NewSystemDesignedforLeadingMemoryManufacturersEnablesEaseofPatterningandHigh

YieldataLowCostofOwnership

SANJOSE,CA--(Marketwire-February7,2012)Meantimewire-NovellusSystems(NASDAQ:NVLS)today

announcedtheadditionoftheVECTORStratatothecompany'sdielectricproductofferings.VECTOR

Stratahasbeendevelopedspecificallyforhigh-volumemanufacturingofverticallyintegratedmemory

(VIM)Flashdevices.ThisisthesecondNovellusproductannouncedinrecentmonthsforthis

emergingmarket,followingtheALTUS®ExtremeFilltungstenCVDsystemintroducedinJuly2011.VECTOR

Strataemploysinnovativetechnologydesignedtodeliverultra-smoothfilmswithexceptionaldefect

performance,enablingin-situdepositionofthealternatingsilicon-basedlayersusedintheformation

oftheVIMstructure.TheVECTOR'smulti-stationsequentialprocessing(MSSP)architecture

providesauniquesolutiontothecostofmanufacturingforVIMthatwillallowaccelerationof

thetechnologyintohighvolumeproduction.

Astheindustrymovestowardssub-20nmnodes,traditionalplanarNANDflashdevicesare

approachingscalinglimitations.Atthesesmallerdevicegeometries,theclosepackingofmemorycells

resultsinasignificantincreaseinparasiticinter-wirecapacitancethatinturnleadstoincreasedcross

talkandpowerconsumption.Additionally,thecloserproximityofadjacentmemorycellscauses

shiftsinthethresholdvalueofamemorycellwhileanadjoiningcellisbeingprogrammed,

leadingtomemorydisturbance.Finally,atsub-20nmdimensionsthenumberofelectronsinthe

floatinggateofatraditionalplanarNANDflashdeviceissignificantlyreduced,tothepointwhere

multiplebitspercellarenolongerpossibleandthustheextendibilityofthetechnologybecomes

limited.

Inordertoaddressthesechallenges,NANDflashdevicemanufacturersareaggressively

pursuingdifferenttypesof3DVIMdesigns.Thoughthespecificmaterialsrequiredineachofthese

structuresaredifferent,alloftheseapproachesrequirealternatinglayersofsilicon-basedfilms.

Eachpairofalternatinglayersisusedtoformamemorycell,andupto64pairsofalternatinglayers

areexpectedtobeusedintheformationofaVIMchip.Usingthisprocessingapproach,underlying

filmroughnessanddefectswithineachlayercanpotentiallybemagnifiedwhilebuildingupthe

VIMstructure.Tocontroltheseproblemsandensurehighyields,exceptionalnano-particlecontrol

(requiredtoreducedefectivity)andultra-smoothfilmdeposition(requiredtoavoidwordlineedge

variability,andhencewordlineperformancevariations)arebothproductionrequirements.

ThenewVECTORStratasystemhasbeendesignedtomeetthestringentroughnessand

defectivitystandardsnecessarytomanufacturethesenext-generationVIMdevices.Figure1showsa)

VECTORStrata'sultra-smoothfilmsdepositedinanalternatinglayerfilmstackincomparisontob)

conventionalPECVDfilms.Thesystemalsoemploysseveralinnovativefeaturesthatoptimizegas

deliveryandRFdistribution,resultinginindustry-leadingthroughputanddefectcontrol.Figure

2showsatomicforcemicroscope(AFM)imagesofultra-smoothVECTORStratafilms,showingfilm

roughnessthatiscomparabletotheunderlyingsubstrate.

"VECTORStratadepositsthelowdefect,ultra-smoothfilmsrequiredfornextgeneration3D

NANDflashmemorydesigns,"saidSeshaVaradarajan,seniorvicepresidentofNovellus'PECVD

BusinessUnit."VECTORStratahasbeenadoptedbyleadingmemorymanufacturersastheVIM

developmenttoolofchoiceduetoitsindustry-leadingadvancedtechnologyandmulti-stationsequential

processingproductivity."

FormoreinformationaboutthenewVECTORStrata,pleasevisit

www.novellustechnews.com.

AboutNovellus'PEVCDTechnology:

Themulti-stationsequentialprocessing(MSSP)architectureofNovellus'VECTORplatform

allowsforindependenttemperatureandflowcontroltoitsdepositionstations,acriticalrequirement

tomeettheintegrationneedsofsub-3xnmtechnologynodes.Morethan1,000VECTORsystems

havebeeninstalledinlogic,memory,andfoundryfabsaroundtheworld.

AboutNovellus:

NovellusSystems,Inc.(NASDAQ:NVLS)isaleadingproviderofadvancedprocessequipment

fortheglobalsemiconductorindustry.Thecompany'sproductsdelivervaluetocustomersby

providinginnovativetechnologybackedbytrustedproductivity.AnS&P500company,Novellusis

headquarteredinSanJose,Calif.withsubsidiaryofficesacrosstheglobe.Formoreinformation,

pleasevisitwww.novellus.com

Contact:

BobClimo

PublicRelations

NovellusSystems,Inc.

Phone:+1408/943-9700

Email:bob.climo@novellus.com

RobinYim

InvestorRelations

NovellusSystems,Inc.

Phone:+1408/943-9700

E-mail:robin.yim@novellus.com