Sumitomo (SHI) Material Solutions Europe (SMS-E, headquartered in Gennevilliers, France, President and Representative Director: Masashi Tsuchiya) has renewed its Joint Development Program (JDP) with CEA-Leti, a leading French semiconductor research institute, to further advance the research and development of laser annealing technologies for advanced semiconductor applications.
SMS-E serves as a key base for Sumitomo Heavy Industries' semiconductor equipment business, together with Sumitomo Heavy Industries Material Solutions Co., Ltd. in Japan.
Since entering the JDP in 2017, SMS-E and CEA-Leti have continued collaborative research focused on nanosecond laser annealing technology. Utilizing an SMS-E laser annealing system installed in CEA-Leti's state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities, the two organizations have been conducting process development and application research for next-generation semiconductor devices.
In recent years, semiconductor devices have faced increasing demands for higher performance, greater integration, and lower power consumption. As a result, growing attention has been given to sequential 3D integration technologies that stack multiple transistor layers. Nanosecond laser annealing has attracted significant interest as an enabling technology that allows upper-layer formation while minimizing thermal impact on underlying devices. The technology is expected to support a wide range of applications, including advanced logic devices, memory devices, and power semiconductors.
Through the renewal of the JDP, SMS-E and CEA-Leti will continue their collaborative research activities for the next three years. In addition, SMS-E plans to install its latest laser annealing platform, the QA-3000, at CEA-Leti.
The QA-3000 is a next-generation laser annealing platform capable of supporting processes in the microsecond regime and is designed for a broad range of semiconductor applications, including power semiconductors, advanced logic devices, and next-generation memory technologies. The system supports process conditions ranging from sub-melt to melt regimes, enabling advanced material control and process optimization.
Through continued collaboration with CEA-Leti, SMS-E will continue to advance laser annealing technologies and contribute to the realization of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technologies.