Tegal Corporation, (Nasdaq: TGAL) an innovator of specialized production solutions for the fabrication of advanced MEMS, power ICs and optoelectronic devices, today announced it has received an order for a Tegal 110 S/DE DRIE tool from Uppsala University.  The Tegal 110 S/DE DRIE tool will be installed in the Uppsala University Ångström Microstructure Laboratory, located in Uppsala, Sweden.  The Ångström Laboratory constitutes one of Europe’s most advanced laboratories for materials science, and is the largest university clean room in the Nordic countries.

The silicon DRIE tool order from this first-time Tegal DRIE customer was secured by Tegal following a thorough competitive evaluation process by Uppsala University, which included both silicon DRIE and dielectric DRIE applications.

“We are very happy to have received this order for a Tegal 110 S/DE DRIE tool from Uppsala University.  The University, and the Ångström Microstructure Laboratory, has a long and distinguished history as a leading research institution, and Uppsala continues to perform cutting-edge work in a number of research fields of vital interest today,” said Yannick Pilloux, DRIE Product Manager at Tegal Corporation.  “By leading with our strengths in both silicon DRIE and dielectric DRIE, and by offering both applications in the same process chamber, we have been able to meet Uppsala’s demanding technical requirements for this DRIE tool opportunity and give Uppsala excellent value along the way.”

The Tegal 110 S/DE DRIE system is a high-density plasma etch tool featuring an inductively coupled plasma etch reactor and magnetic plasma confinement. The tool can run Tegal’s patented SHARP – Super High Aspect Ratio Process, achieving etched feature aspect ratios of >100:1 in production environments.  The Tegal 110 S/DE system excels at etching, in the same process chamber, the silicon (S) and dielectric (DE) films found in the MEMS/MOEMS, bio-tech, and hi-voltage markets.  Tegal DRIE tools are presently employed in numerous research and development laboratories throughout the world, engaging in both commercial and academic research programs, and are also found in MEMS foundries and other dedicated commercial High Volume Manufacturing lines world-wide.