Tokyo Electron Releases LEXIA™-EX, a New Sputtering System

Tokyo Electron (TEL; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Toshiki Kawai) has expanded its line of sputtering systems with the release of LEXIA™-EX.

LEXIA™-EX builds on TEL's technologies developed for next-generation memory devices. The new system enables high-performance, high-productivity sputter for a wide range of applications, including advanced logic, DRAM, and 3D NAND devices.

For more than a decade since the introduction of the EXIM™ sputtering system, with its unique and unprecedented product concept, TEL has made many significant contributions to the mass production of advanced semiconductor devices. Particularly in the sputtering process for next-generation memory devices, TEL’s mass production equipment has earned a solid reputation for world-leading product performance and finely tuned support services for high availability.

LEXIA™-EX inherits EXIM™’s unique ultra-high vacuum chamber design to deliver superior uniformity of film thickness, quality, and composition, while offering high productivity and system scalability through multi-module support. Maximum throughput is 100 wph, 20% higher than its predecessor, while the footprint is about 40% smaller and CO₂ emissions are 14% lower. In addition to the existing four-cathode^*1 deposition chamber, a newly developed high-productivity dPVD^*2 (dual PVD) chamber with two ultra-large cathodes has been introduced to expand the range of chambers. The reinforcement enables highly efficient and uniform deposition of single layer films, including next-generation DRAM capacitor hard masks and functional films for advanced logic devices.

“LEXIA™-EX maintains the basic product concepts of its predecessor, including high productivity and system scalability, while achieving superior environmental performance and a significant reduction in footprint,” said Shigeki Nakatani, General Manager of TFF BU at TEL. “The system has been increasingly adopted for a wide range of applications in advanced logic and memory devices. In the future, we will continue to expand our product range to meet the needs of our customers.”

*1 Cathode: An electrode for material deposition
*2 PVD: Physical Vapor Deposition.

LEXIA and EXIM are registered trademarks or trademarks of Tokyo Electron Group in Japan and/or other countries.