Vendor/customer alliance for furnace upgrade

Describes a cooperative, joint development effort between Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Direction Inc. to improve the technology of horizontal diffusion furnaces. Direction Inc. provided a prototype capsule system and gas injector. Advanced Micro Devices made available a production furnace and measuring equipment. The cross functional team representing disciplines of marketing, development, process, and equipment engineering was able to test the capsule system in a production environment. A matrix of tests on different wafer configurations and gas flows was conducted. Modifications and improvements to the system were made as a result of operating experience with the capsule system.<
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