Company Overview | |
Quick Facts
| BackgroundCore Systems is a world leader in semiconductor ion implant outsourcing technology. We were founded in 1990 to provide embedded microcontrollers for ion implant equipment. These controllers enabled SECS communications, recipe management and remote monitoring for implanters as well as PVD systems. Hundreds of systems were installed worldwide. Shortly thereafter, Core Systems began to refurbish NV-10 implanter disks as another way to add value to legacy equipment. In 1998, Core furthered its involvement in ion implantation services when it acquired implanters for R&D and Specialty implant services. By 2002, with many companies clamoring for an alternative to their existing production implant provider, we increased our capabilities to twelve implanters and opened a Production implant service. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA , we have continued to expand our services and have recently opened our latest facility in Wuxi, China. Core Systems is proud to offer Ion Implantation, Disk Refurbishment, PVD Silicon Coating, Krytek Source Conditioners and Profile Code software to a world-wide market. We have two implant bays, one for high current and one for medium current ion implanters, each qualified to class 10 protocols with class 1 counts in the working areas. Offering production implant services for wafers sizes from 2” to 300mm, Core can provide ion implantation services exclusively tailored to meet your needs. As a provider of disk and platen design and refurbishment, Core is uniquely positioned to meet your requirements for non-standard processes and wafer sizes. We routinely design and build special disks for double-sided implants and tile substrates. Common applications include: SOI (high dose H+ and He+), VCSEL, IGBT, Optical Sensor, MEMS, DRAM and now, solar tiles. Research and Development projects and custom implants are our Specialty. We regularly implant ions of over 70 species and routinely process unusual and irregularly shaped substrate materials. Our uniquely configurable and controlled implanters offer you a wide range of implantation services; from isotopically separated SIMS standards to heavy metals. Common applications include: Custom Solar (including CIGS), Optoelectronic, SiC, Surface Modification and R&D substrates (pieces ok). Core Systems has the full capability to repair, refurbish and remanufacture any disk or heat sink. This includes all makes and models of batch processing ion implanters produced since the late 1970s to today. Core is the only provider of refurbishment services to support such a broad timeframe of implanter models and design changes. The objective of our custom support is to extend the life of implant equipment and to continuously lower the cost of ownership for the Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs). OEM disk designs are never obsolete at Core. We actively assess the field problems or life limited design issues to provide solutions and upgrades for our customers. Because the wafer is implanted on the disk, the disk becomes part of the process. At Core, refurbishment provides global service that supports the implant process including qualification, installation, process testing, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance events, and end of life determination. Disks serviced by Core include: · Axcelis/Eaton NV series · Axcelis/Eaton GSD series (includes SEN SD series) · Varian VIISion (and E1000) series · Varian 80/12/160-10 and XP series · Varian High Energy (Genus) 1500 and Kestrel series · AMAT 9000 series (heat sinks/pedestals only) Core's Process Engineering team comes with years of experience in implant foundry operation wherein a variety of processes and species is standard operation. Our staff is specially trained to provide high-level support with dose matching, fab or "first implanter" start-ups, contamination audits and other implant-related issues. Especially popular is our Implant Process Training, where we give you the tools to optimize your implant processes to increase yield and productivity. These classes are offered both offsite and onsite. The success of the ion implant process is largely predicated on achieving the highest levels of purity in both isotopic separation of the doping ions, and elimination of potential contaminates from the materials touching or sputtered on to the wafer. Core offers over 35 engineered elastomers to meet the process requirements of the Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs). Elastomers are key to achieving full beam utilization or high beam current without limitations resulting from temperature, contamination and charge -up. Silicon coatings were introduced in the mid 1990s to cover the Aluminum surfaces exposed to the ion beam. This prevented the sputtering of Aluminum and its contaminating, heavy metal alloying elements on to the wafer. Silicon coatings can extend the life of pre-silicon era disks such as the Varian XP series or Axcelis GSD disks. Krytek Source ConditioningThe Krytek 300 Ion Source Conditioner offers one-step conditioning and testing to improve implanter performance and save valuable implanter time. The only system that simulates and conditions an ion source off-line as if it were in an implanter, the Krytek 300 reduces implanter time required to bring up a source following exchange by one to two hours. Profile Code is a PC-based software program which takes the guesswork out of ion implantation. It accurately calculates and plots ion implant concentration vs. depth profiles. This proprietary implant characterization software provides a quick calculation of the implanted and annealed atom distribution into a variety of surfaces under a variety of conditions. It lets the user rapidly size a problem, determine a profile, or otherwise “experiment” with a computer or laptop prior to actually performing an implantation. It is a research tool intended to solve “what if” types of problems in as general a manner as possible. Customers can purchase their own copy from Core or contract our process engineers to assist with implant recipe development, anneal and other pre and post implant steps. |
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