vitec Reference: IMS Nanofabrication GmbH, Vienna, Austria

IMS Nanofabrication GmbH is a multidisciplinary high-tech company working at the nanoscale and specializing in innovations in electron beam lithography. IMS stands for ‘Ion Microfabrication Systems’.

Located on the outskirts of Vienna, the company develops and produces the world’s first multi-electron beam writers for global players in the semiconductor industry. The so-called multi-beam mask writers are machines that write with 262,144 programmable electron beams on 6-inch photomasks.

Raised floor enables filter circuit for purest air conditions

In the clean room area of the new production facility in Brunn am Gebirge, 522 filter fan units at a room height of 6.20 m ensure the cleanest ambient conditions, in accordance with ISO classes 7 and 5.

A one-meter-high raised floor, installed in this way for the first time by IMS Nanofabrication, guides the air flowing in through the ceiling back into the plenum area via ducts in the walls. Here, the air is filtered again.

Ventilation panels in the floor can be flexibly adapted to the layout of the production facility

Another special feature of this project is that more than 4000m² of wall space is elevated and not on the raised floor itself. The advantage here is that each raised floor panel is accessible and can be opened or moved separately to allow access at any point. The ventilation panels, which allow the circulation of the air, can be flexibly installed according to possible layout changes in the cleanroom.

Locks with numerical code function and air showers ensure maximum possible particle reduction

Personnel airlocks with air showers and material airlocks with numerical codes additionally increase the quality and safety standards when entering the cleanroom.

Technical details:

Cleanroom classes ISO 7 and ISO 5
Pressure plenum (up to 200 Pa)
2000 m² dissipative raised floor
2000 m² ceiling area
More than 4000 m² wall area
Cleanroom wall designed as return air wall
Room height 6,20 m
One wing doors with 1,50 x 3,50 m
Double doors with 3,00 x 3,00 m
522 Filter Fan Units
Automatic opening inspection doors
Personnel locks with air showers
3 material locks with numerical code
About IMS Nanofabrication GmbH:

IMS (Ionen Mikrofabrikations Systeme) was founded with venture capital in February 1985, in Vienna. From 1986 onwards, IMS developed two research IPL devices as part of a EUREKA project. The first went to the former Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure Technology in West Berlin in 1988, while the second one was realized upon commission from the Vienna University of Technology in 1989.

In 2010, IMS developed the first proof of concept Multi-Beam Mask Writer (MBMW). This would lay the foundation for a consortium with Intel, TSMC, DNP and Photronics.