with emerging semicon»
`ductor applications. At its
`founding. the company began
`selling ion beam milling and
`etching specific power supe
`plies. Ion beam milling and
`etching was being uscd in
`Kilt!) at IBM and Motorola for
`development of semiconduc-
`tor processes for both thin
`continued on page 38
`1998
`
`Advanced Energy Industries
`is a power broker in the liter«
`al
`sense. Since Douglas
`Schatz and Brent Backman
`opened the company’s doors
`in 1981, Advanced Energy
`has quietly gone about the
`business of supplying DC and
`RF power products to the in
`dustry‘s gear makers.
`However being quiet won't
`cut
`it anymore since Ad-
`vanced Energy went public in
`December 1995. “Being a pri-
`vate company we didn't care
`(about being noticed); being a
`public company there are dif-
`ferent rules,” says Jim Usher
`head of the AEl‘s semicon~
`ductor business unit.
`Those different rules come
`from the stock market, which
`has soured on equipment
`stock in recent months as
`possibly the worst industry
`downturn since 1974 has hit
`the semiconductor industry.
`The downturn has pushed
`Advanced Energy from Octo—
`ber 1997 highs in $35 range
`to lows around Si 1.
`Despite the industry slow-
`down and market perception.
`AEI posted $36.7 million in
`first quarter 1998 revenues,
`up 77 percent from $20.7
`million in the year ago quar-
`34
`LLEQTFH'J'J‘L‘
`'
`JULY 6,
`
`
`CEO. “We are really the first
`company to look into the next
`dimension.”
`Last month. Tru-Si said it
`is preparing a version of its
`Tru-Etch series of products.
`the Tru-Etch 3000. to specifi-
`cally address 300mm wafer
`manul‘ucturcrs' needs to
`meet thin advanced packag-
`ing requirements. According
`to Mr. Savastiouk. the need
`for a reliable wafer thinning
`technology is magnified by
`the move to 300mm because
`the wafer thickness is greater
`to begin with. “For 300 mile
`
`limetnr, it is even more visi-
`ble, even more trouble to
`thin the wafer below 200 mi-
`crons,” he said.
`“Current thinning tech-
`nologies such as mechanical
`grinding and wet etching are
`only effective to thin wafers
`to below 200 microns in
`thickness.” said Vada Dean.
`'l‘ru-Si director of sales and
`marketing. “Ultrwthin appli-
`cations. such as smart cards
`and cellular phones. will re.
`quire chip thinness to 75 to
`150 microns. In 1995, only 4
`billion chips were thinned,
`
`which accounted for 8.2 per-
`cent of all integrated circuit
`(IC) devices produced, but by
`the year 2000, it is estimated
`that 13 billion thinned chips
`will be needed, or 2l.5 per-
`cent of all ICs."
`According to 'l‘ru-Si Tech—
`nologies. ADP is a repeatable
`and reproducible isotropic
`etch process that removes a
`uniform layer of silicon from
`the wafer. ADP has high etch
`rates for common materials
`present on the backside of
`processed wafers, including;
`continued on page 33
`
`AutoSoft Builds Single Interface for Fab Floor
`SALT LAKE CITY, urAH—Auto—Soft, an in-
`material handling set to Chipmakers. Conse-
`dependent subsidiary of Daifuku, prefers to
`quently, the systems integrator or factory
`be the plumbers versus the intellectual
`automation software must be interoperable
`between systems. Auto-Soft has fashioned
`property guys, according to David Corey. VP
`iMaven out of its Class MCS software as the
`of sales and marketing. While manufactur-
`ing execution system (MES) providers duke
`framework for material handling. Class
`it out. Auto-Soft has chosen to “go horizon—
`MCS, the precursor to iMaven, has an in-
`stalled based of more than 35 wafer tabs,
`tally below the MES and eat up all the func-
`with several customized versions at Intel,
`tions on the fab floor,” as a systems inte-
`grator and automation software provider.
`Motorola, Texas Instruments and Samsuug
`Founded in 1985, Auto’Soft has grown to
`among others not included in this figure.
`A big advantage Auto-Sufi claims in tout—
`$37 million in revenues last year. As a
`Fas'l‘ech integrator, Auto-Soft did $12 mil-
`ing iMaven, is that the interface does not
`touch or alter the MES, making it a “low risk
`lion in business last year integrating
`installation" because they have interfaces
`Fas'l‘ech’s FacturyWorks into front-end and
`back'end labs. The company is on course
`with FasTech. Promis, Consilium, among
`for a $45 million run rate this year. A sig-
`others. “When I do replace my MES system,
`nificant contributor to this will be the com-
`I can make a change fi'om a 1985 systems”
`to a current system “without affecting the
`pany‘s new automation sohware.
