newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1990 JAN 25 (NB) -- A key technology for the next generation memory chips, so-called Ultra Clean Technology, created by Professor Tadahiro Ohmi of Tohoku University, is coming into the limelight. The U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing machine maker, Applied Materials, is seeking the technology. The U.S. firm, which has been looking for a method to develop technology for creation of next generation, 16-megabit DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips, is studying the process, which it has dubbed AMTUCS or Applied Materials Total Ultra Clean Scheme. The idea is to put the theory into practice at its U.S. headquarters and subsidiaries in the U.K. The firm intends to develop instructions practical application of Professor Ohmi's instructions, from the cleanliness of the production site to the machines and materials used in order to produce a high yield (almost 100 percent) of the highly integrated chips. Applied Materials is not the first to investigate Ultra Clean. IBM, Intel and Seiko Instruments, are also investigating the technology. (Naoyuki Yazawa/19900201)