Surface Technology Systems plc (STS), a leader in plasma process technologies required in the manufacturing and packaging of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) and advanced electronic devices, today announced that they have installed two VPX Pegasus cluster tools for the National Information Society Agency in Korea. These silicon etch tools will be used for deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) in a wide range of applications.

NIA is a project of the Korean government, which aims at realizing a ubiquitous sensor network (USN) society and fostering related industries. The term "USN" refers to a technology to integrate RFID tags and sensors, and to exchange and transmit information in real time via a sensor network.

The new Pegasus tools have been installed in the Songdo ubiquitous IT Cluster Center (u-ITC), which now offers MEMS foundry services, and is located in the Incheon Free Economic Zone in Korea. The u-ITC has been promoting research and development, standardization and dissemination of RFID and other related technologies since 2006. The MEMS sensor development conducted by the Center covers not only the sensors themselves, but also the integration of MEMS and CMOS, and buildup techniques.

Dr. Suh, USN Fab Director explained, "We chose STS’ Pegasus DRIE systems because they offered the superior etch performance that you would expect from the acknowledged market-leaders, on a production-proven Brooks cluster platform."

Mr Eizo Yasui, CEO of STS, "We are very happy with this latest installation of our Pegasus DRIE tools on cluster platforms. Approximately half of our Pegasus systems have been sold on production proven cluster platforms (the VPX & larger CPX), with STS ability and commitment to meet the demanding requirements of production customers demonstrated with each shipment."