EXTON, Penn., March 21, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- CFM Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CFMT) announced the successful completion of a six-month Joint Development Project with a major semiconductor foundry located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The project developed a full suite of solvent-free Back-End-Of-Line (BEOL) copper cleaning applications. Several novel processes were developed that leverage CFM's patented Full-Flow(tm) technology. These processes include tungsten cleaning, via cleaning, trench and copper cleaning, low-k dielectric cleaning and silicon nitride pad cleaning. Significant improvements in both process performance and cost-of-ownership were realized compared to current solvent-based processes. These processes are now being migrated into production.
The broad capabilities of the CFM OMNI(tm) system together with its patented, enclosed vessel design and integrated Direct-Displace(tm) IPA drying are the key features that enabled the development of such a wide variety of applications. The system employed in the project is a standard version of CFM's OMNI tool.
"CFM's Full-Flow technology brings many advantages to back-end-of-line processing," said Dr. Wade Sheen, Product Manager of CFM's OMNI wet processing systems. "Among the advantages are CFM's enclosed vessel, the use of single-pass dilute chemistry and integrated, patented IPA drying. Furthermore, flexible recipe capability accelerated the development of production ready applications," concluded Sheen.
"These new materials and processes are rich with opportunities for processing improvements," said Steve Bay, Vice President of Marketing and Technology. "Outstanding cleaning results can be achieved by rethinking back-end cleaning chemistries and drying technologies. Our development work with this customer in Taiwan helps open the door for use of CFM's OMNI(tm) systems in back-end-of-line copper and low-k dielectric cleaning."
The discussion above regarding the Company's expectation of future sales and customer acceptance of newly developed processes includes certain forward-looking statements on these subjects. As such, actual results may vary materially from such expectations. Factors which could cause actual results to differ from expectations include variations in the level of orders, which can be affected by general economic conditions including the current economic and financial conditions in Asia; the timing of the recovery in the semiconductor industry, difficulties or delays in product functionality or performance, the timing of future product releases, failure to respond adequately to either changes in technology or customer preferences, or failure to realize a successful outcome to pending patent litigation.
CFM Technologies, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of advanced cleaning equipment for the semiconductor industry. Its systems provide superior contamination control and processing capabilities using a totally enclosed processing chamber. Watermarks and other drying defects are eliminated through CFM's Direct-Displace(tm) IPA vapor drying technology. CFM historically has invested in technical innovations to lower cost of ownership. Further information on CFM can be found at www.cfmtech.com