PERFORMANCE
OF
COMPLETED
PROJECTS
STATUS REPORT
NUMBER 1
NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATION 950-1
Economic Assessment Office
Advanced Technology Program
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
William F. Long
Business Performance Research Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
March 1999
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 - Overview of Completed Projects
Characteristics
of the Projects
Timeline of Expected ATP Project
Activities and Impacts
Gains in Technical Knowledge
Dissemination of New Knowledge
Commercialization of the New Technology
Broad-Based Economic Benefits
CHAPTER 2 - Biotechnology
Aastrom
Biosciences, Inc.
Aphios Corporation
Molecular Simulations, Inc.
Thermo Trilogy Corporation
Tissue Engineering, Inc.
CHAPTER 3 - Chemicals and Chemical Processing
BioTraces,
Inc.
CHAPTER 4 - Discrete Manufacturing
Auto Body Consortium
(Joint Venture)
HelpMate Robotics, Inc.
PreAmp Consortium (Joint Venture)
Saginaw Machine Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 5 - Electronics
Accuwave
Corporation
AstroPower, Inc.
Cree Research, Inc.
Cynosure, Inc.
Diamond Semiconductor Group, LLC
FSI International, Inc.
Galileo Corporation
Hampshire Instruments, Inc. (Joint Venture)
Illinois Superconductor Corporation
Light Age, Inc.
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
Multi-Film Venture (Joint Venture)
Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc.
Spire Corporation
Thomas Electronics, Inc.
CHAPTER 6 - Energy and Environment
American
Superconductor Corporation
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company
Michigan Molecular Institute
CHAPTER 7 - Information, Computers, and Communications
Communication Intelligence
Corporation #1
Communication Intelligence Corporation #2
Engineering Animation, Inc.
ETOM Technologies, Inc.
Mathematical Technologies, Inc.
Torrent Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 8 - Materials
AlliedSignal, Inc.
Geltech Incorporated
IBM Corporation
APPENDICES
Appendix
A: Development of New Knowledge and Early Commercial Products
and Processes
Appendix
B: Terminated Projects
END NOTES
End Notes
Click here
for PDF version of report.
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Diamond Semiconductor Group, LLC (DSG)
Lowering the Cost and Improving the Quality of Computer Chips
| Billions of integrated
circuits - the tiny chips that run personal computers and thousands
of other electronic devices - are fabricated every year in the
United States through ion beam implantation, a technique for
introducing carefully controlled impurities, or dopants, into
specific locations on the semiconductor wafers from which chips
are cut. Dopants control the electrical properties of the semiconductor,
forming the transistors and other microscopic components of
each chip. |
Ion Beam Implantation
for 300-mm Wafers
With chip components getting smaller
and denser, the need for more accurate control of dopant implantation
has risen. At the same time, competitive manufacturing has driven
the size of production wafers up, making increased accuracy problematic
because of the difficulty in precisely scanning the implantation
beam across the wafer.
Worker holding the world's first 300 millimeter silicon wafer
populated with elecronic components using the wide beam ion implantation
technology.
This ATP project allowed Diamond Semiconductor
Group (DSG), a two-person start-up company when it applied to the
ATP, to develop a new and better way to implant dopants on large
silicon crystal wafers measuring 300 mm or more in diameter, compared
with the previous industry standard of 200 mm. Because the area
of a 300-mm wafer is 2.25 times that of a 200-mm wafer and some
waste always occurs at wafer edges, the new approach enables the
production of about 2.5 times as many chips from a single wafer
as the 200-mm technology can make. The use of DSG's new technology
in production equipment makes it possible to lower the cost and
improve the quality of computer chips and other integrated circuits.
Multiple Advantages
of Wide-Beam Technology
A key innovation in the new technology
is passing the wafer under a 350-mm-wide ion beam for implantation,
rather than scanning the ion beam across the wafer. The broad beam
is very stable and therefore highly accurate. The new equipment
incorporating this technology is also significantly simpler than
earlier machines and so is cheaper to build and maintain and is
more reliable. Use of the DSG technology has already improved fabrication
quality substantially relative to the existing industrywide standard.
It doubled the mean time between failures, which means that on average,
failures occur only half as often as with current equipment.
The DSG technology also lowers fabrication
costs by allowing implant equipment to be designed to work on one
wafer at a time. Although it seems counter-intuitive, single-wafer
processing is actually an advantage. Fewer wafers are lost if equipment
fails, compared with current technology. The latter involves clamping
13 to 17 wafers to a large wheel, which then rotates at about 1,200
rpm under the ion beam. One failure may result in 13 to 17 unacceptable
wafers. With single-wafer processing, only one wafer would be lost.
In addition, single-wafer processing enables ion implantation to
be coordinated much better with other fabrication steps, most of
which are also performed one wafer at a time.
Licensing for Two
Different Applications
The ATP project is already a commercial
success. DSG licensed the technology to Varian Associates, an ion-implant
equipment manufacturer, which has incorporated the new technology
into products now being sold.
The uniform ribbon beam vertically scanning a wafer, in an ion
implanter manufactured by Varian Associates.
