Ultratech Enables World's Lowest Contact Resistivity For FinFETs With LXA Melt Laser Annealing Technology

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultratech, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTEK), a leading supplier of lithography, laser­ processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high­brightness LEDs (HB­ LEDs), as well as atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, announced that its proprietary LXA nanosecond melt laser annealing technology enabled the world's lowest contact resistivity for FinFETs in an R&D environment.  In collaboration with multiple companies, this record achievement, as well as additional results, was presented in a paper at the 2016 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits held June 13-17, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In the development of today's advanced CMOS logic FinFET devices, the electrical resistance at the contact junction (contact resistance) is widely recognized to play an increasingly significant role in overall device performance. In larger device nodes, the contact pads provide a relatively large area over which to transfer electrical current. But as devices continue to shrink, so does the available area to form the contact, creating an electrical current bottleneck that reduces the performance of the device and impacts battery life. In order to realize the desired benefits of the scaled transistor architecture, including improved device performance and greater battery life, it will be necessary to make significant advancements over the current process. One emerging solution is to improve the characteristics of the contact by modifying the material properties of the contact using a unique nanosecond melt laser annealing technology. Using Ultratech's patent pending LXA melt laser annealing technology these researchers reported world record results in contact resistance. 

Yun Wang, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Technologist, Laser Processing at Ultratech, said, "The great achievement in lowering the contact resistivity for FinFETs is that it provides faster on/off switching of the transistor using the same input voltage. Since the input voltage doesn't need to be increased to provide faster transistor switching, a low supply voltage can be maintained, which saves battery life.  The result is a FinFET transistor that operates very quickly at a lower voltage for faster performance and longer battery life. As we continue our R&D, we expect that Ultratech's unique LXA nanosecond melt laser anneal technology will address a wide range of applications at the 7-nm and below nodes, and enable use of new materials anticipated at 5nm and below. We plan to use this record achievement as a benchmark to continue to improve our LXA technology."

On Tuesday, June 14 at 4:40 p.m. HAST, the paper by Hiroaki Niimi, Zuoguang Liu, Oleg Gluschenkov and others, titled, 'Sub-2x10-9 Ω‐cm2 N‐ and P-Contact Resistivity with Si:P and Ge:Ga Metastable Alloys for FinFET CMOS  Technology' was presented during Session 7 – Contact Resistance Innovations for Sub‐10nm Scaling, at the 2016 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits.

Ultratech's LXA Nanosecond Melt Laser Annealing Technology
Ultratech's LXA technology is a proprietary technology for achieving nanosecond anneal utilizing a millisecond process in-situ with a nanosecond spike anneal to provide ultra-low thermal budget with added process flexibility for a wide range of materials and applications. The LXA technology is targeted for advanced junction formation, contact anneal, and multiple middle-of-line applications.  As more exotic materials are used for 7nm and below devices, it is expected that Ultratech's LXA nanosecond melt laser annealing technology will play a bigger role and include wider applications in the manufacture of leading-edge transistors. 

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Additional Information:  In connection with the solicitation of proxies, Ultratech, Inc. ("Ultratech") has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), a definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents concerning the proposals to be presented at Ultratech's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "2016 Annual Meeting").  The proxy statement contains important information about Ultratech and the 2016 Annual Meeting.  In connection with the 2016 Annual Meeting, Ultratech has mailed the definitive proxy statement to stockholders.  In addition, Ultratech files annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC.  You are urged to read the proxy statement and other information because they contain important information about Ultratech and the proposals to be presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting.  These documents are available free of charge at the SEC's website (www.sec.gov) or from Ultratech at our investor relations website (http://ir.ultratech.com).  The contents of any websites referenced herein are not deemed to be incorporated by reference into the proxy statement.

Ultratech and its directors, executive officers and certain employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Ultratech's stockholders in connection with the election of directors and other matters to be proposed at the 2016 Annual Meeting.  Information regarding the interests, if any, of these directors, executive officers and specified employees is included in the definitive proxy statement and other materials filed by Ultratech with the SEC.

About Ultratech: Ultratech, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTEK) designs, builds and markets manufacturing systems for the global technology industry. Founded in 1979, Ultratech serves three core markets: front­end semiconductor, back­end semiconductor, and nanotechnology. The company is the leading supplier of lithography products for bump packaging of integrated circuits and high­ brightness LEDs. Ultratech is also the market leader and pioneer of laser spike anneal technology for the production of advanced semiconductor devices. In addition, the company offers solutions leveraging its proprietary coherent gradient sensing (CGS) technology to the semiconductor wafer inspection market and provides atomic layer deposition (ALD) tools to leading research organizations, including academic and industrial institutions. Visit Ultratech online at: www.ultratech.com.

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SOURCE Ultratech, Inc.

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