Applied Wins Second Award for iSYS Subfab Systems

Applied Materials was again honored for its breakthrough iSYS subfab technology, receiving the EuroAsia IC Industry Subsystems & Components Award, which was presented on October 20, 2010, at the SEMICON Europa show in Dresden, Germany. In July, the iSYS product was named Sustainable Technology of the Year by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).

The EuroAsia IC Industry Awards are sponsored by EuroAsia Semiconductor magazine, based on the votes of over 25,000 readers of the magazine and website. This year’s honorees were selected from more than 120 nominations.  In addition to Applied, winners were also named in the categories of Materials (Air Liquide), Metrology/Test/Yield (Cascade Microtech), Front End Wafer Processing (Oxford Instruments), Back End Wafer Processing (EVG) and Fab Management (Maser Engineering).

In presenting the award, Stephen Whitehurst, COO of Angel Business Communications, said that the Awards focus on the people, processes and products that drive the industry forward. “The Applied iSYS system is an excellent example of the innovation and technological achievement that helps manufacturers advance the chipmaking process and remain competitive in the global marketplace,” he added.

The awards come as customers are driving to lower production costs and reduce their carbon footprint by as much as 30 percent in the face of new, stringent government reporting regulations. Subfab energy accounts for about 40 percent of total factory energy consumption during device production, and thus represents a significant opportunity to achieve both these goals.

Since its introduction in 2009, multiple iSYS systems have been installed at leading customer sites around the globe, for applications in both semiconductor and display manufacturing. 

iSYS can reduce subfab energy consumption by more than 20 percent and overall fab energy consumption by more than 8 percent. Whether a tool is running a process, idle or being cleaned, power, gas and water use is kept to a minimum – lightening a customer's carbon footprint and lowering customer costs.

Synchronized with an Applied process tool, for example, iSYS can deliver typical annual savings of 200 megawatt hours of energy, which translates into avoiding 220,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, compared to currently available configurations. So if a typical fab were to outfit just its CVD tools with iSYS, the savings can add up to more than $2 million a year.

iSYS removes redundant layers of equipment and synchronizes the operation of these devices from a central controller interfaced to the process tool. Therefore, energy consumption is matched to process demand, reducing energy per wafer pass. There are further benefits in an integrated package: faster startup, predictable operation, repeatable spares, smaller footprint and automatic calculation of the carbon footprint by totaling process gases for greenhouse gas reporting.

SOURCE: Applied Materials, Inc.(NASDAQ: AMAT)