Finland – Laboratoriuminstrumenten, optische en precisie-instrumenten (uitgezonderd brillen) – Plasma etch cluster tool

The object of the procurement is an advanced plasma etch cluster tool to etch metal and thin film layers from 200 mm silicon wafers, as used in the Semiconductor industry. VTT expects a reliable production-worthy tool. The tool should have the capacity for at least four process chambers and other features, which are described below.

DIRECT AWARD, Article 40 2(2) of Finnish Procurement act (1397/2016) The procurement will be carried out as a direct award in accordance with 40 article Section 2(2) of the Finnish Public Procurement Act. According to the 40 § section 2(2) of the Act on Public Contracts (1397/2016), only a certain supplier can implement the procurement for a technical reason, or for a reason related to protecting an exclusive right; it shall be a further condition that there are no reasonable alternatives or substitute solutions, and that the absence of competition is not due to an artificial narrowing of the terms and conditions of the procurement. VTT is acquiring an advanced plasma etch cluster tool for the etching of metal, dielectric and other thin-film layers on 200 mm semiconductor wafers.

The equipment will support a broad range of research, development and pilot-line processes, including metal and high-k material etching. A single cluster platform is required to provide production-level process reliability, uniformity and reproducibility while retaining the process flexibility required in a research and technology organisation. The tool configuration is based on the technical needs arising from the intended use.

The mandatory capabilities include: (i) advanced chamber cleaning and conditioning, comprising waferless cleaning between process wafers and cleaning or passivation with cover wafers for materials that form less volatile by-products; (ii) a wide process-power range and etch-rate tunability through atomic layer etching (ALE), low-voltage pulsed-bias etching and steady-state processing; (iii) dual-zone chuck heating and dual-zone coil or power control for optimisation of within-wafer etch uniformity; and (iv) at least three load ports and a cluster architecture capable of supporting at least four process chambers. These capabilities are required to control cross-contamination, stabilise sensitive processes, process materials with different volatility and thickness characteristics, and avoid the cluster becoming a capacity bottleneck as additional process chambers are introduced. VTT conducted a market survey to identify suppliers of advanced etch cluster systems for semiconductor processing.

The survey included direct discussions with tool manufacturers, technical evaluation of available solutions and a review of publicly available product information. Based on the market survey, LAM Research is the only identified supplier whose solution meets all mandatory technical requirements simultaneously. In particular, the LAM 2300 platform with Kiyo 45 and MW strip chambers provides the required combination of chamber waferless-clean and passivation capability, broad power-range and advanced pulsed or ALE processing, uniformity-tuning capability, and the required load-port and cluster expandability.

The other evaluated solutions did not meet one or more of these mandatory requirements or the availability of the required capability could not be established. No reasonable alternative or substitute solution was identified that could meet the procurement need as a whole. The mandatory requirements derive directly from VTT's intended processes, contamination-control needs, uniformity and reproducibility targets, and capacity and expandability requirements.

They have not been defined to favour a particular supplier or to artificially restrict competition. The contracting authority therefore concludes that the procurement can be implemented only by LAM Research for technical reasons and that the conditions for a direct award pursuant to Section 40, subsection 2, point 2 of the Finnish Procurement Act are fulfilled.