SilTerra, a Malaysia-based MEMS and CMOS foundry, recently announced that they added Evatec’s CLUSTERLINE 200 II tool to its arsenal of MEMS specialty tools for the development and production of high-performance piezoelectric MEMS devices. SilTerra said its partnership with Evatec dates back to 2017, and it has enabled SilTerra to successfully demonstrate the performance of monolithically integrated devices for its MEMS-on-CMOS technology platform. Evatec’s tool has reportedly been operational in SilTerra’s fab since May 2020, and is currently deployed for the deposition of piezoelectric thin film for MEMS devices. These devices include SilTerra’s piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs), surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, and piezoelectric acoustic sensors.
“We are continuously enhancing our process capabilities for our customers using pure aluminum nitride (AlN) and scandium-doped aluminum nitride (ScAlN) thin films. [Evatec’s tool] provides us with great control over parameters related to stress, stoichiometry, and uniformity across 200mm substrates which is crucial for the prototyping and production of our piezoelectric MEMS devices,” said Arjun Kumar Kantimahanti, Senior Vice President of MEMS/Sensors/Life Sciences Business Unit at SilTerra.
“We are extremely pleased to be SilTerra’s technology partner in thin film deposition. We look forward to supporting SilTerra in device fabrication process enhancements for increased performance of the piezoelectric MEMS devices,” said Silvan Wuethrich, Evatec’s Head of the Semiconductor Business Unit.
Evatec CLUSTERLINE 200 II tool (top), fabricated MEMS devices (bottom left), and process overview (bottom right). Source: SilTerra.
SilTerra’s piezoelectric MEMS devices are included in the company’s MEMS-on-CMOS technology platform. The monolithic integration of MEMS-on-CMOS enables designers to design cost-effective single-chip solutions for applications such as frequency control, data projection, as well as sensing in medical, industrial, and consumer electronics applications. The MEMS-on-CMOS technology platform is a critical component supporting SilTerra’s advancement into “More-than-Moore” technologies.
By extending its core CMOS processes to advanced "More-than-Moore" technologies such as silicon photonics, MEMS, BCD, power, and gallium nitride (GaN), SilTerra has positioned itself as one of the leading foundries worldwide. Globally ranked 17th by IC Insights in the category of pure-play foundries, SilTerra’s wafer fab has a design-in capacity of 46,000 eight-inch wafers per month and is capable of supporting technologies down to 90nm feature size.
Evatec focuses on thin film production tools for advanced packaging, power devices, MEMS, optoelectronics, wireless communications, and photonics. Evatec has been a key tool supplier for MEMS foundries which need to include platforms and deposition processes for AlScN.
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