`At Semicon/West, the Auto-Soft will in-
`people on the shop floor,” says Mr. Corey.
`troduce iMaven, an applications suite
`iMaven components include cell control.
`framework that pro-integrates equipment
`material handing, auto identification and
`MRS interface components as well as wafer
`control, material handling and automatic
`identification systems for semiconductor fab
`tracking developed jointly between Auto—Soil
`automation.
`and Intel. Auto—Soft received marketing
`rights from Intel and provides royalties back
`Auto-Soil. is trying to put forth commercial-
`to No.1 chipmaker. Since striking this deal.
`ly something that has been successfully implev
`Auto-Soft has been selling the wafer tracking
`merited internally at Intel and Motorola—an
`interface between the user, the processing
`product on its own. and has been moving the
`functionality of this product to iMaven.
`equipment. the material handling/identifica-
`Written in Java. iMavcn is a platform in—
`tion equipment and the MES sofiware. Auto-
`Sol't has taken lesson from Intel and Motorola.
`dependent upplicalion. It runs on Windows
`NT and 95, Solaris. HP-UX, Digital Unix,
`Both chipmakers have automated their fahs
`IBM AIX and any other platform with a
`on single user interfaces. In Intel's case the
`Java virtual machine. The software's dis-
`product is codenamed WAMSUI. Motorola
`calls its fab user interface MAUI.
`tributed components are connected using
`CORBA, the object—oriented connection
`According to Mr. Corey, Auto-Soft
`standard that utilizes TCP/IP protocol.
`learned this important lesson by listening to
`Auto-Soft has wasted no time making the
`its customers. Customers plan to pick and
`new software system pay off. The company
`choose whatever they need to build their
`recently inked its largest single order ever,
`tabs, regardless of the supplier. 1n other
`words, no one supplier will likely supply the
`
`a $9.6 million deal for iMaven recently. 6
`
`Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
`
`ELM EX_000001 75
`
`

`

`
`Case 1:14-cv-01432-LPS Document 238-8 Filed 12/12/19 Page 3 of 3 PageID #: 16134
`Case 1:14-cv-01432-LPS Document 238-8 Filed 12/12/19 Page 3 of 3 PagelD #: 16134
`
` 4m
`
`Production 8: Test
`
`ehind Gear Makers
`
`Quiet Power
`
`continued from page 34
`film heads and it} manufac»
`turing. It was at this time
`that Advanced Energy's proxe
`unity to thin film process de-
`velopers “positioned the com—
`pany to get to know a, lot of
`other Companies in advanced
`R&D," says Mr. Lsher. The
`company sold its ion beam
`milling and etching power
`converters in equipment
`users such as lon 'l‘echnoltr
`gy, Commonwealth
`and
`Veero instruments.
`When the need for smaller
`and smaller geometries,
`pushed physical vapor depov
`sitiou to the forefront. knock-
`ing out electron beam sys-
`tems used to vaporize alu-
`minum for
`a variety of
`processes. Advanced Energy
`stopped in by supplying then-
`vocal player 'l‘cmcsca] Mater-
`ial Research. Varian Assocr
`ates, and later. Applied Mate-
`rials, with power converters.
`in the PVD product transi-
`tion, Advanced Energy creat-
`
`ed DC power supplies “specifi-
`cally tailored to provide high-
`or power in smaller packages,
`reduced what a fork lift must
`pick up so a person could
`carry it," says Mr. Usher.
`ARI developed the MDX
`power supply in 19834984.
`The product has been in de-
`mand for a number of years
`and is still sold today.
`"Hard to kill a good prod-
`uct, even though we have
`better ones,” says Mr, Usher
`who adds that MDX fueled “a
`huge growth spurt for us,
`from early 1986 to 1995.“
`In 1985, sales revenue
`was $4 million. By 1987.
`MDX was tabbing large or—
`ders, like the 600 system
`MDX order of Seagate Tech-
`nology. Seagate was in the
`midst of transferring from
`clectro deposition to PVD. By
`1992. Advanced Energy sales
`hit $22 million Willi MDX as
`its primary driver.
