STEAG Hamatech Introduces Advanced Precision Bake System to U.S. Photomask Market

APB 5000 Designed to Address Challenges Associated with the Production of Photomasks

STERNERNFELS, Germany. STEAG Hamatech AG, a leading manufacturer and supplier of equipment and technology for the production of optical storage media and photomasks, today introduced an advanced precision bake system -- the APB 5000 -- designed to address the thermal transfer challenges associated with bake and chill processes for thick substrates such as photomasks.

According to Uwe Dietze, president and chief executive officer of STEAG Hamatech s U.S. Photomask Equipment Operations, the industry s demand for high resolution and critical dimension linewidth control poses new challenges for high-end photomask producers. "Based on its advanced performance, the APB 5000 enables photomask producers to successfully meet stringent, next-generation processing requirements. Backed by our equipment and technology support for in-house coating -- including integrated surface preparation, soft bake and resist thickness measurements, exposure bake integrated into a clustered develop/etch tool, resist strip and final cleaning -- the APB 5000 is the ideal solution for photomask producers needs. Furthermore, the APB 5000 marks STEAG Hamatech s continuous efforts to deliver top performance without sacrificing throughput, reliability or cost."

The APB 5000 is ideal for addressing post exposure, soft and hard bake, along with quench and chill applications. The APB 5000 utilizes a multi-zone control strategy, which allows dynamic temperature control at the resist plane, even during temperature ramping. Such control greatly improves the temperature uniformity at the photomask s resist plane compared to conventional bake systems. As a result, the APB 5000 delivers the superior soft bake and post-exposure bake performance required for critical applications such as chemically amplified resist.

The APB 5000 system can be equipped for baking and chilling of binary and phase shift masks up to 230 mm x 230 mm x 9 mm. In addition, it can address thin film and multi-layer ceramic substrates, Si wafers up to 300 mm in diameter, GaAs and InP wafers, along with special substrates with a diagonal extension of up to 325 mm.

The APB 5000 is available as a stand alone system, or can be clustered with STEAG Hamatech s other ASX processing equipment, such as the Advanced Single Substrate Processor, ASP 5000, along with the Advanced Single Resist Coaters, ASR 5000, for a total processing solution. The APB 5000 meets the safety and ergonomic standards set forth by semiconductor industry standards S2-93A and S8-95, and is CE-compliant.

STEAG Hamatech will be featuring the APB 5000 at its booth ##1940 during SEMICON West, to be held July 10-12, 2000 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.

About STEAG Hamatech AG: Headquartered in Germany, STEAG Hamatech AG is one of the world s leading suppliers of capital equipment for the optical data storage and photomask industry. STEAG Hamatech s broad equipment and technology portfolio includes stand-alone and clustered systems for resist coat and bake, develop, wet etch, cleaning and fully integrated systems for production of audio and CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW and DVD. The company, which reported revenues exceeding $350 million for fiscal 1999, has wholly owned manufacturing, sales and support facilities located throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. STEAG Hamatech AG is a publicly listed company with 62 percent shares held by STEAG Electronic Systems AG, an Essen, Germany-based company. For more information, visit STEAG Hamatech s web site under www.steag-hamatech.com.

APB 5000 Technical Data Sheet

Zone Controlled Hotplate

-- Recommended for critical bake operations such as soft bake or post exposure bake of plates with repeatable heat transfer properties -- 25 controlled heating zones covering a total surface area of 303 mm x 303 mm -- Temperature range of each zone: 20 degrees C to 350 degrees C -- Temperature control of each zone plus or minus 0.05 degrees C -- Temperature uniformity at resist plane of substrate during ramping: less than or equal to plus or minus 0.75 degrees C at 20 degrees C to 150 degrees C less than or equal to plus or minus 0.5 degrees C at 150 degrees C to 300 degrees C -- Temperature uniformity at resist plane of substrate after stabilization: less than or equal to plus or minus 0.15 degrees C between 20 degrees C and 150 degrees C less than or equal to plus or minus 0.1 percent between 150 degrees C and 300 degrees C -- Computer aided adjustments of temperature profile and PID-strategy for each zone -- Substrate positioned in proximity to hotplate.

Basic Cool Plate

-- Recommended for quench/chill of substrates after bake operations -- Temperature range: 10 degrees C to 25 degrees C -- Temperature control plus or minus 0.25 degrees C after stabilization of set point -- Computer controlled cooling process with PID-strategy.

Automation & Software

-- Cassette-to-cassette automation for various substrate sizes -- Customized automation including SMIF-boxes and interfaces to other equipment -- Fully automated bake temperature profile correction -- Graphical User Interface (GUI) -- SECS/GEM communication available -- User-defined communication interface, available upon request.

Safety and Ergonomics

-- SEMI S2-93 and SEMI S8-95 certified -- CE certified -- Hardware interlocks for all mechanical and electrical hazards -- Software interlocks to process relevant alarms.

CONTACT: STEAG Electronic Systems Lauren Vu, 408/935-2019 l.vu@steag-rtp-us.com MCA Marie Labrie, 650/968-8900 mlabrie@mcapr.com