(Interview by SEMI) Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) players are poised to seize a new growth opportunity after the chip shortage pushed manufacturers to announce fab capacity expansions worldwide. Geared toward 200mm market needs, 300mm ALD platforms have recently advanced to meet the demand of More-than-Moore (MtM) devices and applications for MEMS, sensors, power and RF devices, photonics. Driven by the wafer production volume increase, ALD solutions are now expected to grow and enter the MtM devices market.
SEMI spoke with Dr. Patrick Rabinzohn, Strategic Development Executive of Semiconductor ALD at Beneq, about the benefits of ALD and shared how Beneq is building a comprehensive ALD product portfolio – from Beneq Transform® to ProdigyTM – covering different device applications and wafer sizes. We also talked about Beneq solutions to customer challenges, thanks to its vision and future trends for MtM devices for ALD.
SEMI: Beneq is already a familiar name in the ALD equipment business. For those new to the brand, please introduce the company.
Rabinzohn: Beneq is the home of atomic layer deposition and has ALD in its DNA. In fact, the very first industrial application of ALD was done in 1984 here on electroluminescent displays – the same location where Beneq still is headquartered today! Beneq was formed in 1984 and today we are a leading provider of ALD solutions for More-than-Moore semiconductor device fabrication with the Beneq Transform®.
Beneq’s state of art applications lab enables proof-of-concept and customer adoption for new ALD processes. Our team of engineers and experts is dedicated to making ALD tools accessible to our customers and partners.
SEMI: Beneq introduced the first Beneq Transform® in late 2019. How has adoption been so far?
Rabinzohn: The Beneq Transform® has revolutionized ALD cluster tools for More-than-Moore semiconductor markets in the EU, the U.S. and Asia since its launch in 2019. As of November 2021, Beneq has seen higher than expected demand for both the Transform and Transform Lite product configurations across key customer regions such as Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan and the U.S. We are super excited to see more customers adopting ALD in their More-than-Moore applications.