The new tungsten chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) technology is mainly applied to the industry's most challenging chip designs. The proven dual wafer platform maximizes production and reduces manufacturing costs. • Highlights Applied Materials' unique closed-loop film thickness and Uniformity Control Technology Applied Materials, Inc. today announced that its successful Applied Reflexion® GT CMP1 system process has been expanded to include a tungsten film planarization process. The CMP process is critical for making transistor contacts and vias in advanced dynamic random access memory (DRAM), NAND flash, and logic devices. Relying on the proven Reflexion GT dual silicon architecture, customers can achieve unrivalled high yields and a single wafer savings of over 40% in manufacturing costs compared to similar systems. More importantly, Applied Materials is the only manufacturer of tungsten chemical mechanical planarization systems using closed-loop film thickness and uniformity control technology. This control technology is an important technology to improve the yield of today's advanced transistor structures.

Lakshmanan Karuppiah, General Manager of the Applied Materials CMP Division, said: "At present, the manufacture of advanced chips has become increasingly complex, requiring more tungsten CMP processes and more complicated process control. The Reflexion GT system can achieve excellent silicon wafers at a reasonable cost. The surface performance helps chip manufacturers meet these challenges.The rapid adoption of our innovative Reflexion GT system in copper interconnect applications and the significant increase in market share validate the value of the dual silicon concept, further consolidating our focus on this key Leading position in chip manufacturing process."

The Reflexion GT host platform launched by Applied Materials in late 2009 sets a new benchmark for CMP performance and productivity. The system uses a unique dual-mode architecture that allows two wafers to be processed simultaneously on a single polishing pad to increase production and reduce consumables costs. In addition, the system's sophisticated and precise real-time contouring and end point control technologies help customers achieve excellent contour control and repeatability.

Research by market research firm Gartner Dataquest shows that Applied Materials has achieved a 75% share of the CMP market in 2010 and is the market leader. To date, Applied Materials has installed more than 3,000 CMP systems on clients around the world. These systems are backed by the industry's largest service and support network, extending equipment uptime and increasing the efficiency of customer factories.