Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2001

Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; C.E.O., President: Tetsuro Higashi) has developed and begun accepting orders for the TELFORMULA, the company's innovative system for 300 mm wafer thermal processing, with flexible load size of up to 25 wafers.

This system handles a wide range of the oxidation and LPCVD processes necessary for manufacturing of semiconductors, further improving conventional hot-wall heat treatment systems. The TELFORMULA offers superior stability, uniformity, and economy in film making, while fulfilling all future requirements of semiconductor manufacturing: speed, flexibility, reliability, and cost efficiency.

The TELFORMULA has solved conventional batch processing system issues by shortening raw process time (RPT) for most processes to approximately one hour. This achieves thermal budget reductions by utilizing various state-of-the-art element technologies, such as the newly developed Fast Thermal Processor (FTP) heater, which allows faster heating and cooling, as well as quick stabilization. The TELFORMULA supports variable load size processing, from one to 25 wafers in a batch without any dummy wafers or recipe changes. Thus, the TELFORMULA offers the optimal production compatibility from development and prototyping to mass production.

The TELFORMULA has achieved dramatic improvements in uniformity, step coverage and stability in film making, and has accomplished controllability of heat history. In addition, the TELFORMULA is capable of leading-edge processes, such as MO-CVD for capacitors and high-k films for gate dielectrics, which are required for manufacturing at the 100 nm design rule and beyond.

TEL's unique in-situ dry chamber cleaning technologies have been implemented in the TELFORMULA, which improves productivity over conventional wet cleaning by eliminating the need for off-line wet cleaning. It simplifies the manufacturing process, substantially improving system uptime, and enabling multiple and sequential process capabilities, thus making it possible to meet the diverse demands of all end users.

TELFORMULA complies with Global Joint Guidance (GJG), as well as conforming to such safety standards as S2-2000. Shipments of the system are slated to begin in the spring of 2002.

With more than 6,000 systems sold to global semiconductor manufacturers, TEL's hot-wall film making and heat treatment systems are the most trusted brand in the world.

About TEL

TEL, established in 1963, is a leading supplier of innovative semiconductor and LCD production equipment worldwide. Product lines include coater/developers, oxidation/diffusion furnaces, dry etchers, CVD systems, sputtering systems (PVD), wet cleaning systems, and test systems. In Japan, TEL distributes other leading edge semiconductor equipment tools, such as metrology tools or process control systems. In addition, TEL distributes high quality computer systems, semiconductor devices and electronic components of other leading suppliers, as well as computer network related products from around the world.

To support this diverse product base, TEL has strategically located research & development, manufacturing, sales, and service locations all over the world. TEL's revenues in their last fiscal year were 723.9 billion yen, or more than 6 billion dollars. TEL is a publicly held company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. http://www.tel.co.jp