Lam Research launches ALD equipment for advanced semiconductor mass production in Korea

Global memory semiconductor corporations, including Micron, plan to apply Lam Research's atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment new products to 3D NAND flash memory mass production starting this year. They expect to sequentially commercialize the technology not only for NAND flash but also for DRAM and foundry processes.

Kaihan Ashtiani, vice president of Lam Research, said during a press briefing held at COEX in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 20th. Lam Research is considered one of the world's top three semiconductor equipment corporations alongside Applied Materials of the United States and ASML of the Netherlands. Vice President Ashtiani is responsible for the semiconductor deposition process, which entails coating a thin layer on wafer surfaces to acquire electrical characteristics.

On that day, Lam Research introduced the ALD equipment solution, which is the first of its kind applied in mass production in the industry. Atomic layer deposition enables precise control of the thin film thickness at the atomic level, primarily utilized in semiconductor miniaturization processes. One of the next-generation metal wiring materials, molybdenum, offers an advantage of increasing the speed and amount of current compared to the previously dominant tungsten. Molybdenum has lower resistance than tungsten, allowing for faster current flow and eliminating the need to create a barrier layer that acts as a 'shoulder' for smooth current passage, thus enhancing the efficiency of the manufacturing process.

Vice President Ashtiani noted, "Although ALD equipment has been utilized in semiconductor processes for the past 20 years, tungsten was the primary material. With the miniaturization of semiconductor processes, the metal wiring is narrowing, and the demand for advanced semiconductors that maximize performance has increased with the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) market, putting tungsten at its limits."

Lam Research's new ALD equipment is expected to be proactively deployed for advanced 3D NAND manufacturing by global memory semiconductor corporations, including Samsung Electronics and Micron. Currently, it is reported that global memory semiconductor corporations, including Samsung Electronics, have completed the introduction of equipment to apply Lam Research's new products to mass production.

Vice President Ashtiani stated, "As the number of layers in NAND increases and many holes need to be etched to allow current to flow in a small area, we are facing limitations in the processes, leading to plans for application in mass production starting this year."

Mark Kielbauch, vice president of development at Micron, said, "By introducing the molybdenum metal wiring process, Micron is now able to be the first in the industry to offer products with the highest level of bandwidth and storage capacity in its latest NAND products."

Lam Research projected that this new product would apply not only to NAND but also to DRAM and foundry processes. Vice President Ashtiani mentioned, "DRAM and foundry are similarly experiencing issues related to process miniaturization, and in the case of DRAM, we expect the 4F square DRAM to be utilized for minimizing area, and the foundry process to be used in applying gate-all-around (GAA) at 2 NANO (nanometers)."

Sesha Bharadarajan, senior vice president of the global product division at Lam Research, stated, "We will enable mass production of advanced semiconductors utilizing the molybdenum deposition solution, which will be an essential technology for next-generation advanced semiconductor processes such as 1,000-layer 3D NAND and GAA processes."