On April 14, the project of 300mm Wafer Coater/Developer was accomplished. It is a part of the National Major S&T Project “Super-scale IC Manufacturing Equipment and Processes”. Breakthrough has been made in several core technologies regarding ultra-thin film coating of 193nm photo etching process. The success included testing machine and online demo machine of 300mm wafer coater/developer with proprietary IP. Five units of coating/developing equipment were sold during implementation of the project. This signifies another big step in domestic production of coater/developer in the area of front-end chip manufacturing processes. This filled in the technical gaps and opened up access to front-end market for coater/developer in China.

According to the researchers, “the application of the achievements of this project will dramatically lower costs, with price being 20-30% lower than foreign products of the same category. Besides, the after-sales technical support for companies will be more satisfactory.” At the moment, the generic technologies of this project can be used in an array of areas, including high-end sealing and LED, enhancing the production capacity and stability of such equipment.