`in 1992,
`the company de-
`veloped RF technology, an
`
`13.56llliz RF generator called
`RFC. According to Mr. Usher,
`it would become the main
`product used for LAM re,
`search TCP 0600, 9400 etch-
`ing tools as well as other 0/1)
`suppliers like Applied \iateri-
`als, Balzers, Leybold, Ulvac
`and Hitachi. The company
`went public in December
`1995. By 1996 sales grew to
`$99 million. in 1997. AH sales
`reached $141.9 million, In tis-
`cal 1997, All tabbed 59 per'
`cent of its sales from the
`semiconductor equipment in-
`dustry. According to Lehman
`Brothers. Applied Materials
`and Lam Research accounted
`for 45 percent of sales. The
`company commands 39 per-
`cent share of the power con-
`verter market, according to
`Lehman Brothers.
`Ali's chief competitors are
`EN]
`[25 percent) and ill"
`Power Products (10 percent).
`However, those ranks will
`shrink il‘ Ali‘s proposed at:-
`quisition of RF Power Prod-
`
`ucts reaches fruition.
`AEl will unveil its “first
`fully integrated 13.56MB: RF
`power delivery system,” July
`13-15. at Semicon/West.
`Advanced Energy claims
`the Apex system provides
`power
`repeatability,
`in.
`creased reliability and lower
`cost through the integration
`of the 13.56Ml—lz power am-
`plifier, impendanco match,
`and built-in VI probe. Acv
`cording to the company, the
`Apex single-package design
`achieves these benefits by
`significantly reducing the
`number of parts over existing
`HF power delivery systems.
`The system incorporates
`SwitchMatch. a selectable,
`fixed impedance match using
`pin diodes. By directly deliv-
`ering the RF power to the
`source.
`the Apex system
`completely eliminates the 10-
`25 percent power loss inhcre
`cut in typical component con-
`figurations, according to Alil.
`The company contends that
`Apex provides accurate deliv-
`ery of set point power be-
`
`cause the power amplifier,
`SwitchMatch and VI Probe
`are installed directly at the
`lead. “A user then can mea—
`sure and regulate plasma im-
`pedance changes through
`closed loop control signals
`back to the generator.“ the
`company claims.
`The mean time between
`failure (MTBF) of Apex ex:
`coeds 200.000 hours. accord-
`ing to the company. The sin»
`gle package Apex system is
`close to 50 percent; smaller
`in size than previous AF.
`component systems, The
`Apex product platform is
`available in power ranges of
`”(W to 10kW. and frequen-
`cies
`of
`13.56Mli7.
`and
`27.12MHZ. Apex has been in
`alpha and beat testing at
`SBVHI‘Rl customers.
`“We expect the Apex prod-
`uct
`line with its built»in
`SwitchMatch and Vi sensor
`teclutology to carry us into the
`300mm tool requriements,”
`says Mr. Usher. Apex is also
`targeted at improving 200mm
`lines as well. 0
`
`
`
`Thinning Wafers Beyond 6MP
`contimwdfrum page 34
`silicon. silicon oxide. silicon nitride, poly-silicon and
`
`BPSG, the company said, Since ADP is a downstream
`process,
`it also eliminates the danger of plasma ion in-
`duced damage.
`
`()ne oi. the knocks against currently available water
`thinning technologies has been the handling of the wafer.
`CMP and grinding applications can place inicrosm‘atches
`
`on silicon, according to Oleg Siniaguino, chiol‘ technology
`officer at Tru-Si, significantly reducing yields. To combat
`this. ’I‘ru-Si has developed a system ol' pumps that hold
`
`
`and move the water without making contact with it. As
`the handling system holds the wafers over the plasma
`flame, the wafers appear to be literally levitating.
`
`While Mr. Savastiouk touted the advantages of ADP
`over the combination of mechanical grinding and (1MP.
`including the elimination of the need for hazardous chem-
`
`
`icals and wet cleaning, he also said .'\l)l’ is not meant to
`be used alone. Alli’ technology is not intended to bring a
`
`wafer down to 30 microns from its original thickness.
`in-
`stead. ADP is more likely to be used as a technology that
`
`picks up where grinding lea» cs off, bringing the water
`down to '30 microns.
`
`While Trix-Si did not disclose the price at a Tru-litch
`
`system. Mr. Siniaguine said it was about the same as a
`
`commercially available (JMl‘ systcni. When asked to
`compare the price of the 'l‘ruvlitch to that ot’ a grinding
`
`system. he said, "It's like comparing apples to oranges.
