MIGDAL HA'EMEK, Israel, 4 Dec. 2006. Semiconductor metrology equipment manufacturer Jordan Valley has received a multiple unit order for its JVX 6200 system from a major memory manufacturer. This continues a trend for the year in which the company has seen a significant percentage of its business shift to the advanced DRAM and flash memory segments of device production.
"In the past, most of our orders were to advanced logic manufacturers for copper processes," notes Isaac Mazor, CEO of Jordan Valley. "We are now seeing tremendous interest from our memory customers for their copper and non-copper processes, which present a significant additional market opportunity for us." The adoption in memory applications includes aluminum metallization at advanced 70nm processes, as well as seed/barrier, copper metallization, and control of front end processes.
"We have seen a significant shift in our business this year," commented Sean Jameson, VP of sales and marketing for Jordan Valley. "Previously, our tools were primarily purchased for process development and tool qualification monitoring. In 2006, the vast majority of our delivered systems are being used in fabs for in-line measurement of product wafers. Leading edge fabs looking to fill metrology gaps are increasingly turning to x-ray metrology for its robustness and precision, giving the process engineer more than just accurate thickness data. It's providing the crucial information they need, like density and roughness, which cannot be provided by other measurement techniques."
