Picosun is one of the leading ALD solutions provider. The company is a global company based in Finland. Picosun has subsidiaries in Germany, USA, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan, offices in India and France, and a global sales and support network with distributors and representatives in over 30 countries.
Today, PICOSUN® ALD tools are in daily production use at several leading industries from the largest manufacturers to small challengers, and high-level research organizations across the world.
Picosun has been part of the ALD community from the very start. Dr. Tuomo Suntola, who invented and patented the ALD method for industrial purposes in Finland in 1974, is a Member of the Picosun Board of Directors.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
PICOSUN: Picosun is the manufacturer of ALD tools used by both the world’s leading research institutes as well as the biggest semiconductor companies. Picosun is developing new tools for high-volume semiconductor manufacturing constantly, but we are actively also on products dedicated to research. In addition to hardware, Picosun has invested heavily in software development. PicoOS™ is Picosun’s own, proprietary full-stack operating system and process control software, designed to enable unified control of PICOSUN® ALD modules and cluster systems via one common human-machine interface.
Innovativeness has always been a core element of the company, and it invests heavily also in own research as well as through partnering.
Some examples:
- Optical coating development of ALD MgF2
- ALD/MLD for organic electronics
- MedTech and biocompatible coatings
- PicoArmourTM the corrosion protection
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
PICOSUN: Picosun new generation tools, Picosun Morpher and Picosun Sprinter have demonstrated exceptional process results.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
PICOSUN: Picosun offers the full range of ALD solutions from basic R&D tools to fully automated high-volume industrial manufacturing solutions. The service portfolio covers the customer’s whole ALD journey, from initial applications consultancy to turn-key system delivery, training, and full lifecycle management.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
PICOSUN: Picosun is present both in the established semiconductor market as well as pioneering in new areas where ALD is currently entering, such as in MedTech.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
PICOSUN: The growth of ALD equipment market for More-than-Moore is forecasted to remain strong and reach $680M in 2026 (Yole Development, November 2021).
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
PICOSUN: Picosun Sprinter ALD system combines the leading single wafer film quality and uniformity with fast processing, high throughput, and uncompromising reliability. It’s designed for the 300 mm manufacturing lines in the semiconductor (e.g. emerging memory, transistor, capacitor), display, and IoT component industries. In Picosun Sprinter, barrier, high-k oxide, and other films are deposited with perfect ALD in mass production volumes.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2022?
PICOSUN: Both the market and our company will continue to grow heavily this year and the work for new product launches continues.