ACM Research enters bevel etch market

“During the chip manufacturing process, wafer edge peeling, particles and residue result in wafer edge yield loss, especially for 3D NAND, DRAM and advanced logic processes,” said David Wang, CEO of ACM Research. “We developed the ACM Bevel Etch product to reduce yield loss at the edge, which is becoming increasingly important to optimise overall process yields. This new product leverages ACM’s extensive wet processing expertise to deliver significant performance benefits compared to dry approaches, and consumes significantly reduced amounts of chemicals. In addition, with ACM’s proprietary technology, it can achieve more accurate and efficient wafer center alignment, which can enable it to deliver precise bevel etch that will enhance product yields and wafer throughput.”

ACM’s Bevel Etch product supports a range of device types and process steps for 3D NAND etch, DRAM and advanced logic processes.

Historically, manufacturers have used a dry bevel etch process to address edge film and contamination removal. The wet etch approach avoids the arcing and silicon damage risk from the dry process, while also offering variable wafer bevel etch/cut accuracy of 1-7mm, good uniformity of +/-0.1mm, controllable etch selectivity and low chemical consumption, for a lower total cost of ownership.

ACM’s Bevel Etch product first tool for high volume manufacturing is expected to be delivered to a Chinese logic manufacturer in the third quarter of 2021.