Oct. 22 - Gloucester, MA - Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. has been issued U.S. Patent Number 6,437,350 for "Methods and Apparatus for Adjusting Beam Parallelism in Ion Implanters."

This technology is the foundation of the company's "Varian Positioning System" (VPS), an ion beam incident angle control feature, coupled with the high tilt capability necessary to achieve the atomic level precision demanded by the most advanced semiconductors devices.

"The Varian Positioning System provides the electromechanical and beam optical control that ensures that the ions impact upon the wafer in the correct location and at the desired incident angle," said Alan Sheng, PhD, Varian Semiconductor's vice president of engineering. "As device scaling continues, the precision with which dopants are placed becomes more and more critical. In fact, at device nodes of 70nm and beyond, critical dimensions such as pattern shifts, shadowing, and lateral junction abruptness are shrinking to thickness within a few atomic layers. Varian Semiconductor has anticipated this requirement with its Varian Positioning System."

The VIISta platform of parallel beam, single wafer implanters covers the entire range of ion implantation requirements, from 200eV through 3.75 MeV. The benefits of parallel beam systems center around their ability to precisely place dopants in the device structures.

"For medium current implants, the VIISta 810 HP provides exceptional control for Vt, channel and halo doping, leading to improved and consistent device operating characteristics, and yield across wafer," said Dr. Tony Renau, director of research and development at Varian Semiconductor. "In addition, the VIISta 810 HP provides the capability to perform single-step, zero degree tilt implants with unsurpassed angular precision and spatial uniformity to enhance well-to-well isolation characteristics leading to reduced margins for Shallow Trench Isolation and increased device packing density."