`
`These systems can‘t do what the ADP can do.“ Both
`Mo
`Siniagninc and Savastiouk emphasized that any
`
`primx comparisons between Al)? and grinding/{QMP
`would be incomplete without looking at cost of owner
`
`ship issues. where they bclicvc their product oil’crs sig»
`niiirant advantages.
`
`While the company has not ym sold any 'l‘ru-lilttb sys-
`
`tems, Mr. Savastiouk said 'l‘ru-Si has received interest
`from global semiconductor companies. Big chip compa-
`nies, he said. are interested in using,r ADP to thin wafers
`
`
`in Asian test and packaging facilities. Conceivably, com-
`panies could use grinding and (IMF techniques to thin the
`
`processed wafers down to ZOO-micron and then shipped
`to Asia. where they could be further thinned by ADP and
`then packaged. O
`
`u...—
`
`38
`
`ELECTRONIC \EWS
`
`JULY 6. 1998
`
`THE TEST FLOOR
`
`TAS, Telttmnix, 110 and Wavetek. O
`
`I BY CHAD FASCA
`AND DYLAN McGnATu
`
`Symbios, Inc. has taken delivery of a settlem-
`belger [0510000 plus probe system.
`Schlumbergcr said. According to Symbios
`engineers, the IDS 10000 plus has already
`proven its capability to support the analysis
`of SRAM and to perform difficult waveform
`acquisitions with 50~100-millivolt signal
`differences in SRAM cores. In addition, the
`system has yielded a dramatic improve
`ment in signal acquisition times and the
`ability to handle high-vectorAcount test con-
`ditions. Symbios is also using the 111310000
`plus system for analysis work on its 0.2? -
`micron process qualification vehicle. “The
`Symbios priority is to accelerate deploy—
`ment of new design technologies to the
`market, backed by the capabilities of an
`exceptional analytical support lab. The
`IDSlOOOO plus system will allow us to pro-
`vide new technologies to customers more
`easily, rapidly and completely than other-
`wise possible," said Dan Ellsworth, VP of
`technology for Symbios. The price paid by
`Symbios for the system was not disclosed.
`
`IJ'X Corp. has received an order from
`We Corp. for a Fusion llF system-on-a»
`chip tester. QLogic, a designer and supplier
`of semiconductor and boardelevol 1/0 prod—
`ucts. will use the Fusion configured with
`the high—speed data channel option and
`llil’erll pin electronics to test QLogir’s I/O
`systems-on-a-chip. The system will be deliv-
`ered to QLogir‘s Costa Mesa, Califl, facility.
`
`Integrated Measurement Systems (MS) of
`Beavorton, Ore. released Virtual Tcst ltm
`ulatorlv'l‘li). a test emulation software
`product that the company said provides
`testApmgram execution and debug without
`
`the use of automated test equipment (ATE),
`Using VTE, test engineers can debug test
`programs off-line prior to having silicon
`available, MS said. V'I‘E was initially devel—
`oped for a large, unnamed Japanese flash
`memory manufacturer by IMS. in conjunc»
`tion with Hewlett Packard and Synopsys. VT}?
`software, which starts at $75,000, is avail«
`able immediately, the company said,
`
`Assoc Corp. will exhibit its expanded
`product oil'ering at Semicon/West in San
`Francisco. this July. “We‘re very pleased to
`be moving into new systems that handle a
`wider variety of package types,” said Ken
`Gray. VP of marketing & sales. “it allows
`us to compete for new customers in seg«
`ments of the semiconductor market we
`have not been able to approach before."
`Ascco will spotlight its VTSOOD machine vi—
`sion-controlled. multi-track automated 1C
`test handler, which can test QFPs, BGAs, or
`TSOPs in one-to-eight test sites. Also fea-
`tured will be the Aseco-AIU 7070 x64
`(2x32) horizontal memory it; test handler,
`a new product, This system handles SOP,
`SSUP, 'l‘SUP-l. ’I'S()I’~ll. QFP and other ad-
`vanced package types. Another new prod—
`uct on display is the Asom-Rasco $01000
`high speed convertible SO test handler.
`This new system is a multi-site. gravity-fed
`test handler designed to handle small SOIC.
`SSOP. TSSOP. MSOP and SOT packages in
`dual as well as quad test site configura
`tions or direct plunge-to-board. Aseco‘s S-
`170D, a convertible, tri-temp, gravity‘l‘ed
`handler, will also be displayed.
`
`Continental Resources has published its
`new test and measurement instruments
`catalog. The catalog features instruments
`from manufacturers like Hewletl Packard,
`
`Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
`
`ELM EX_000001 76
`
`