Air Products Highlights Its Comprehensive Offerings To Global Electronics Industry

Lehigh Valley, PA - SEMICON West 2006 was the stage for Air Products' extensive offerings to the global electronics industry, that were featured from July 11-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. The leader in supplying specialty gases, facility materials, and gas and chemical delivery equipment and services to the global electronics industry, Air Products continues to meet the growing needs of its customers by providing:

• Expertise in fluorine chemistry, which provides safe and cost-effective solutions to customers' dielectric etch and chamber cleaning needs;
  
• Emerging materials, including breakthrough products for making porous low-k dielectric materials by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition; and
  
• Equipment offerings focused on the delivery of high-purity chemicals and gases to fabs around the world.

Air Products is the world's largest manufacturer of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), an environmentally-friendly specialty gas that reduces chamber cleaning cycle times while boosting the throughput of users. Air Products also supplies Sifrentm* 46 (C4F6) and other gases, such as C5F8, for use in critical dimension dielectric etch applications. The company is able to offer the highest purity C4F6 product commercially available thanks to its patented purification process.

Air Products is able to deliver many specialty gases through its GASGUARD bulk specialty gas systems, which offers lower cost, improved quality, greater consistency, and higher safety and reliability than typical cylinder delivery. The bulk delivery of specialty gases increases quality and consistency through a reduction in container changes which reduces the possibility of contamination. Less frequent container hook-ups also minimize personnel exposure and risk of product release. In today's larger fabs and TFT facilities, BSGS technology enables reliable flow of materials to customers' tools.

The company also recently added PDEMS Interlayer Dielectric (ILD) Precursor to its product portfolio. PDEMS ILD Precursor is a breakthrough product for making a porous low-k dielectric material by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). It is also the leading candidate under evaluation as a 45nm solution by both device and major equipment manufacturers.

The organosilicate structure of the film is created using the company's patented DEMS ILD Precursor, which is referred to as a "structure former." Pores are imparted to the film by employing hydrocarbon-based precursor as a "porogen" that co-deposits during the growth of film. One unique feature of the PDEMS ILD process is the tunability of the dielectric constant from 2.7 to below 2.0 by optimizing the chemical formulation and process conditions. This attribute eliminates the need for making process chemistry changes at each technology node. PDEMS ILD meets material property requirements for successful integration at 45nm geometries and beyond.

Air Products' Electronics Division equipment business is experiencing another year with strong results. Thanks to continued strong demand for MP3 players and other memory-related devices, the company's CHEMGUARD automated chemical delivery system business is enjoying a record year, with sales already surpassing last year's totals.

"This is the fifth year in a row that we have won more than 50% of the new fab business in bulk gases and equipment," says Joe Stockunas, general manager for Air Products Electronics Equipment business.

Air Products recently signed an exclusive agreement with South Korea-based Hanyang ENG Co., Ltd. (HYE) to provide North American sales and service support for HYE's bulk chemical blending and distribution equipment used in the electronics industry. Air Products will be the direct sales agent for HYE in North America. All equipment will be designed and manufactured by HYE in Korea.

The new relationship with Hanyang Engineering significantly enhances Air Products' gas and chemicals equipment offering and complements the company's CHEMGUARD line. While the CHEMGUARD products focus on specialty chemical delivery for the electronics industry, the HYE equipment targets bulk chemicals blending and delivery. In addition, HYE products are primarily constructed of polymers while the CHEMGUARD line is stainless steel, giving Air Products expertise in both areas.

SOURCE: Air Products