Tokyo Electron Begins Accepting Orders for Betelex™ 1800 PICP, a Dry Etch System for High Resolution Flat Panel Displays

Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced today that it has begun accepting orders for the BetelexTM 1800 PICP, a dry etch system capable of processing the 6th generation glass substrates (1500 mm x 1850 mm). The Betelex 1800 PICP supports up to five chambers featuring a Planar Inductively Coupled Plasma (PICPTM)* mode for high resolution processes.

The Flat Panel Display (FPD) industry is pushing screen resolutions to the levels of 600, 700, and even 800 pixels per inch (ppi) for smartphones and similar devices. At the same time, demand for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications that require a resolution of 1,000 ppi or more is growing. The technology shift from LCD to OELD is also expected to generate new innovations in such areas as flexible displays and advanced user interfaces. As the industry environment calls for greater sophistication in process performance and process steps, dry etch systems are required to achieve even better productivity than before.

The Betelex 1800 PICP supports up to five process chambers, enabling a significant productivity increase over the previous model which supported up to three chambers. Because the same level of production volume can be maintained with fewer mainframes, the Betelex 1800 PICP can reduce the overall system footprint and associated facility cost to customers. The Betelex 1800 PICP has already been receiving favorable reviews from some early customers.

"We've developed the Betelex 1800 PICP by building on the performance of our previous equipment at the customers' production lines," said Tsuguhiko Matsuura, Vice President and General Manager, FPDBU at TEL. "We are confident that the system will help significantly improve the manufacturing yield of our customers' most advanced processes and boost their productivity."

TEL is committed to providing compelling technologies and innovative solutions that satisfy the market’s needs.


* Planar Inductively Coupled Plasma (PICP): A technological concept for generating highly uniform, high-density plasma on a panel substrate.