TOKYO -- November 29, 2007 -- Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), a world leader in thermal processing systems, today announced that the company has begun shipping a new H2O vaporizer for steam anneal applications, such as SOD densification for STI gap fill processes.

Conventional steam delivery methods use either water vapor or pyrogenic steam generation methods, which both limit the volume of steam supplied. Steam is used during the annealing process to enable effective oxidation transformation of a spin-on deposition film to affect the magnitude of the densification and the degree of final oxide film. Insufficient oxidation can lead to an oxide-like film that is etched faster, and thus cannot be integrated.

TEL’s new steam delivery process technology optimizes vaporizing efficiency by improving thermal conduction. A newly-designed high performance vaporizer provides a higher flow rate of steam into the reactor, delivering a sufficient stable steam flow. TEL’s engineers have also limited the form factor of the vaporizer to enable the delivery of large quantities of steam without dramatically adding to the tool’s footprint, complexity of system design or cost of the tool.

The new H2O vaporizer is now available as an option for TEL's batch reactor products. TEL strives to provide efficient, low-cost and high performance solutions for advanced thermal processing applications to serve the ever-evolving needs of our customers.