| Yasuo Kunii, Dr. Eng. | Advanced Thin Film R&D Dept., Toyama Works, Semiconductor Equipment Div., |
| Yasuhiro Inokuchi | Advanced Thin Film R&D Dept., Toyama Works, Semiconductor Equipment Div., |
| Akihiro Miyauchi, Dr. Eng. | Hitachi Research Lab., |
The increasing sophistication of home electronics and telecommunication devices is propelling the demand for improved semiconductor devices. The SiGe (silicon germanium)-HBT (hetero-junction bipolar transistor) can realize high-speed operation, low noise, and low power consumption, therefore, its expected application to radio frequency IC communication devices is predicted to grow rapidly. SiGe can also be applied to strained-Si channels, which are responsible for the high performance of CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)-LSIs (large-scale integrated circuits). SiGe-based devices are expected to be widely adopted, therefore, demand for a SiGe epitaxial growth system having high productivity is getting greater. In a timely response to this demand, Hitachi is moving forward with the development of an ultra-clean low-pressure CVD (chemical vapor deposition) vertical furnace for batch SiGe epitaxial growth. This batch-type vertical furnace system is able to process upto 50 wafers (200-mm diameter) at a time and it is capable of high-quality SiGe epitaxial growth at low temperatures (500°C) in an extremely clean ambient. A rapid ramp up/down heater has been adopted to reduce the heating and cooling times to acquire excellent crystallinity and high throughput.
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The Hitachi Hyoron (Japanese Only) |
SiGe, epitaxial, vertical furnace system, hetero-junction bipolar transistor, strained Si
