KLA has opened a new 237,000-square-foot R&D and manufacturing center in Newport, Wales to support global semiconductor innovation and meet the continued demand for wafer processing tools. SPTS, KLA’s Wales-based product division, has been leading semiconductor equipment innovation in Wales since 1984, and this US$138 million facility continues the company’s history of regional investment.

Built to Meet Rising Demand from the Semiconductor Industry

KLA’s newest facility includes 25,000 square feet of cleanroom for R&D and more than 35,000 square feet of manufacturing space – a combination of ISO 7 and ISO 5 cleanroom – significantly enhancing KLA’s ongoing activities to provide emerging technologies and semiconductor equipment to customers.

“Our new center builds on KLA’s culture of innovation and collaboration with customers that will help drive sustainable mutual growth,” says Dan Collins, general manager of KLA’s SPTS division. “The more we can innovate and the faster we can build tools, the more we can help customers pursue their roadmaps and journeys to make semiconductors even more effective.”

Key wafer processing solutions designed, manufactured and supported by teams in Newport include plasma etch processes , physical vapor deposition (PVD), and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). R&D activities at the new facility will support customers across multiple markets as technologies evolve in advanced packaging power semiconductors, photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-speed radio frequency (RF) integrated circuits.

Delivering Value to Chip Manufacturers

Semiconductor manufacturing spans thousands of precise steps over potentially hundreds of machines to create a chip, depending on the device, customer requirements and desired end-use. While KLA is more widely known for metrology and defect inspection systems, the teams in Newport are focused on two types of wafer processing systems: etch and deposition tools. Etch tools remove material from wafers, while deposition tools add material to wafers. Repeating these steps builds the layers of a semiconductor device.

The etch and deposition technologies KLA added to their portfolio with the acquisition of SPTS in 2019 remain an important expansion of the KLA product family. The new facility enhances the company’s ability to meet customer requirements for multiple process steps in addition to a comprehensive portfolio of process control solutions that drive innovation and performance in the electronics industry.

“The new facility is optimized for R&D and manufacturing, offering more flexibility not just for our employees but also our customers,” explains Andrew Evans, senior director, commercial, Newport. “Everything in the facility is laid out more efficiently, which shortens lead times, enabling our customers with the solutions they need.”

Designed with Semiconductor Manufacturing Customers in Mind

Customer-centric from the moment visitors walk through the door, the facility lets customers see their equipment being manufactured and includes more demo room space with greater flexibility to drive collaboration. Customers can even watch their wafers running on KLA tools.

To showcase the technology in a realistic environment, Evans said the new center was constructed around a sub-fab, an intricate and highly technical installation underpinning all R&D and manufacturing efforts in Newport that he describes as the “heart of the building.” It’s a demo cleanroom, complete with tools on an upper floor that customers will recognize as standard in today’s semiconductor plants, all supported by critical infrastructure systems on the lower level.

“The demo cleanroom, along with its viewing lobby and adjacent meeting rooms is designed for customers to engage with our engineers, enabling discussion and alignment over continuous innovation, advancing our next generation of tools and therefore our customers’ technology roadmaps,” Evans explains. “This is a flagship demo cleanroom designed to exhibit the very best capabilities of our tools.”

A Commitment to the Semiconductor Industry and Local Economy

Built to accommodate up to 750 employees, the facility’s manufacturing activities will extend KLA’s support of the local economy. Southeast Wales, along with southwest England, has been a growing semiconductor cluster for 30 years, and the region stands to gain from increased manufacturing by KLA as local suppliers expand capacity and hire more employees.

Due to its proximity to leading universities and research institutes with strong semiconductor competencies, Newport-area technology companies can access a large talent pool, and KLA’s new facility will offer exciting career opportunities to future apprentices, enhanced apprentices and recent graduates through various entry routes.

“KLA has always been at the forefront of technological advancements, and our new facility will enable us to continue leading the way in innovation,” Collins explains. “I genuinely believe we are poised to make significant strides in our industry, and I am confident that together, we will achieve great things.”

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