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ASM International’s XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon is a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) film designed to fill and planarize complex features during advanced logic and memory manufacturing. ASM says the process can combine those functions in one deposition step; its September 22, 2026 announcement also reports initial high-volume manufacturing deployment. Those performance and deployment statements come from ASM, and the announcement does not identify a customer.
What is flowable carbon in semiconductor manufacturing?
Flowable Carbon is ASM’s name for a PECVD carbon film intended for advanced chip patterning. PECVD deposits material from a gas-phase process onto a wafer. ASM positions its film for structures in logic and memory devices that are increasingly narrow, tall, and difficult to fill and planarize with conventional integration schemes. The company describes its Flowable Carbon technology as a way to combine gap fill and planarization.
It is important to distinguish this product from spin-on carbon (SOC). The two names refer to different deposition approaches, not interchangeable versions of the same material: ASM’s Flowable Carbon is a PECVD film, while SOC in the cited lithography literature is a carbon-rich polymer solution applied by spin coating.
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How does ASM say it fills and planarizes features?
ASM says the material flows into features, fills from the bottom up, and self-planarizes to leave a flat surface for the next patterning step. In its September 22, 2026 launch announcement, Tyler Sample, ASM Vice President PECVD Key Product Unit Head, said: “The material flows into the feature, fills from the bottom up, and self-planarizes, delivering a flat, uniform surface ready for the next patterning step.” This describes the company’s account of the film’s behavior; the announcement does not supply independent measurements or a head-to-head comparison.
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Gap filling matters when patterning narrow, high-aspect-ratio spaces: incomplete filling or uneven topography can complicate later pattern-transfer steps. Planarization aims to reduce surface height variation before subsequent processing. ASM’s claimed integration benefit is that the combined fill-and-planarize PECVD process removes the need for downstream chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) or etch-back steps. That is a vendor claim, not an independently established result for every device flow.
How is Flowable Carbon different from spin-on carbon?
| Comparison point | ASM Flowable Carbon | Spin-on carbon |
|---|---|---|
| Deposition approach | ASM describes its film as PECVD. ASM product page | A carbon-rich polymer solution applied by spin coating, as described in the 2014 review. Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology review |
| Stated role | ASM targets gap fill and planarization for advanced logic and memory structures. ASM product page | The review discusses SOC as a spin-on hard-mask material used in lithography and pattern transfer. 2014 review |
| Performance comparison | No independent head-to-head data against SOC or conventional carbon films is provided in the cited sources. | No direct comparison with ASM’s PECVD film is provided in the cited sources. |
The review identifies hard-mask design considerations such as etch resistance, wet removal, gap fill, and planarization. These are useful background criteria for understanding patterning materials, but they should not be treated as demonstrated properties of ASM’s PECVD film. The review was published in 2014 and is foundational context, not evidence of current product performance.
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- Wafer Pattern May Vary from the Product Images. Great to be used as gift, display object, exhibition, educating demonstration, testing, decoration or your collection
- Beautiful microchip pattern structure made by the advanced copper technology
- 90~130nm minimum microchip feature Copper Characterization with TEOS or Black Diamond Low-k ILD on the single crystal silicon wafer
- The original value of un-polished wafer is above $500
- No guarantee for research and other applications
What is known about XP8 Vertos deployment?
ASM announced XP8 Vertos Flowable Carbon on September 22, 2026, and said it had achieved initial deployment in high-volume manufacturing for logic and memory devices. The announcement does not name a customer or provide customer corroboration. ASM’s product page calls the film the market’s first PECVD Flowable Carbon film; that is the company’s positioning, not an independently audited category claim.
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