News

13 July 2010

 

Plasma etch and dep tool maker OEM Group adds AlN film foundry services

OEM Group Inc of Gilbert, AZ, USA, which provides equipment to silicon, MEMS, LED, RFID, power device and photovoltaic device makers, has added foundry services to its offerings. Specifically, it is offering high-quality aluminum nitride (AlN) foundry, performed in its applications lab.

Included in the firm’s acquisition in March of the Thin Films and PVD product lines from Tegal Corp of Petaluma, CA, USA, the foundry services use the SFI Endeavor AT PVD (physical vapor deposition) platform to produce piezoelectric AlN films on a variety of 4–6-inch wafers used in surface acoustic wave (SAW), bulk acoustic wave (BAW), FBAR (film bulk acoustic resonator), and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices. Equipped with a dual-cathode AC power S-Gun magnetron, the Endeavor AT PVD cluster tool has proven sputter technology that can produce superior film crystallinity, uniformity, and precise stress adjustment, it is claimed. 

OEM Group also participates in customer R&D projects by assisting optimization of devices and technology as well as developing deposition processes suited for specific customer requirements.

“Performance of AlN-based electro-acoustic devices such as BAW and FBAR filters, oscillators, and resonating sensors is substantially tied to thin-film technology,” says PVD process development manager Valeriy Felmetsger. “Reactive magnetron sputtering is a method of choice enabling formation of AlN films with a high degree of c-axis texture and thus a strong piezoelectric response. In mass production, the most important criteria of advanced reactive sputtering are process stability and repeatability of the film properties from run to run, and independent control of the film properties such as crystal orientation, thickness, uniformity, and stress.” The SFI Endeavor AT PVD system suits the deposition of film stack, two-step deposition, or deposition of single AlN films, it is added.

“We have widened our breadth of products and services to move beyond tool manufacturing,” says OEM Group president Wayne Jeveli. “Our foundry services are a logical next step given our infrastructure, equipment, and expertise,” he adds. “Our foundry service's success is based on the reliable well developed technology we possess and we know customers can trust; careful analysis by our experts of all technical requirements and precise process adjustments to satisfy these requirements; and our professional reputation based on comprehensive hands-on experience in sputtered films technology.”

See related item:

Tegal sells thin-film etch and PVD assets to OEM Group

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Visit: www.oemgroupinc.com