At SEMICON China 2024, Kokusai Electric Corporation presented deposition process equipment and treatment (film quality improvement) process equipment. Specifically, it promoted a wide range of technologies for mature nodes in the 40 to 28nm range and power semiconductors. Specifically, these fields exhibit growing demand in the Chinese market. Accordingly, the company eyes business expansion in China.

SEMICON China 2024 is a trade fair related to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, materials and components held in Shanghai, China, from March 20 to 22.

At its booth, Kokusai Electric presented three products: (1) deposition process equipment for batch-type atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology, (2) treatment process equipment, and (3) equipment for power semiconductors.

Growing Demand for Atomic Layer Deposition

Particularly, the company’s strength in batch ALD technology is a solution that combines ALD technology for uniform deposition of high-quality films with good step coverage and batch deposition technology for deposition on multiple wafers at once. This solution achieves both high-difficulty deposition and high productivity.

Masami Miyamoto, Corporate Vice President and Executive Officer, Kokusai Electric, in charge of sales, says, “The Chinese market is also shifting from conventional CVD (chemical vapor deposition) to ALD. THis is due to increasing demand for high uniformity and highly accurate film thickness control. In the future, we expect demand for 3D stacking to increase in China as well. In this field, we will strengthen our proposals.

The VERTEX Revolution batch thermal process system for 200mm wafers, a best-selling system with an extensive delivery record, also attracted attention. Specifically, the company positions this as a high-temperature annealing system for silicon carbide (SiC) power devices.

“The Chinese market has a sense of overheating, so we need to keep a close eye on market trends. However, technological trends such as 3D and miniaturization will get more sophisticated. We aim to expand our business in China with our accumulated achievements and differentiated technologies.”

This is an English translation of a Japanese article originally published in Dempa Shimbun Daily.

-10 April 2024-