New Glass For Chip Machine Viewing Windows

Japan's Toto Ltd, announced the development of a new type of corrosion-resistant glass for the observation windows in semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The new glass is made by coating quartz with a thin layer of yttria, a transparent ceramic material. Viewing windows made from the new glass can resist the corrosive plasmas used for circuit etching 50 times longer than sapphire. Greater durability means fewer replacements, and less equipment down time. As the coated glass releases few impurities as it corrodes, thee is less chance of defects arising during the chip-making process, and the better yields mean lower costs.