TOKYO - July 15, 2021 - Atonarp, a leading manufacturer of molecular sensing and diagnostic products for the semiconductor, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries, today announced the launch of an innovative in-situ semiconductor metrology platform with an integrated plasma ionization source called Aston," an innovative in-situ semiconductor metrology platform that integrates a plasma ionization source.

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Aston is a major advancement in metrology for semiconductor manufacturing processes, enabling in-situ molecular process control and allowing existing fabs to run more efficiently and drive higher productivity. Built from the ground up for semiconductor manufacturing, Aston is a robust platform that can replace multiple legacy instruments, providing an unprecedented level of control in comprehensive applications such as lithography, dielectric and conductive etch and deposition, chamber clean, chamber matching, and waste gas treatment. It provides an unprecedented level of control in comprehensive applications such as lithography, dielectric and conductive etch and deposition, chamber clean, chamber matching, and waste gas treatment.

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"With Aston, we've seen throughput increases of more than 40% per unit process in certain applications. Even a 1% increase in overall fab throughput can translate into tens of millions of dollars in annual production for a typical fab," said Prakash Murthy, CEO, CTO and Founder of Atonarp.

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By integrating Aston into existing manufacturing process equipment, we can achieve higher throughput in just six to eight weeks, compared to one year for new manufacturing equipment," Murthy said. This will greatly help manufacturers increase their production levels and help solve current capacity shortages in semiconductor fabs.

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Fast and practical, endpoint detection (EPD) is the most efficient way to operate semiconductor manufacturing equipment and fabs. Until now, EPD has not been able to be implemented in many process steps. This is because the required in-situ sensors either cannot withstand the harsh processes and chamber cleaners or suffer from clogging due to condensate buildup. Traditionally, manufacturing plants have been forced to use a certain amount of time to verify that the process is complete. However, Aston accurately detects the end of the process, including chamber cleaning, and optimizes production by reducing the required cleaning time by up to 80%.

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Astone is resistant to corrosive gases and gaseous contaminant condensates. It is also more robust than existing solutions, operating reliably under the harsh conditions of semiconductor manufacturing thanks to its independent dual ionization source, a conventional electron impact ionization source and a filamentless plasma ionizer. This allows Aston to be used in-situ in harsh environments where conventional electron ionization systems corrode and fail faster.

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Aston can extend service intervals up to 100 times longer than conventional mass spectrometers. In addition, the self-cleaning feature eliminates condensate buildup that occurs during certain processes.

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Because Aston generates its own plasma, it can operate with or without process plasma. This makes it clearly superior to emission spectroscopy techniques that require a plasma source, making Aston ideal for ALD and certain metal deposition processes that do not use weak, pulsed, or plasma for processing.

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Aston also improves process consistency by providing quantified, actionable real-time data and facilitating powerful machine learning with artificial intelligence (AI) for the most demanding process applications. In addition, the high accuracy, sensitivity, and reproducibility in statistical analysis of real-time data and process chamber control can improve line and product yields.

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Aston is primarily intended for use in Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) and Etching applications, which are experiencing annual growth rates of over 13%. The spectrometer can be installed during the assembly of a new process chamber or retrofitted to an existing chamber already in operation.

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Aston can also be used with Psi, an intelligent pressure controller developed by ATI of Korea. After several months of comprehensive technical feasibility evaluation, this combined solution was recently purchased for an advanced process control application at Samsung.

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Aston is now available for evaluation and order, either directly or through Atonarp's global partner network.

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About Atonarp

Atonarp is leading the digital transformation of molecular sensing and diagnostics for the life science, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor markets. Backed by a unified software platform and groundbreaking innovations in optical and mass spectrometer technology, Atonarp products provide real-time, actionable, comprehensive molecular profiling data. Led by a world-class team of experts in the development and commercialization of semiconductor, life science, and health diagnostic instrumentation, Atonarp has operations in Japan, the United States, and India. For more information, please visit https://atonarp.com.