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ACM Research announced on December 10, 2024, that its Ultra Fn A Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PEALD) Furnace had qualified at an unnamed semiconductor customer in mainland China and was entering mass production. The announcement documents a company-reported customer milestone; it does not establish the tool’s production status today or provide independent performance measurements.
What the Ultra Fn A PEALD Furnace is designed to do
The Ultra Fn A PEALD Furnace is semiconductor manufacturing equipment designed to deposit ultra-thin silicon nitride (SiN) films. Atomic layer deposition builds a film through controlled, repeated surface reactions; in PEALD, plasma enhancement is part of the process. ACM describes this tool as intended for applications that require precise thin-film deposition.
ACM says the furnace’s double-layer tube and airflow-balancing technology are designed to improve wafer-in-wafer (WIW) and wafer-to-wafer (WTW) uniformity. It also says plasma enhancement reduces the device’s thermal budget, while tuning how precursor material is stored and released into the reaction tube enables control over critical dimensions and pattern profiles. These are ACM’s design and performance claims: its announcement supplies no independent test data, measured uniformity figures, or quantified comparison.
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What ACM announced about qualification
In its December 10, 2024 announcement, ACM said the PEALD configuration had qualified at a semiconductor customer in mainland China and was entering mass production. The customer was not identified, and the announcement does not name a fab or disclose a purchase price or production volume.
ACM’s 2025 SEC-filed results later reported qualification of its PEALD and Thermal ALD furnace tools at two mainland China semiconductor customers. That provides later company-filed corroboration of the qualification milestone, but it does not independently validate performance or identify which customer qualified which configuration.
System configuration and stated capacity
ACM described the PEALD and Thermal ALD configurations as six-unit systems capable of batch processing up to 100 300mm wafers. The described equipment also includes four loadports with oxygen concentration control in the loading area, an Integrated Gas Supply (IGS) system, and in-situ dry cleaning. ACM says the equipment is designed to meet SEMI standards.
Rank #2
- Prime grade monocrystalline silicon wafer with single-side polished surface, designed for laboratory research, material analysis and substrate preparation requiring stable silicon material characteristics.
- Available in multiple diameters from 2 inch to 12 inch, supporting flexible use in academic research, engineering experiments, and laboratory demonstration environments.
- High purity silicon material provides consistent structural properties suitable for microscopy studies, surface observation, and scientific testing applications in controlled environments.
- Suitable for universities, research institutes, materials science laboratories, and technical training programs involving semiconductor-related research and substrate evaluation.
- Carefully processed and packaged to help maintain surface integrity during storage and transportation, suitable for experimental use, teaching demonstrations and research sampling.
The “up to 100 wafers” figure is a stated maximum batch capacity, not a throughput rate. The announcement does not give wafers per hour, cycle time, operating yield, or other production-performance measures.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteHow the PEALD tool differs from the Thermal ALD configuration
Ultra Fn A PEALD and Ultra Fn A Thermal ALD are distinct process configurations, and the 2024 announcement described separate customer qualifications. The PEALD tool is designed for SiN film deposition; ACM reported its qualification at one unnamed mainland China customer.
The Thermal ALD sibling was introduced in 2022 and qualified at another, also unnamed, mainland China customer. ACM said that configuration qualified for silicon carbon nitride (SiCN) films and described ultra-thin, void-free deposition, film-thickness control, carbon doping, and in-situ dry cleaning. Those details concern the Thermal ALD tool and should not be attributed to the PEALD model. ACM also discussed hard-mask, barrier, spacer, and sidewall-protection layers as applications for both configurations, not exclusively for PEALD.
For background, ACM’s September 27, 2022 announcement introduced the Thermal ALD furnace.
Rank #4
- Made of high purity monocrystalline silicon with single side mirror polished surface
- Uniform thermal silicon dioxide oxide layer available in 300nm/650nm thickness
- Precision diced square silicon substrate for thin film deposition & material thermal research
- Stable high temperature resistance, multiple square dimensions from 2mm to 40mm
- Custom cut size supported, matched with standard thermal sintering furnaces
What the qualification does—and does not—establish
A reported customer qualification is evidence that ACM says the tool passed a customer’s qualification process; the December 2024 release also said the PEALD system was entering mass production. Those statements are meaningful commercial milestones, but they are not a substitute for independent data on film quality, uniformity, throughput, reliability, or yield. ACM’s announcement does not provide the customer’s acceptance criteria or test results.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe company’s press-release archive, consulted October 4, 2026, does not by itself verify whether this exact PEALD model remains in production or is currently being sold. The available materials therefore support describing the December 2024 qualification and mass-production announcement, not asserting current production status.
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