Worldwide sales of ion implanters total
$1 billion to $1.2 billion per year, and Varian has 40 percent to
50 percent of the market. Most of the equipment currently sold is
for 200-mm wafers, and Varian was the first to market equipment
that handles 300-mm wafers. Over the next five years, industry analysts
say, the majority of implanters sold will be for 300-mm wafers.
All 300-mm-wafer ion implanters currently manufactured by Varian
include the DSG technology, and those produced in the future are
expected to, as well.
DSG is also developing the technology
for another application: flat-panel displays, such as those used
in notebook computers. The company has completed the development
work through a licensing agreement with Mitsui Electronics and Shipbuilding,
which invested $6.1 million in the effort. In late 1997, Mitsui
announced it had already won a contract to supply the panels to
a customer. Prior to licensing the technology to Mitsui, DSG attempted
to interest U.S. flat-panel display companies in it. But most of
this industry is off shore, and there were no interested parties
in the United States.
Benefits All Along
the Supply Chain
DSG's broad-beam technology enables
the generation of substantial economic benefits. Varian sells its
ion implanters to chip-fabrication companies such as Intel, Motorola
and Texas Instruments. These companies, in turn, sell their chips
to manufacturers that use computer chips in their products - computer
companies like Apple, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, as well
as firms that make automobiles, appliances, consumer electronics
and communications equipment. All along this chain of production,
the new technology is saving costs and improving quality.
End users of these products can also
expect to benefit from the new technology. Businesses that use desk-top
computers containing chips made with this technology, for example,
will get lower-cost, higher-quality machines. These will enable
better services at lower costs, producing economic benefits for
the businesses and their customers. Ultimately, company officials
say, the profit DSG earns from its new technology will likely be
only 1 percent to 2 percent or less of the total incremental economic
benefits the technology is apt to generate across the economy, that
is, the spillover benefits are likely to be large.
ATP Award Invigorates
Small U.S. Company
DSG reports that without the ATP award,
it would probably have been unable to do the research or survive
as a company. Its only other alternative then was to become part
of a foreign company. All the high-risk research and development
work on DSG's broad-beam technology was done during the ATP project,
and there was a high likelihood of failure. In addition, the company's
status as an ATP participant facilitated the agreement it negotiated
with Varian to help DSG meet its cost share for the project and,
later, to include the technology in Varian's wafer implantation
equipment.
PROJECT:
To develop a novel approach for introducing dopants - substances
that alter the electrical properties of semiconductor materials
- into large semiconductor wafers to enable faster, less-costly
fabrication of larger wafers with smaller, more-densely packed
components.
Duration: 3/1/1993 - 6/30/1994
ATP number: 92-01-0115
FUNDING (in thousands)::
| ATP |
$1,326 |
77% |
| Company |
393 |
23% |
| Total |
$1,719 |
|
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
DSG developed broad-beam ion-implantation technology (now
embodied in Varian's SHC80 Serial High-Current Implanter)
that successfully implanted the first commercially viable
300-mm semiconductor wafer. The new technology doubled the
existing industrywide mean time between failures and provided
additional ways to increase the quality and reduce the cost
of chip fabrication. The company:
- received two patents for technology
related to the ATP project:
"Compact High-Current Broad-Beam
Ion Implanter" (No. 5,350,926: filed 3/11/1993, granted
9/27/1994) and
"High Speed Movement of Workpieces
in Vacuum Processing" (No. 5,486,080: filed 6/30/1994,
granted 1/23/1996);
- applied for two additional
patents for technologies related to the ATP project;
- licensed the technology developed
during the ATP project to Varian, which incorporated it
in its SHC80 implant system and is actively selling the
equipment to commercial customers; and
- licensed its technology to
Mitsui Electronics and Shipbuilding for a flat-panel display
application, after U.S. companies declined the licensing
opportunity. DSG used $6.1 million from Mitsui to develop
a 650-mm flat-panel component for displays. In 1997, Mitsui
signed its first contract to supply the displays to a customer.
COMMERCIALIZATION STATUS:
The technology has been commercialized in one application
and is very near commercialization for a second application.
Chip manufacturers using the Varian SHC80 implant system (which
incorporates the technology) are producing larger (300-mm)
wafers than before (200-mm) and making them faster, with higher
qality and at lower cost.
OUTLOOK:
The outlook is excellent. Varian is already selling semiconductor
fabrication equipment that incorporates the new technology,
and a flat-panel display application is under way. The technology
generates cost savings not only for companies using it to
make computer chips but also for those who ultimately buy
the chips and the products containing them. The benefits directly
captured by DSG will likely be only a small fraction of the
total net benefits the technology generates for the economy.
COMPANY:
Diamond Semiconductor Group, LLC (DSG)
30 Blackburn Center
Gloucester, MA 01930
Contact: Manny Sieradzki
Phone: (978) 281-4223
Number of employees:
9 at project start, 25 at the end of 1997
Informal collaborator:
Varian Associates Inc.
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Date created: March
1999
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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