Vistara Platform

Vistara™

Vistara^™ 是一個模組化平台，基於三大特色：靈活性，智慧功能和永續性。Vistara 允許晶片製造商在單一平台上部署最複雜的配方，降低其營運成本，加快營收到位時間並推進永續計劃。

高度靈活的 Vistara 能夠容納應用材料公司和合作夥伴的各種反應室類型、尺寸和配置。它可以配置四或六個晶圓批次裝載埠，以及從最少四個到多達十二個製程反應室。Vistara 既可接受用於原子層沉積和化學氣相沉積等製程的小型反應室，也可以容納用於磊晶和蝕刻等製程的大型反應室。應材與客戶可結合這些反應室，開發整合型材料解決方案 IMS^™（Integrated Materials Solution^®）配方，從而在真空環境下，於同一系統中完成多個連續晶圓生產製程步驟。

Vistara系統配置了數千個感測器，可將大量數據即時傳送到應材的AI^x™軟體平台，該平台涵蓋了研發、製程轉移和擴產、以及大量製造等應用領域。藉由從數千個製程變數所取得的可操作數據，工程師能運用機器學習和人工智慧的強大功能，加速開發製程配方，實現最佳的晶片效能、功率和最大的製程容許範圍。智慧功能應用在整個平台，包括在工廠介面模組中智慧控制負載鎖定，以優化抽氣和排氣時間，幫助晶片製造商減少微粒和缺陷並以最大化良率。平台機器手臂可自動校準，可降低啟動時間達75%。在生產過程中，Vistara 會持續監測和校準其組件，以最小化人工干預，最大化正常運作時間，並預測維修需求。

半導體製程複雜性和步驟增加了生產每片晶圓所需的能源和材料。Vistara 是第一個專為推進應材「3x30」倡議而打造的平台，旨在 2030 年之前將同等能源使用量、化學品使用量、以及無塵室佔地面積需求減少30%。工程師優化了該平台對能源密集型附屬製造區組件的使用方式，包括泵浦，熱交換器和冷卻系統，並重新設計了 Vistara 的氣體控制板。與之前的平台相比，這些改進可以將平台的能源消耗降低達 35%，幫助晶片製造商減少其在範疇1和範疇2的碳排放。Vistara 還可以將系統的無塵室佔地面積減少達 30%。

Vistara^™ is a modular platform architected on three pillars: flexibility, intelligence and sustainability.  Vistara allows chipmakers to deploy their most complex recipes on a single platform, reduce their operating costs, accelerate time to money, and advance their sustainability initiatives.

The highly flexible Vistara is able to use a wide-variety of chamber types, sizes and configurations from Applied and even its partners. It can be configured with four or six wafer batch load ports and from as few as four to as many as 12 process chambers. Vistara accepts both smaller chambers used in processes like atomic layer deposition and chemical vapor deposition as well as larger chambers used in processes such as epitaxy and etching. Applied and its customers can combine these chambers to develop IMS^™ (Integrated Materials Solution^®)  recipes whereby a number of sequential wafer manufacturing process steps are completed in the same system, under vacuum.

Vistara systems are configured with thousands of sensors that feed massive, real-time data to Applied’s AI^x™ software platform which offers applications spanning R&D, process transfer and ramp, and high-volume manufacturing. Actionable data from thousands of process variables enables engineers to use the power of machine learning and AI to accelerate recipes that result in the best chip performance and power and widest process windows. Intelligence is incorporated throughout the platform including in the factory interface module where load locks are intelligently controlled to optimize pump and vent times, helping chipmakers reduce particles and defects to maximize yields. Platform robots are automatically calibrated to reduce start-up times by as much as 75 percent. In production, Vistara continuously monitors and calibrates its components to minimize manual intervention, maximize uptime and predict maintenance needs.

The increase in semiconductor process complexity and steps adds to the energy and materials needed to produce each wafer. Vistara is the first platform purpose-built to advance Applied’s “3x30” initiative to achieve 30-percent reductions in equivalent energy use, the impact of chemical use, and cleanroom floorspace requirements, all by 2030. Engineers optimized the way the platform uses energy-intensive sub-fab components including pumps, heat exchangers and chillers and redesigned the Vistara’s gas panels. These improvements lower platform energy consumption by as much as 35 percent compared to previous platforms, helping chipmakers reduce their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Vistara also reduces the cleanroom footprint of a system by as much as 30 percent.