News Article
Pellicle removal agreement
Carl Zeiss SMT becomes exclusive distributor of the HAP pellicle removal tool
The Semiconductor Metrology Systems Division (SMS) of CarlZeiss SMT has strengthened its partnership with the Dresden based company HAP. Bothcompanies have signed an agreement making SMS the exclusive distributor of arecently developed "Pellicle Removal Tool" for photomasks. The system enablesthe automatic and gentle removal of pellicles from photomasks used insemiconductor manufacturing. Such pellicles are fundamental to protect thesensitive photomasks from contamination. The agreement marks a successfulmilestone in the ongoing R&D collaborations between SMS and HAP such as thedevelopment of the next generation photomask registration tool PROVE.
"We are happy to have found in HAP an innovative reliablepartner, whose competencies complement ours perfectly." states Dr. OliverKienzle, Managing Director of the SMS Division. "The system enables ourcustomers to improve the cleaning process of highly sensitive photomasks, whichhelps to improve yields and therefore save costs".
The company HAP develops special solutions for wafer andsubstrates in the microelectronic industry and micro system technique.
"The cooperation with Carl Zeiss generates strong synergiesfor both companies. We can participate in the worldwide sales and servicenetwork of the SMS Division as well as their comprehensive expertise in thesemiconductor industry. SMS can provide its customers in the mask makingindustry a new technology without their own R&D effort." explains Dr.Steffen Pollack, Managing Director HAP. The toolautomatically removes the pellicle from a photomask by applying a dedicatedthermal and force recipe to the pellicle mount. This technology is highlyadvantageous since it eliminates the drawbacks of standard manual pellicleremoval such as mask contamination, or in the worst case to the scrapping ofthe mask. As photomasks carry the complete structural information of integratedcircuits, they are a key element in semiconductor manufacturing.
