AlixLabs AB, a Swedish semiconductor startup specializing in Atomic Layer Etching (ALE), announces its participation at SEMICON Japan 2024, marking the public debut for the company’s 300-millimeter wafer process chamber. Its Made in Sweden APS™ (ALE Pitch Splitting) tools are aimed at allowing the semiconductor industry to scale down to sub-7-nanometer manufacturing processes in a more sustainable way, and is positioned as an alternative to costly double patterning or EUV (extreme ultraviolet) solutions.
AlixLabs APS™ is designed to reduce the cost of leading-edge manufacturing, sub-7-nanometer, where feature sizes of less than 20 nanometers are required. An estimated cost saving of up to 40 percent per mask layer can be achieved with APS™ rather than relying on EUV lithography, and complex self-aligned multi patterning schemes.
“As our 300-millimeter tool is being put through its paces in our lab, we look forward to demonstrating it for Japanese clients. Japan is investing heavily in revitalizing its semiconductor industry and once again becoming a leading-edge player in the business. With APS™ we can help make this happen at lower costs up front as well as during mass production, while we lower the carbon footprint of the production,” says Amin Karimi, COO and R&D Manager at AlixLabs. “At the show, I’m personally looking forward to meeting existing and prospective clients and being part of the Japanese semiconductor buzz. We have a lot of interest from Japanese clients, and it’s the place to be for us.”
APS™ and the Made in Sweden tools associated with it can already create 20-nanometer half-pitch lines and critical dimensions below 15 nanometers on silicon and 3 nanometers on gallium phosphide. It also has numerous applications for power electronics, including precision etching and surface cleaning, each allowing for improved electrical performance than conventional methods in use today.
AlixLabs’ goal is to supply leading semiconductor manufacturers, in both logic and memory segments. At SEMICON Japan, it will be represented by COO and R&D Manager Amin Karimi in the EU Pavilion.
