DALSA selects Primaxx as its Strategic Supplier for MEMS Etch Release Production Equipment
Allentown, PA, and Bromont, Quebec, Canada – February 24, 2005 – Primaxx, Inc., a leading manufacturer of MEMS and semiconductor wafer processing equipment, today announced that it has been selected by DALSA Semiconductor, a premium supplier of specialized and custom wafer foundry services, as the strategic supplier for MEMS etch release production equipment. A new Primaxx cluster based production tool has been shipped on schedule last month to DALSA’s Bromont facility with a single, 25-wafer etching module customized to DALSA’s specifications. The system flexibility will enable DALSA to install up to 4 additional modules as production requirements increase.
"The work of adhesion and chemical incompatibility limitations of standard liquid-based HF chemistries have, so far, prevented the volume manufacturing of some highly advanced MEMS devices integrating high sensitivity mechanical parts requiring longer detachment lengths as well as aluminum or titanium-based CMOS interconnects. By utilizing the cassette-to-cassette, fully automated and CMOS-friendly capabilities of the Primaxx MEMS-CET anhydrous HF cluster tool, DALSA will be able to access more of the large volume integrated MEMS applications using our patented and patent-pending process technologies,” commented Luc Ouellet, DALSA Semiconductor's Director of Technology development. "Equipping our new MEMS Fab with customized, high-throughput and CMOS-friendly MEMS production tools allows us to exploit our proprietary process technologies and offer our various IDM, fab-lite and fabless semiconductor customers excellent volume production pricing and allow them to compete in very aggressive automotive, industrial, RF-Telecom, photonics, information technologies, biomedical and consumer electronics MEMS market segments.”
"We have been working together with DALSA for more than two years developing production worthy MEMS etch release processes on a variety of device and material structures using the Primaxx HF vapor phase tool,” said Vinod Mahendroo, President and CEO of Primaxx. "The installation of a new, multi-wafer high-throughput MEMS etching cluster tool in DALSA’s MEMS Foundry is an exciting step forward for both Primaxx and sacrificial oxide etch release technology.”
About DALSA Corporation
DALSA is an international high performance semiconductor and electronics company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets digital imaging products and solutions, in addition to providing semiconductor products and services. DALSA’s core competencies are in specialized integrated circuit and electronics technology, and highly engineered semiconductor wafer processing. Products and services include image sensor components; electronic digital cameras; and semiconductor wafer foundry services for use in MEMS, high-voltage semiconductors, image sensors and mixed-signal CMOS chips.
DALSA is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “DSA”. Based in Waterloo, ON, Canada, the company has operations in Bromont, PQ; Colorado Springs, CO; Woodland Hills, CA; Eindhoven, NL; Munich, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.
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About Primaxx, Inc.
Primaxx is the world leader in reduced pressure, residue-free MEMS dry etch release, a critical buried oxide etch step which “releases” the moving components of challenging MEMS device designs. Combining anhydrous HF gas and alcohol vapor at reduced pressure provides a wide, stable process window that can address different oxide compositions and thicknesses while maintaining high selectivity to other common materials found in MEMS designs including aluminum. The Primaxx process also eliminates stiction, a yield-killing phenomenon which can bind the moving components of MEMS devices when released with conventional wet processing technology. Primaxx, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets processing equipment for MEMS and semiconductors, and offers the broadest range of MEMS dry etch release products, from lab systems to multi-chambered cluster tools for high volume production.
Headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Primaxx maintains sales and support centers in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as two process development labs in Pennsylvania and one in Japan. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.primaxxinc.com.
Primaxx is a registered trademark of Primaxx, Inc
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